Author: Frances Awdry
Author: Frances Awdry (1845–1927)
Biography: Frances Awdry was born in 1845 in Lacock, the daughter of Sir John Wither Awdry and his second wife Frances Ellen Carr. Her father was the Chief Justice of Bombay before retiring to an estate Notton House where Awdry was born. She lived most of her life with her family. In middle age, she wrote fiction before shifting to religious biographies of missionaries including the popular An Elder Sister: A Short Sketch of Anne Mackenzie and her Brother, the Missionary Bishop (1878). She lived a long life, writing to the end. Awdry never married and died on 19 March 1927 in Lacock. Her nephew was the children's author Wilbert Vere Awdry of Thomas the Tank Engine fame.
References: British Census (1851, 1881, 1901, 1911); Probate; Wikipedia (John Wither Awdry)
Fiction Titles:
- At the Lion. 1 vol. Derby: Bemrose and Sons, 1879.
- An Outlying Hamlet: The Story of a Long Winter. 1 vol. Derby: Bemrose and Sons, 1880.
- The Miz Maze: or, The Winkworth Puzzle. A Story in Letters, by Nine Authors. 1 vol. London: Macmillan, 1883.