Bithia Mary Croker

Bithia Mary (or May) Croker (née Sheppard, born c. 1848 in Kilgefin, County Roscommon, Ireland – died in London, 20 October 1920) was an Irish novelist, most of whose work concerns life and society in British India. Her 1917 novel The Road to Mandalay, set in Burma, was the uncredited basis for a 1926 American silent film, of which only excerpts survive. She was also a notable writer of ghost stories.

The only daughter of Rev. William Sheppard (died 1856), rector of Kilgefin, County Roscommon, Ireland, writer and controversialist, Bithia was educated at Rockferry, Cheshire and in Tours, France. She became famous as a horsewoman with the Kildare Hunt. In 1871, she married John Stokes Croker (1844–1911), an officer in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and later the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

In 1877, Bithia followed her husband to Madras and then to Bengal. She lived in India for 14 years, spending some time in the hill station of Wellington now in Tamil Nadu, where she wrote many of her works. She had begun to write as a distraction in the hot season. After her husband's retirement with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1892, the couple went to live in County Wicklow, then in London, and finally in Folkestone, where her husband died in 1911. She had one daughter, Eileen (born 1872), who was also educated at Rockferry. She remained immensely interested in reading, travelling and theatre. She died at 30 Dorset Square, London on 20 October 1920 and was buried in Folkestone.

Croker's prolific literary career spanned 37 years, from 1882 when she was 33 years old, until 1919. She wrote 44 novels and six volumes of short stories.

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