May Crommelin

Maria Henrietta de la Cherois Crommelin, known as May de la Cherois Crommelin, was a novelist and travel writer born in Ulster, Ireland at Carrowdore Castle in County Down. While growing up, she and her family often lived elsewhere because of the political situation at home, and Crommelin was educated by governesses. The family moved to England in the 1880s and after the death of her traditionalist father in 1885 she lived independently in her own flat in London. Though her family were "French gentry", descended from the Huguenot linen merchant Louis Crommelin, they were not at all wealthy,... and Crommelin earned a living by writing. One of her cousins was the astronomer Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin. She travelled widely, going to the Andes , the West Indies, North Africa and elsewhere. She wrote 42 novels, which were often based upon her travels. Her first, Queenie, was published in 1874. Orange Lily of 1879 is set in Ulster, where she was born.
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