https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=B._M._CrokerB. M. Croker - Revision history2026-07-31T14:18:05ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=B._M._Croker&diff=488651&oldid=prevShailendra at 04:38, 29 April 20262026-04-29T04:38:20Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Irish novelist (1847-1920)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}<br />
{{EngvarB|date=December 2019}}<br />
{{Infobox writer<br />
| embed = <br />
| honorific_prefix = <br />
| name = Bithia Mary Croker<br />
| birth_date = 28 May 1847<br />
| birth_place = [[Warrenpoint]], County Down, Northern Ireland<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1920|10|20|1847|5|28}}<br />
| death_place = [[London]], England <br />
| occupation = Writer<br />
| genre = {{Flatlist|<br />
* Romance<br />
* adventure<br />
* ghost stories<br />
}}<br />
| notableworks = {{Plainlist|<br />
* ''Proper Pride''<br />
* ''Pretty Miss Neville''<br />
* ''Diana Barrington''<br />
* ''Mr Jervis''<br />
}}<br />
| spouse = {{marriage|John Croker|1871|1911|end=died}}<br />
| children = Eileen Whitaker MBE<br />
| parents = {{ubl|William Sheppard|Bithia Mary Watson}}<br />
| influences = <!-- Do not use this field without gaining consensus on talk page. See discussion there. --><br />
| influenced = <!-- Do not use this field without gaining consensus on talk page. See discussion there. --><br />
}}<br />
'''Bithia Mary Croker''' (née Sheppard, 28 May 1847 – 20 October 1920) was an Irish novelist most known for her works concerning life and society in [[British India]]. She also wrote ghost stories.<br />
<br />
==Life==<br />
Croker was born in 1847 in [[Warrenpoint]], County Down, Northern Ireland.<ref name="ODNB">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55571 Rosemary Cargill Raza: "Croker, Bithia Mary (c. 1848–1920)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) Retrieved 30 October 2015. Pay-walled.</ref> Her birth year was not publicly known for a long time, which is why later years are also stated sometimes. She was the only daughter of Rev. William Sheppard, the Anglican [[Church of Ireland]] rector of Kilgefin,<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Clarke|first1=Frances|url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a2194|title=Dictionary of Irish Biography|last2=Sturgeon|first2=Sinéad|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|editor1-last=McGuire|editor1-first=James|location=Cambridge|chapter=Croker, Bithia Mary (‘B. M.’)|editor2-last=Quinn|editor2-first=James}}</ref> [[County Roscommon]], who was an ex-barrister, and Bithia Mary Sheppard. Her younger brother William Harry Cope Sheppard went on to become president of the [[Dublin]] rugby union club [[Wanderers F.C. (rugby union)|Wanderers F. C.]]<ref>[https://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/dublin/photos/tombstones/deansgrange/deansgrange-s01.htm Headstones in Deansgrange cemetery, County Dublin], retrieved October 15, 2024.</ref> Her father died in 1855 after a protracted illness,<ref>King's County Chronicle, 2 January 1856, page 3</ref> when Bithia was eight years old. She spent parts of her childhood in Roscommon and was educated at [[Rock Ferry]], Cheshire and in [[Tours]], France. She became famous as a horsewoman with the [[Kildare]] Hunt.<ref name="Feminist">''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 248. {{ISBN|9780713458480}}</ref><br />
<br />
In 1871, she married John Stokes Croker, an officer in the [[Royal Scots Fusiliers]] and later the [[Royal Munster Fusiliers]], in [[Rathangan, County Kildare]],<ref name="Palgrave">[https://books.google.at/books?id=ZXeiEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA358&dq The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women's Writing], accessed 24 October 2024</ref> and they lived there for some time in Oakley House.<ref name="Roscommon Heritage">Gerry Boland: [https://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/services/community/library/local_studies_and_archives/local-studies-digital-files/roscommon-photographs/roscommon-literary-heritage-series-06.pdf Roscommon Literary Heritage Series 6 – B.M. Croker], accessed 24 October 2024.</ref> Soon after, Croker followed her husband to [[Madras]] and then to [[Bengal]]. Exclusive of trips home, she lived in India for 14 years between 1872 and 1892.<ref name="Black">Helen C. Black: [https://archive.org/details/penpencilbatonma00blaciala/page/82/mode/2up ''Mrs. Croker''. In: ''Pen, Pencil, Baton and Mask. Biographical Sketches.''] 1896, page 89. Accessed 30 October 2024.</ref> Her only child, Gertrude Eileen Celeste Croker, was born in [[Bangalore]] in December 1872 and baptized in Madras in January 1873.<ref name="Palgrave"/> Eileen was later also educated at Rock Ferry, married Albert Edward Whitaker and was appointed [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]. Croker spent some time in the [[:Category:Hill stations in India|hill station]] of [[Wellington, Tamil Nadu|Wellington]] now in [[Tamil Nadu]], where she wrote many of her works, having begun to do so as a distraction during the hot season. After her husband's retirement with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1892, the couple moved to Lordello House<ref name="Roscommon Heritage"/> in [[Shankill, Dublin|Shankill]] (not [[Bray, County Wicklow]], as often stated) south of Dublin, then to London, and finally to [[Folkestone]], [[Kent]], where her husband died in 1911.<ref>There is a [http://openplaques.org/plaques/30899 blue plaque] that records her residence at 10 Radnor Cliff, [[Sandgate, Kent]], from 1897 to 1908. Retrieved 30 October 2015.</ref> Croker remained immensely interested in reading, travel and theatre. She died at 30 [[Dorset Square]], London, on 20 October 1920 and was buried in Folkestone.<ref name="ODNB"/><br />
<br />
==Writing==<br />
Croker's prolific literary career spanned 38 years, from 1882 when she was 35 years old, until her death in [[London]] in 1920. Her last novel, ''The House of Rest'', was published posthumously in 1921. She wrote 42 novels and 7 volumes of short stories.<ref name="Feminist"/><ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?mode=Basic&vid=BLVU1&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker&fn=search&tab=local_tab& British Library Catalogue search "Bithia Mary Croker"] ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
<br />
Her first novel, ''Proper Pride'' (1882), was written secretly in [[Secunderabad]] in 1880, then read aloud to other women. After she had sent the original manuscript to an editor and hadn't heard back for many months, she thought it was lost, rewrote it from memory and eventually had it published anonymously in the UK. Thought to be by a man, it received good reviews and had been reprinted 12 times by 1896. [[William Ewart Gladstone]] was observed reading it in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]].<ref name="ODNB"/> The book, according to a present-day account, "shows open sympathy with the male viewpoint and metes out punishing treatment to its spirited, horse-riding heroine, whose distrustful pride separates her from her devoted husband."<ref name="Feminist"/><br />
<br />
Croker's work has been praised in general for "a sensitive ear for speech, for idiom and the diction of different classes, which she reproduces in lively and entertaining dialogue." Tension often derives from threats to conventional order in society. Her second novel, ''Pretty Miss Neville'' (1883), credited to her as B. M. Croker, was as popular as the first. The burden of social convention for a woman in India unwilling to marry the man for whom she has been sent out is explored in ''The Cat's Paw'' (1902), and that of a man who sinks socially in ''The Company's Servant'' (1907). Her ''Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies'' (1895) reflect a parallel interest in Indian rural life. Altogether 17 of the novels were set in India, one in [[Burma]], and seven in Ireland.<ref name="ODNB"/> One of her novels set in Ireland, ''Terence'' (1899), was adapted for the stage and ran for two years in the United States.<br />
<br />
There are intimations of [[Gothic fiction]] in some of Croker's work. Her 1905 story ''The Little Brass God,'' for example, involves a statue of [[Kali]], described as a "goddess of destruction", who brings various misfortunes on the Anglo-Indians who possess it. The curse is dispelled when the statue is stolen from them and dropped down a well.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ePNGNRjqiHUC&dq=Bithia+Croker&pg=PA227 Patrick Brantlinger: ''Rule of Darkness. British Literature and Imperialism, 1830–1914''] (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1988), p. 227 Retrieved 30 October 2015.</ref><br />
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It has been claimed that her 1917 novel ''The Road to Mandalay'', set in [[Burma]], was the uncredited basis for the 1926 American silent film [[The Road to Mandalay (1926 film)|of the same name]] directed by [[Tod Browning]], of which only a 35 min version has been restored.<ref name="Feminist"/><ref name="ODNB"/> However, the similarities between the two works are less than striking and possibly coincidental.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}<br />
<br />
Several of Croker's novels appeared in German, Czech, French, Spanish, Hungarian, Swedish and Norwegian translations.<ref>Several covers of translations appear in a [https://www.google.hu/search?q=B.+M.+Croker&sa=N&es_sm=93&biw=1287&bih=974&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0CBwQsAQ4CmoVChMIobuAuc3syAIVY9VyCh2qdgYN Google search] 31 October 2015.</ref> She was the most published author in the popular German low-budget edition ''Engelhorns allgemeine Romanbibliothek'' (''Engelhorn's general novel library,'' 1884–1930), with 31 of her novels and story collections published in German translations, ahead of German [[Richard Voss]] (25) and French [[Georges Ohnet]] (21).<br />
<br />
Croker had a wide literary acquaintance in London. Her novel ''Angel'' (1901) was dedicated to another novelist whose work centres on India: [[Alice Perrin]].<ref name="ODNB"/> The author and academic [[Douglas Sladen]] went so far as to call her, with her "valued friends" Perrin and [[Flora Annie Steel]], "three who have long divided the Indian Empire with [[Rudyard Kipling]] as a realm of fiction. Each in her own department is supreme."<ref>Quoted in [https://books.google.com/books?id=1lauBwAAQBAJ&dq=Croker+%22To+Let%22&pg=PA199 Melissa Edmundson Makala: ''Women's Ghost Literature in Nineteenth-Century Britain''] (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2013), p. 199. Retrieved 31 October 2015</ref><br />
<br />
A volume of her ghost stories was edited by [[Richard Dalby]] at the turn of the millennium.<ref>[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/number99.htm Infinity Plus review] Retrieved 31 October 2015</ref> Her story ''To Let'' (c. 1893) was included in ''The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories''.<ref>Selected and edited by Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2013 [1991]), p. 346 ff.</ref><br />
<br />
==Bibliography==<br />
===Novels===<br />
*''Proper Pride: A Novel'' (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1882, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|978-1333220228}}<br />
*''Pretty Miss Neville'' (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1883, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|978-1020289781}}<br />
*''Some One Else'' (London: Sampson Low, 1885, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9781770912540}}<br />
*''A Bird of Passage'' (London: Sampson Low, 1886, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9780267204373}}<br />
*''Diana Barrington: A Romance of Central India'' (London: Ward and Downey, 1888, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|978-1240883219}}<br />
*''Two Masters: A Novel'' (London: F V White, 1890, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9783337996178}}<br />
*''Interference: A Novel'' (London: F V White, 1891, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9781250243621}}<br />
*''A Family Likeness: A Sketch in the Himalayas'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1892, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9781358663383}}<br />
*''A Third Person: A Novel'' (London: F V White, 1893, 2 vol.) {{ISBN|9780243980765}}<br />
*''Mr Jervis'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1894, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9780483751026}}<br />
*''Married or Single?'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1895, 3 vol.) {{ISBN|9780803271920}}<br />
*''The Real Lady Hilda: A Sketch'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1896, 1 vol.) {{ISBN|9783368926151}}<br />
*''Beyond the Pale'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1897, 1 vol.) {{ISBN|9781502801708}}<br />
*''[https://www.kent-maps.online/19c/19c-croker-missbalmaine/ Miss Balmaine's Past]'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1898, 1 vol.) {{ISBN|9780332852911}}<br />
*''Peggy of the Bartons'' (London: Methuen, 1898, 1 vol.) {{ISBN|9780483896734}}<br />
*''Infatuation'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1899) {{ISBN|9781356025459}}<br />
*''Terence'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1899, 1 vol.) {{ISBN|9780526042005}}<br />
*''Angel: A Sketch in Indian Ink'' (London: Methuen, 1901, 1 vol.) {{ISBN|9780332979441}}<br />
*''The Cat's Paw'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1902) {{ISBN|9781342239457}}<br />
*''Johanna'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1903) {{ISBN|9781022790667}}<br />
*''The Happy Valley'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1904) {{ISBN|978-1346382227}}<br />
*''Her Own People'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1905) {{ISBN|9780364901366}}<br />
*''A Nine Days' Wonder'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1905) {{ISBN|9780243251117}}<br />
*''The Youngest Miss Mowbray'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1906) {{ISBN|978-0855941499}}<br />
*''The Company's Servant: A Romance of Southern India'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1907) {{ISBN|9780483762862}}<br />
*''The Spanish Necklace'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1907) {{ISBN|9780259376873}}<br />
*''Katherine the Arrogant'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1909) {{ISBN|9781494161590}}<br />
*''Babes in the Wood'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1910) {{ISBN|9780385549073}}<br />
*''Fame'' (London: Mills and Boon, 1910)<ref name="Jarndyce" > Jarndyce Booksellers' catalogue ''Women Writers 1795–1927 Part I: A–F'' (London, Summer 2017).</ref><br />
*''A Rolling Stone'' (London: F. V. White & Co., 1911)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?frbrVersion=3&tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822554&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822554&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=3&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20A%20Rolling%20Stone&dstmp=1615661578981 ''A Rolling Stone''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9780332045764}}<br />
*''The Serpent's Tooth'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1912)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822555&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822555&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20The%20Serpent%27s%20Tooth&dstmp=1615661647767 ''The Serpent's Tooth''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9781359457721}}<br />
*''In Old Madras'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1913)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLLSFX5280000000036390&indx=1&recIds=BLLSFX5280000000036390&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20In%20Old%20Madras&dstmp=1615661724553 ''In Old Madras''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9788171679379}}<br />
*''Lismoyle'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1914<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822526&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822526&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Lismoyle&dstmp=1615661786230 ''Lismoyle: an experiment in Ireland''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9781434467294}}<br />
*''Quicksands'' (London: Cassell and Company, 1915)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822548&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822548&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Quicksands&dstmp=1615661873388 ''Quicksands''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9783368930677}}<br />
*''Given in Marriage'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1916)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822513&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822513&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Given%20in%20Marriage&dstmp=1615661984297 ''Given in Marriage''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9781341150791}}<br />
*''The Road to Mandalay. A Tale of Burma'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1917)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822551&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822551&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20The%20Road%20to%20Mandalay&dstmp=1615662026858 ''The Road to Mandalay. A Tale of Burma''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9781016133753}}<br />
*''A Rash Experiment'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1917)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822549&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822549&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20A%20Rash%20Experiment&dstmp=1615662084667 ''A Rash Experiment''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''Bridget'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1918)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?frbrVersion=2&tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822502&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822502&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=2&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Bridget&dstmp=1615662125008 ''Bridget''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''The Pagoda Tree'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1919)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822541&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822541&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20The%20Pagoda%20Tree&dstmp=1615662168219 ''The Pagoda Tree''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''Blue China'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1919)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822501&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822501&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Blue%20China&dstmp=1615662212962 ''Blue China''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''The Chaperon'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1920)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&initialSearch=true&mode=Basic&tab=local_tab&indx=1&dum=true&srt=rank&vid=BLVU1&frbg=&tb=t&vl%28freeText0%29=Bithia+Mary+Croker+The+Chaperon&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any&vl%282084770704UI0%29=title&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any ''The Chaperon''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''The House of Rest'' (London: Cassell & Co., 1921)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&initialSearch=true&mode=Basic&tab=local_tab&indx=1&dum=true&srt=rank&vid=BLVU1&frbg=&tb=t&vl%28freeText0%29=Bithia+Mary+Croker+The+House+of+Rest&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any&vl%282084770704UI0%29=title&vl%282084770704UI0%29=any ''The House of Rest''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
<br />
===Short story collections===<br />
*''To Let, etc.'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1893) <ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?frbrVersion=3&tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01014808301&indx=1&recIds=BLL01014808301&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=3&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20To%20Let%2C%20etc.&dstmp=1615663719310 ''To Let, etc.''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|978-1279768051}}<br />
*''Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies, etc.'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1895)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?frbrVersion=3&tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01014808303&indx=1&recIds=BLL01014808303&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=3&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Village%20Tales%20and%20Jungle%20Tragedies%2C%20etc&dstmp=1615663653065 ''Village Tales and Jungle Tragedies, etc.''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9781241210045}}<br />
** reprinted as ''Jungle Tales'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1913)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822524&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822524&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Jungle%20Tales&dstmp=1615662509479 ''Jungle Tales''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9783988830487}}<br />
*''In the Kingdom of Kerry and Other Stories'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1896)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?frbrVersion=3&tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01014808291&indx=1&recIds=BLL01014808291&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=3&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20In%20the%20Kingdom%20of%20Kerry%20and%20Other&dstmp=1615663566275 ''In the Kingdom of Kerry, and other stories.''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9780259313069}}<br />
*''Jason and Other Stories'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1899)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822521&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822521&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Jason%20and%20Other&dstmp=1615663489356 ''Jason, and Other Stories''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''A State Secret and Other Stories'' (London: Methuen, 1901)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822559&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822559&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20A%20State%20Secret%20and%20Other&dstmp=1615663439541 ''A State Secret, and Other Stories''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9780243179879}}<br />
*''The Old Cantonment, with Other Stories of India and Elsewhere'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1905)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLLSFX5280000000036405&indx=1&recIds=BLLSFX5280000000036405&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20The%20Old%20Cantonment%20and%20Other&dstmp=1615662343629 ''The Old Cantonment, with Other Stories of India and Elsewhere''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref><br />
*''Odds and Ends'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1919)<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01000822539&indx=1&recIds=BLL01000822539&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=Bithia%20Mary%20Croker%20Odds%20and%20Ends&dstmp=1615662391712 ''Odds and Ends''] British Library Catalogue, ''explore.bl.uk'', accessed 13 March 2021</ref> {{ISBN|9781601122728}}<br />
* ''The Dread of Night. Supernatural Encounters from the British Raj. Stories by Bithia Mary Croker and [[Alice Perrin]]'' (India: Speaking Tiger, 2023) {{ISBN|978-9354475665}}<br />
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==Analysis==<br />
An in-depth and detailed study of her novels, with special reference to her depiction of India, has been carried out by Dr Shashidhar G. Vaidya, under the supervision of Dr B. S. Naikar, former professor and chairman, Department of Studies in English, at [[Karnatak University]].<ref>[https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/96591 S. G. Vaidya: ''Image of India in the novels of Mrs B M Croker''] Karnatak University 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2024.</ref><br />
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A discussion of the cultural context of Croker's fiction, together with close readings of several of her novels and stories, can be found in John Wilson Foster, ''Irish Novels 1890–1940: New Bearings in Culture and Fiction'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2008). Some present-day scholars have seen in Croker's work examples of a "conjoining of gender and colonialism".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SOiBAgAAQBAJ&dq=B.+M.+Croker&pg=PA90 Anindyo Roy: ''Civility and Empire. Literature and Culture in British India, 1822–1922''] (Routledge: Abingdon, UK, 2005), p. 90 Retrieved 31 October 2015 Roy's example is Croker's ''Angel: A Sketch in Indian Ink'' (1901).</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist|25em}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* Helen C. Black: [https://archive.org/details/penpencilbatonma00blaciala/page/82/mode/2up ''Mrs. Croker''. In: ''Pen, Pencil, Baton and Mask. Biographical Sketches.''] 1896, p. 83-92. Accessed 20 October 2024.<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{Gutenberg author | id=7895| name=Bithia Mary Croker}}<br />
* [https://india.vardill.org/croker Works by Bithia Mary Croker] at [https://india.vardill.org Veranda Archive]<br />
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Bithia Mary Croker}}<br />
* {{Librivox author |id=15593}}<br />
* ''To Let'' (1906) online [https://archive.org/details/toletcroker00crok Retrieved 30 October 2015]<br />
* [http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/c/Croker_BM/xtras/xtra2.htm Bibliography at ricorso.net] (Retrieved 30 October 2015)<br />
* A portrait photograph of Croker [http://www.dublincity.ie/image/libraries/lf01-11-bm-croker Retrieved 31 October 2015]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009041013/http://www.dublincity.ie/image/libraries/lf01-11-bm-croker |date=9 October 2020 }}.<br />
* {{LCAuth|n83124627|B. M. Croker|23|ue}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Croker, B M}}<br />
[[Category:1840s births]]<br />
[[Category:1920 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:British people in British India]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Irish women writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Irish women writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women short story writers]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian short story writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]<br />
[[Category:People from Warrenpoint]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from County Down]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women novelists]]</div>Shailendra