Flora Macdonald Mayor

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FMM tried her hand at drama and short fiction but is chiefly remembered for her four novels, published between 1901 and 1929. Hailed as an incisive, perceptive reporter of contemporary women's lives during her lifetime, rediscovered during the 1980s, she has now slipped somewhat out of sight again.

Milestones

20 October 1872

Flora Macdonald Mayor was born in Montpelier Row at Twickenham in Middlesex, England, as a younger twin sister to Alice Mayor .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Flora Macdonald Mayor
Keith, Rhonda. British Novelists 1890-1929: Modernists. Editor Staley, Thomas F., Gale Research Company, pp. 169-71.
169

September 1901

At the age of twenty-eight, FMM published her debut novel, Mrs. Hammond's Children, under the pseudonym Mary Strafford, the stage name she had used as an actress.
Williams, Merryn. Six Women Novelists, Macmillan.
43

Early 1913

FMM published her novel The Third Miss Symons, her first major success, after twelve years of mostly fruitless attempts at writing amid housekeeping for her brother and looking after her parents.
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
60741 (4 October 1980): 8

28 January 1932

FMM died of pneumonia complicated by influenza at 7 East Heath Road, Hampstead, London.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Williams, Merryn. Six Women Novelists, Macmillan.
46

By late July 1935

A volume of FMM 's short stories was published posthumously. The Room Opposite, and Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination contains sixteen stories.
Williams, Merryn. Six Women Novelists, Macmillan.
46
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
47127 (27 July 1935): 8

Biography

Birth and Family

20 October 1872

Flora Macdonald Mayor was born in Montpelier Row at Twickenham in Middlesex, England, as a younger twin sister to Alice Mayor .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Flora Macdonald Mayor
Keith, Rhonda. British Novelists 1890-1929: Modernists. Editor Staley, Thomas F., Gale Research Company, pp. 169-71.
169