Mary Eliza Isabella Frere (1845–1911) (nickname May) was an English author of works regarding India. In 1868 Frere published the first English-language field-collected book of Indian tales, Old Deccan Days. she was the eldest of five children (the others being Catherine, Georgina, Eliza, and Bartle) of Henry Bartle Frere and his wife Catherine (died 1899) who was the daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet. Mary's father had served in the colonial administration of Bombay since 1834, and in 1862 he was appointed Governor of Bombay. The family lived in the Parish of St Mary, Wimbledon, where Mary was privately educated. Less