Biography
Mary Martha Sherwood was born on May 6, 1775 in Stanford, Worcestershire, England; sent to Abbey school at Reading, 1790; first story, “The traditions,” published in 1794; married Captain Henry Sherwood in 1803; did charitable works with orphans in India, where she wrote the popular story, “Little Henry and his bearer”; after returning to England, she studied Hebrew with her family and worked on a dictionary of the prophetic books of the Bible; wrote over 95 stories and tracts of an evangelical tone; a major work was The history of the Fairchild family, or the child's manual, the first part of which appeared in 1818; died on September 22, 1851 in Twickenham, England.
From the guide to the Sherwood Family Papers, 1775-1850, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Dept. of Special Collections.)
