Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Barker, Mary Ann
BARKER, Mary Ann (Lady), is the eldest daughter of the late Hon. W. G. Stewart, Island Secretary of Jamaica, in which island she was born. Being sent to England at two years old, she was educated at home, and returned to Jamaica in 1850. In 1852 she married Captain G. R. Barker, Royal Artillery, who afterwards distinguished himself very highly in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, and was made K.C.B. for services in the field. Lady Barker went out to India to join Sir George early in 1860, but he died in the autumn of that year, and she returned to England. In 1865 Lady Barker married Mr. Frederick Napier Broome, then of Canterbury, New Zealand, and accompanied him back to the Middle Island. Early in 1869 Mr. Napier Broome and Lady Barker returned to England. "Station Life in New Zealand," from Lady Barker's pen, was published in the autumn of that year, and its success encouraged the author to write, in the following year, a small volume for children, called "Stories About." So popular did this second work become, that it was soon followed by "A Christmas Cake in Four Quarters," "Spring Comedies," a novelette; "Travelling About," "Holiday Stories," "Ribbon Stories," "Sybil's Book," " Station Amusements in New Zealand," "Boys," "Bet of Stow," besides many short articles for the leading magazines. In the spring of 1874 Lady Barker also published a little book, called "First Principles of Cooking," of which the circulation has been very large; and almost immediately after its appearance she was appointed to the post of Lady Superintendent of the National Training School of Cookery, in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Lady Barker was also editor of Evening Hours, a family magazine. For several years Lady Barker resided with her husband in South Africa. Her experiences of that country are described in "A Year's Housekeeping in South Africa," 1877.