CHARLOTTE MARIA TUCKER (1821–1883) was born in Barnet, England. Her father, Henry St. George Tucker, was the chairman of the East India Company. Henry was against girls going to school, so Charlotte was educated at home. Henry discouraged writing so nothing was published before his death. Charlotte was full of energy, vitality and was very generous. She was a deep thinker, seemingly always religious. She had talent in music, drawing, writing, acting and teaching. In 1875, she felt a divine call and traveled to India for 18 years and carried on missionary work until her death. She continued to write stories in India.
A theme of her life was teaching: whether it was teaching Bible Classes in the Boys School in India, or teaching women in Indian Zenanas, or writing stories with an instructional purpose for English children or writing booklets especially for Indian children. Her pen name was A.L.O.E. (A Lady of England) which she kept even though she was “A Lady of India” for the last 18 years of her life. Early in her life, she wrote and acted in plays for home amusement. Her earliest story is “The Claremont Tales,” illustrates the Beatitudes. Many stories were printed in “The Children’s Paper.” A popular story was “Rambles of a Rat” which is about household rodents talking of their adventures.
