FLORA ANNIE STEEL (1847-), English writer, was born on the 2nd of April 1847, the daughter of George Webster. In 1867 she married an Indian civilian, and for the next twentytwo years lived in India, chiefly in the Punjab, with which most of her books are connected; her interest in the education of women, as an inspectress of schools, gave her a special insight into native life and character. Some of her best work is contained in two collections of short stories: From the Five Rivers (1893) and Tales from the Punjab (1894); while her most ambitious effort was her novel, On the face of the Waters (1896), describing incidents of the Indian Mutiny. She also wrote a popular history of India. Later works are In the Permanent Way (1897), Voices in the Night (1900), The Hosts of the Lord (1900), In the Guardianship of God (1903), A Sovereign Remedy (1906).