Michael Fairless

Margaret Fairless Barber was an English Christian author. Her book of meditations, The Roadmender (1902), became a beloved classic. Barber was born in Rastrick, Brighouse, West Riding of Yorkshire, as the youngest of three girls. Her elder sisters and mother, Maria Louisa, nee Musgrave (1831-1890), first schooled her at home. Barber was an avid reader, but when her father, solicitor and amateur archaeologist Fairless Barber, died in 1881, her mother couldn't cope and transferred her to...See more

Margaret Fairless Barber was an English Christian author. Her book of meditations, The Roadmender (1902), became a beloved classic. Barber was born in Rastrick, Brighouse, West Riding of Yorkshire, as the youngest of three girls. Her elder sisters and mother, Maria Louisa, nee Musgrave (1831-1890), first schooled her at home. Barber was an avid reader, but when her father, solicitor and amateur archaeologist Fairless Barber, died in 1881, her mother couldn't cope and transferred her to relatives in Torquay, where she attended a local school. It was here that she distxtered a spinal problem that would have long-term consequences for her life. She lived with her mother in Bungay, Suffolk. Barber traveled to London in 1884 to train as a nurse in a children's hospital. She also traveled to Torquay to care for a relative and performed philanthropic work in London's East End. However, her health continued to deteriorate, including her vision, and she was in constant need of care. To the dismay of her relatives, she was practically "adopted" by the refined Dowson family, who raised her in their house. Unable to continue her humanitarian work, Barber began writing under the pseudonym "Michael Fairless," inspired by her childhood friend Michael McDonnell (1882-1956), who later became chief justice of the British Mandate of Palestine. See less