Why does Mary spends her early life in India rather than England?

Mary Lennox, the protagonist of Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden," spends her early life in India due to her parents' work and social status. Her father is a wealthy British officer stationed there, which affords the family a lifestyle in colonial India. However, after the death of her parents during a cholera outbreak, Mary is sent to England to live with her uncle, setting the stage for her transformative journey in the story.