Mrs Humphry Ward

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > English Literature, 19th cent.: Biographies

Ward, Mary Augusta, better known as Mrs Humphry Ward (1851–1920), was granddaughter of T. Arnold of Rugby. In 1872 she married Thomas Humphry Ward. Her most famous novel, Robert Elsmere (1888), is in part a vivid evocation of the Oxford of Pater, Pattison, and T. H. Green, and of the many varieties of religious faith and doubt which succeeded the ferment of the Oxford Movement. Its protagonist, an earnest but questioning clergyman, resigns his orders for a life of social service in the East End, to the distress of his devout wife Catherine. The novel was reviewed by Gladstone and initiated much debate. Most of her other novels deal with social and religious themes, frequently contrasting traditional belief with the values of progress and intellectual freedom; they include The History of David Grieve (1892) and The Marriage of William Ashe (1905). She supported the movement for higher education for women, but opposed women's suffrage on the grounds that women's influence was stronger in the home than in public life. Her A Writer's Recollections (1918) draws a striking picture of Oxford life and of the domestic influence of W. Morris, Burne-Jones, and Liberty prints.

Mrs. Humphry Ward 1851–1920, English novelist, whose maiden name was Mary Augusta Arnold; granddaughter of Thomas Arnold. She was born in Tasmania but was brought to England and grew up in Oxford; there, in 1872, she married Thomas Humphry Ward, an editor of the Oxford Spectator. Her first publications were translations of Spanish literature and a children's book, Millie and Olly (1881). Robert Elsmere (1888), a story defending an ethical rather than mystical interpretation of the Bible, made her reputation. Her novels dramatized her view concerning the social application of religious belief and included Fenwick's Career (1906) and The Case of Richard Meynell (1911). Mrs. Ward was also a dedicated social worker; her achievements include the founding of the Invalid Children's School in 1891.

Bibliography: See her autobiography, A Writer's Recollections (1918); biographies by her daughter, J. P. Trevelyan (1923), and E. H. Jones (1973).