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1851-1920
Novelist who wrote as Mrs. Humphry Ward. Mary Augusta Arnold was born in Tasmania, the daughter of Thomas Arnold (second son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby) and eldest of eight children. The family returned to England in 1856 and in 1861 her father became head classical master of the Oratory School in Birmingham, a position he held for four years. During this period Mary attended the Rock Terrace School for Young Ladies in Shifnal, an experience which she evidently did not enjoy. She did, however, form a close attachment to the vicar and his wife, the Rev. and Mrs. Cunliffe. Her Shifnal schooldays were recalled in the novel Marcella (1894):-
...something in the bare, ugly rooms, the discipline, the teaching, the companionship of Miss Frederick's Cliff House School for Young Ladies, transformed little Marcella Boyce, for the time being, into a demon. She hated her lessons, though, when she chose, she could do them in a hundredth part of the time taken by her companions; she hated getting up in the wintry dark, and her cold ablutions with some dozen others in the comfortless lavatory; she hated the meals in the long schoolroom, where, because twice meat was forbidden and twice pudding allowed, she invariably hungered fiercely for more mutton and scorned her second course, making a sort of dramatic story to herself out of Miss Frederick's tyranny and her own thwarted appetite as she sat black-browed and brooding in her place. She was not a favourite with her companions, and she was a perpetual difficulty and trouble to her perfectly well-intentioned schoolmistress. The whole of her first year was one continual series of sulks, quarrels, and revolts.
The family settled in Oxford and here Mary met and married Thomas Humphry Ward, Fellow and tutor of Brasenose College. In 1881 the couple moved to London where Thomas joined the staff of The Times while Mary contributed articles and reviews. 1884 saw the publication of her first novel Mrs. Bretherton. She held a lifelong interest in religion and particularly in the idea of the social functions of religion for the benefit of the poor and weak. Views such as this were embodied in her best selling novel Robert Elsmere (1888) and she put her beliefs into practice by founding a settlement for the poor in London which later became the Passmore Edwards Settlement in Tavistock Square.
She wrote many more novels in the years leading up to the First World War, combining this with her work for crippled and impoverished children and in her crusade against women's sufferage (she was the first President of the Anti-Sufferage League in 1908). During the war she toured the trenches and wrote up her experiences on behalf of the government for publication in America - these were England's effort (1916), Towards the goal (1917) and Fields of victory (1919). In her autobiographical A writer's recollections (1918) there are brief accounts of her early years in the West Midlands. She died in London and was buried at Aldbury in Hertfordshire. Her daughter, Janet Penrose Trevelyan, published a biography in 1923.
Adapted from An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire by Gordon Dickins, published by Shropshire Libraries, 1987. © Gordon Dickins, 1987.
The novels of Mrs. Humphry Ward, in alphabetical order:-
Canadian born (1910) [US title, Lady Merton,
colonist]
The case of Richard Meynell (1911)
The Coryston family (1913)
Cousin Philip (1919) [US title,
Helena]
Daphne (1909) [US title, Marriage à la
mode]
Delia Blanchflower (1914)
Diana Mallory (1908) [US title, The testing of
Diana Mallory]
Eleanor (1900)
Eltham House (1915)
Fenwick's career (1906)
A great success (1916)
Harvest (1920)
Helbeck of Bannisdale (1898)
The history of David Grieve (1892)
Lady Connie (1916)
Lady Rose's daughter (1903)
Marcella (1894)
The marriage of William Ashe (1905)
The mating of Lydia (1913)
Milly and Olly; or, A holiday among the mountains
(1881)
Miss Bretherton (1884)
Missing (1917)
Robert Elsmere (1888)
Sir George Tressady (1896)
The story of Bessie Costrell (1892)
The war and Elizabeth (1918) [US title,
Elizabeth's campaign]
You may read online here the an introduction, sample chapter and the complete text of the novel Robert Elsmere (1888). Also here is an extract from A writer's recollections in which the author recalls her schooldays.
Most of the novels of Mrs. Humphry Ward are now freely available through Project Gutenberg.They are all in plain text format, with some also appearing in HTML.
The following e-texts are also available in HTML format from the Victorian Women Writers Project webpages at the University of Indiana:-
Selected books about the author:-
Mrs. Humphry Ward (1973)
Victorian heretic : Mrs Humphry Ward's Robert Elsmere
Mrs. Humphry Ward; Eminent Victorian, pre-eminent Edwardian (1990)
Mrs. Humphry Ward (1851-1920) : a bibliography (1987)
The life of Mrs. Humphry Ward (1923)
There is a Mary Ward (Mrs. Humphrey Ward) website which gives a chronology and further references.
Details of Mary Ward and the Passmore Edwards settlement written by Mark K. Smith can be found online.
The Mary Ward Adult Education Centre in Queen Square, London, is a thriving complex and celebrates the contribution made by her to learning.
Page created 9 February 2001 and last
updated 15 December 2004
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