Born: 11 June 1851, Australia
Died: 24 March 1920
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Mrs Humphry Ward
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Mrs. Humphry Ward (1851-1920), an English novelist, daughter of Thomas Arnold, and niece of Matthew Arnold, the poet, born in Hobart, Tasmania. Mary Augusta Arnold began her literary career at Oxford, and in 1872 was married to Thomas Humphry Ward, an English author and journalist. In 1880 they settled in London, and Mrs. Ward contributed several biographical introductions to her husband’s “English Poets.” Her story, “Miss Bretherton,” published in 1884 showed much promise, and in the following year she brought out her excellent translation of “Amiel’s Journal.” In 1888 she attracted the attention of the English-speaking world by her novel, “Robert Elsmere,” a suggestive presentation of widely discussed religious problems of the day, which achieved an immense vogue, and was translated into several languages. The book was an attempt to represent the struggle of a soul in its voyage towards newer theistic aspirations after losing the landmarks of the old faith. It started, as no academic work could have done, a popular discussion on historic and essential Christianity. Its phenomenal success was due to the fact that it was a genuine product of an age of spiritual unrest, when men were everywhere looking for a sign. Profound spiritual insight, broad human sympathy, and strong thinking are manifest throughout, but as a work of art it is marred by diffuseness, and a lack of power to make the characters live rather than preach. Late works of hers are “The History of David Grieve,” “Marcella,” “Sir George Tressady,” “Lady Rose’s Daughter,” “The Marriage of William Ashe,” and “The Case of Richard Meynell.” All of Mrs. Ward’s novels reveal a high conception of the art of fiction, a strong grasp of intellectual and social problems, and an intensity of moral purpose, so that her books have had considerable influence upon the social and ethical thought of England and the United States. Her activities have not been entirely confined to literature. She was the originator in England of the Vacation Schools, which have done much to educate the poorest children of the community upon rational lines. She also took a leading part in the movement for opposing the grant of the parliamentary suffrage to women, whilst encouraging their active participation in the work of local government.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Mrs. Humphry Ward, English Novelist, 1851 – 1920 A.D.
Mrs. Ward is of the illustrious family of Arnolds, Dr. Thomas Arnold of Rugby being her grandfather. He had two sons, Matthew and Thomas. Mrs. Ward is daughter of the last named. After his studies were completed at Oxford, he became inspector of schools for Tasmania (island south of Australia). There he married Miss Julia Lovell, and Mary Augusta was born to them.
Mr. Arnold became a Catholic, and returning to Great Britain was appointed professor in the University of Dublin.
Her earliest work was Milly and Olly, or a Holiday Among the Mountains. Next came Miss Bretherton, the heroine of which is said to be represent Mary Anderson, “a study of the extent to which ignorance may smother even the true dramatic genius, and of the power of that genius, when aroused, to break through the enveloping and suffocating medium.
Other productions are, Robert Elsmere, The History of David Grieve, Marcella, Sir George Tressady, Helbeck of Bannisdale, and Eleanor.
Robert Elsmere produced a great stir in the reading world. Within a few months it passed through several editions in England, and half a million copies were sold in America in less than three years. It was also translated into German, Dutch, and Danish. The burning questions as between the old faith and the new faith or not faith at all, are handled without hesitation. Mrs. Ward is a keen critic. She has a wealth of diction and of thought. The book took hold of not mere novel readers but of deep thinkers of the time. One English writer said of the book, “It is hard reading and requires toil and effort. Yet if it be difficult to persist, it is impossible to stop.”
Mrs. Ward, in 1890, became identified with a scheme known as “University Hall,” London. Here are given lectures in the interest of modern theism and the liberal views of the Bible. Coupled with this there is carried on a work for the poor.
The following is excerpted from The Dictionary of Australian Biography by Percival Searle, published in 1949 by Angus and Robertson and republished by Project Gutenberg.
WARD, MARY AUGUSTA, (Mrs Humphrey Ward), (1851-1920), novelist, was born at Hobart, on 11 June 1851. Her father, Thomas Arnold (1823-1900), the second son of Arnold of Rugby, came to Tasmania early in 1850 and organized its primary education. There he met and married in June 1850 Julia Sorell, daughter of William Sorell, registrar of deeds at Hobart, and grand-daughter of William Sorell (q.v.), the third governor of Tasmania. Thomas Arnold was received into the Roman Catholic Church on 12 January 1856 and feeling ran so high against him on this account that he resigned his appointment and returned to England with his family. Mary Arnold had her fifth birthday about a month before they left, and she had no further connexion with Tasmania. Thomas Arnold at first could earn but a precarious livelihood, and his eldest child spent much of her time with her grandmother. She was educated at various boarding schools, and at 16 returned to live with her parents at Oxford where her father had a history lectureship. He had returned to the Church of England about two years before, though he was to change his mind again some years later. His daughter continued to study, met many interesting men belonging to the university, and on 6 April 1872 was married to T. Humphrey Ward, a fellow and tutor of Brasenose College. For the next nine years she lived at Oxford. She had by now made herself familiar with French, German, Italian, Latin and Greek, and was also an excellent pianoforte player. She was developing an interest in social and educational service and making tentative efforts at literature. She added Spanish to her languages, and in 1877 undertook the writing of a large number of the lives of early Spanish ecclesiastics for the Dictionary of Christian Biography. It was a piece of hard conscientious work, and was admirably done. In 1881 her Milly and Olly, a children’s story, was published, and three years later her first novel, Miss Bretherton, appeared. Her husband had joined the staff of The Times in 1881, and they removed to London in that year where Mrs Ward also contributed to the journals of the day. In 1888 she caused a sensation with the publication of Robert Elsmere, which turned much on questions of religious belief. It had an enormous circulation both in Great Britain and in the United States. In spite of this success it was four years before her next book, David Grieve, was published, which also had immense sales. For over 20 years after this Mrs Ward had a leading place among the English novelists of the day, and some 15 novels appeared at regular intervals during this period. During the 1914-18 war Mrs Ward wrote some volumes designed to help in the prosecution of the war, and England’s Effort, which appeared in 1916, is considered to have had much effect on American feeling. Towards the Goal followed in June 1917. Her interesting book of reminiscences, A Writer’s Recollections, appeared in October 1918, and her last novel, Harvest, in April 1920, a few days after her death on 24 March. Her husband survived her with a son and two daughters. Her son, Arnold Ward, after a brilliant career at Eton and Oxford, became Unionist M.P. for West Herts, 1910-18, her younger daughter, afterwards her biographer, married George Macaulay Trevelyan. A list of Mrs Ward’s books will be found at the end of her biography.
Mrs Ward had a many-sided and charming personality. She was a fine scholar, a good novelist and a leading social worker. The great reputation of her novels has faded very much in the years since her death. Her characters do not always completely come alive, and she is lacking in humour, but possibly the fact that her books are based so often on the problems of her time, make them somewhat alien from the generations faced with the even more difficult problems that have arisen since.
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Australasian Biography: Comprising notices of eminent colonists from the inauguration of responsible government down to the present time. [1855-1892] by Phillip Mennell, F.R.G.S., published by Hutchinson & Co., 25 Paternoster Square and 1892. The text was reproduced via Project Gutenberg.
Ward, Mrs. Humphry (Mary Augusta Arnold), now known all over the English-speaking world under her married name, Mrs. Humphry Ward, was born in Tasmania on June 11th, 1851. Her father was Thomas Arnold (q.v.), second son of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, and brother of the late Matthew Arnold, and her mother a granddaughter of Colonel Sorell, formerly Governor of Tasmania. She was born at Hobart, Tasmania, the eldest of a family of six, and was sent to a school at Ambleside, kept by Miss Clough, the late Principal of Newnham College. In 1864 she was sent to Miss May’s School at Clifton; and in the following year, on her father renouncing the Church of Rome, she migrated with the family to Oxford. Here the future novelist and religious reformer came under the influence of Mark Pattison, Rector of Lincoln, who advised her strongly to “specialise” her studies. Acting on this advice, she taught herself Spanish, and then set to work to study certain points in early Spanish literature and history, with a zeal to which the Bodleian library ministered. In 1872 she married Mr. Humphry Ward, at that time a Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College. Mrs. Ward thenceforth embarked on a literary career, contributing during the years that followed to the Saturday Review, the Guardian, the Academy, and the Pall Mall Gazette. At Oxford she produced her first book, “Milly and Olly,” a book for children, and assisted her husband in his work on “The English Poets.” She also revealed her theological bent and her love of antiquarian subjects by her valuable contributions to Dr. Wace’s “Dictionary of Christian Biography,” for which she wrote the lives of some of the early Spanish bishops and saints—a work which was entrusted to her on the advice of certain Oxford friends, who sent the learned editor to Mrs. Ward. The result of her research into the semi-legendary material of early Spanish church history may be traced in almost every chapter of “Robert Elsmere.” In 1881 Mr. Humphry Ward, having accepted a post on the staff of the Times, left Oxford for London; and Mrs. Ward continued to write for the Pall Mall Gazette, then under the editorship of Mr. John Morley. In 1883 Mrs. Humphry Ward published “Miss Bretherton,” a novel which, though it reached a second edition and was favourably noticed in the press, did not attain any very wide popularity. She next contributed some singularly thoughtful and introspective articles to Macmillan’s Magazine, and translated the mystical “Journal Intime” of Amiel, whose character suggested Langham in “Robert Elsmere.” This last work, the one by which Mrs. Humphry Ward has made her name world-famous, was begun in 1885, and took two years and eight months to write, appearing in Feb. 1888, when it achieved an immediate and phenomenal success, towards which Mr. Gladstone may in some measure have contributed by a critical paper in one of the monthly reviews. In America, and throughout the British colonies, “Robert Elsmere” created almost as great a sensation as in England, where it gave rise not only to serious and protracted controversies, but, in an indirect way, led to the establishment of University Hall, in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. Of this institution Mrs. Humphry Ward, if not the actual founder, was the chief inspirer; and she delivered a remarkable inaugural address at the Portman Rooms, upon which occasion the Rev. Stopford Brooke presided, and the venerable Dr. Martineau sat beside her on the platform. This address—Mrs. Ward’s first appearance as a public speaker—was published in pamphlet form, and received much attention in the English press. Mrs. Humphry Ward published in 1892 her second novel: “The History of David Grieve.”