Best known work

• Robert Elsmere, 1888

Genres

• Fiction - Novels
• Fiction - Short Stories
• Politics / Philosophy / Essays
• Biography / Autobiography
• Travel Writing / Translation

Nom de plume

Mary Augusta Arnold, Mrs Humphry Ward

Social class

Upper class

Parental background

Her father was an schools inspector in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and later a scholar and her uncle was the poet Matthew Arnold. She attended a variety of boarding schools.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 37
• Marital status: Married
• Number of children: 3

Physical description

"She is a wonderfully charming person, slight, and most graceful in figure and movement and with such a suggestion in her brilliant face of her uncle, Matthew Arnold" (Shields Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph 15 Aug. 1888) She had black wavy hair and brown eyes (from The Life of Mrs Humphrey Ward by her daughter Janet Penrose Trevleyan).

Did you know?

Ward opposed the women's suffrage movement, arguing that women would interfere with the "executive power of men, and therefore with the strength and safety of our country". She goes on to say that women's involvement in politics has "led in many directions to a marked roughening and coarsening of their standards [...] [and] introduced fresh temptations into their lives" (The Times, June 4 1910).

Additional information

The Victorian Web is a great place to start for resources about Ward and her writing. The Victorian Research Guides on the Internet Archive also offer comprehensive but accessible details.