Mrs. Humphry

Mary Augusta Ward, who wrote as Mrs. Humphry Ward, was born in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1851 and later grew up in Britain. She came from a remarkably literary and intellectual family connected to the Arnolds and Huxleys, and she married the writer and editor Humphry Ward in 1872.

She became one of the most widely read novelists of her time. Her best-known book, Robert Elsmere (1888), brought her major fame with its mix of religious doubt, social observation, and emotional drama. Alongside her fiction, she also worked on educational causes in London and helped create opportunities for poorer communities.

Ward remains an interesting and sometimes controversial figure. She supported education for women and the poor, yet she also strongly opposed women's suffrage, a stance that set her at odds with many other women reformers of her era. She died in London on March 24, 1920.