author
Mrs. Humphry
d. 1925
A bestselling Victorian novelist who turned religious doubt, politics, and social change into page-turning fiction. She was also a major public figure in her day, active in education and settlement work as well as literature.
2 Audiobooks
Manners for Men
by Mrs. Humphry
A Word to Women
by Mrs. Humphry
About the author
Born Mary Augusta Arnold in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1851, she became known to readers as Mrs. Humphry Ward after her marriage to Thomas Humphry Ward. She grew up in a famously intellectual family connected to both Thomas Arnold of Rugby and the poet Matthew Arnold, and she later built her own reputation as one of the most widely read English novelists of the late 19th century.
Her breakthrough book, Robert Elsmere (1888), brought her enormous fame with its mix of story, religion, and moral debate. She went on to write many novels and other works, often exploring faith, reform, class, and public life in ways that spoke strongly to her time.
Beyond her writing, she was deeply involved in education and social work in London, helping to found the Passmore Edwards Settlement. Her public life was influential and sometimes controversial too, especially because she opposed women's suffrage. She died on March 24, 1920, so the date 1925 is not correct for her death.