Mrs. Humphry Ward

Born Mary Augusta Arnold in Hobart, Tasmania, on June 11, 1851, she became famous under the name Mrs. Humphry Ward. She came from a remarkable literary and intellectual family: her father was Thomas Arnold, and the poet and critic Matthew Arnold was her uncle.

Her reputation was made by Robert Elsmere in 1888, a novel that became an international bestseller. She went on to write many more novels and also took an active interest in public and social causes, making her a prominent public figure as well as a successful author.

Today she is remembered as an important late Victorian novelist whose work captured the religious doubts, moral debates, and social pressures of her time. Even when modern readers disagree with some of her views, her books remain valuable for the vivid way they reflect the world she lived in.