WARD, MARY AUGUSTA HUMPHRY. – English writer, born at Hobart (Tasmania) on 11 June 1851, died in London on 24 March 1920, niece of Dr Arnold of Rugby, brother of the poet Matthew Arnold.
She translated F. Amiel’s intimate Journal (1885). She projected her religious and social problems into numerous novels. She aspired to a form of non-denominational philanthropic Christianity based purely on social principles. She was anti-feminist and opposed the granting of the vote to women. Her best-known novel is Robert Elsmere (1888), which is of interest today chiefly because of the historical figures discernible behind the fiction of its characters.
BIBL.: J. P. Trevelyon, Life of Mrs H. W., Londra 1923. Augusto Guidi