Ward, Mary Augusta (1851-1920), was an English novelist. In 1872, she married Thomas Humphry Ward, a fellow at Oxford University, and was generally known as Mrs. Humphry Ward. She wrote more than 20 novels, all emphasizing social or religious issues. Her best-known novel was Robert Elsmere (1888). Its central character is a young Anglican clergyman who came to believe that “Religion consists alone in the service of the people.” The novel caused considerable controversy with its belief that Christianity should be based on social concerns instead of divinely based theology.
Mary Augusta Arnold was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, on June 11, 1851. Her father was a school official there. Ward was the granddaughter of Thomas Arnold, the famous headmaster of Rugby, in England, and the niece of the English poet Matthew Arnold. When she was 5 years old, her family returned to England. She wrote her first novel, Miss Bretherton, in 1884, having written a children’s story, Milly and Olly, in 1881. From 1881 until her death, Ward and her husband lived in London, where she wrote for leading periodicals. Her other novels include Marcella (1894), George Tressady (1896), and The Case of Richard Meynell (1911). Ward was also active in social work and philanthropy. Robert Elsmere inspired the establishment of a settlement house for the London poor in 1897. Ward died on March 24, 1920.
