Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 - 10 September 1922) was an English poet,[1] traveler, and eccentric, who also wrote a number of political essays and polemics.
Wilfrid Scawen Blung (1840-1922). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Blunt was born on 17 August 1840 at Petworth House, Sussex, the 2nd son of Francis Scawen Blunt of Crabbet House, Sussex (who was a grenadier guard) and his wife Mary (Chandler) of Surrey, daughter of a Church of England clergyman.[2]
He was educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, and Oscott College near Birmingham.[2]
Career[]
Blunt in 1861, from My Diaries (1880-1900). Courtesy Internet Archive.
Blunt entered the diplomatic service at 18. He left it at age 29 when he married Lady Anne Isabella Noel King, Byron's granddaughter.[2]
In 1872 Blunt inherited Crabbet, which enabled him to travel. He travelled in the Near and Middle East, and twice visited Egypt and India, consequently adopting strongly anti-imperialist views while retaining the demeanor of an English gentleman and purporting to be a tory.[2]
Blunt and his wife traveled through Spain, Algeria, Egypt, the Syrian Desert, and extensively in the Middle East, and India. Based upon pure-blooded Arabian horses they obtained in Egypt and the Nejd, they co-founded Crabbet Arabian Stud, and later purchased a property near Cairo, named Sheykh Obeyd, which housed their horse breeding operation in Egypt.[3] [4]
Blunt in 1900, from My Diaries (1900-1914). Courtesy Internet Archive.
In the early 1880s Britain was struggling with its Egyptian colony. Wilfrid Blunt was sent to notify Sir Edward Malet, the British agent, as to the Egyptian public opinion concerning the recent changes in government and development policies. In mid-December 1881 Blunt met with Arabi, called "El Wahid" (the Only One) due to his popularity with the Egyptians. Arabi was impressed with Blunt's enthusiasm and appreciation of his culture. Their mutual respect created an environment in which Arabi could peacefully explain the reasoning behind a new patriotic movement, "Egypt for the Egyptians". Over the course of several days, Arabi explained the complicated background of the revolutionaries and their determination to rid themselves of the Turkish oligarchy. Wilfrid Blunt was vital in the relay of this information to the British empire as it helped them determine their course of action.[4]
In 1882 Blunt championed the cause of Ahmed Urabi Pasha, which led him to be banned from entering Egypt for 4 years.[4]
Blunt paid 7 visits to Ireland between March 1886 and June 1888 in order to support the agrarian agitation that became known as the Plan of Campaign. He looked upon Ireland as a case of English oppression similar to that he had perceived in India and Egypt. In Ireland he was a privileged but captive tourist, hosted, guided, and guarded by home-rule politicians, agrarian agitators, and catholic ecclesiastics.[2]
On 16 October 1887 he spoke at a banned meeting of tenants of the 2nd marquess of Clanricarde at Woodford, co. Galway, for which he was arrested, convicted of intimidation and breach of the peace, and imprisoned for 2 months at Galway and Kilmainham.[2]
Private life[]
"A prophet": Wilfrid Scawen Blunt by Carlo Pellegrini (1839-1889), caricature in Vanity Fair, January 1885. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Wilfrid and Lady Anne's only child to live to maturity was Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth, later known as Lady Wentworth. As an adult, she was married in Cairo but moved permanently to the Crabbet House Estate in 1904.[4]
Wilfrid had a number of mistresses, among them a long term relationship with courtesan Catherine "Skittles" Walters, and eventually moved another mistress, Dorothy Carleton, into his home, an event which triggered Lady Anne's legal separation from him in 1906. At that time, Lady Anne signed a Deed of Partition drawn up by Wilfrid. Under its terms, unfavorable to Lady Anne, she kept the Crabbet Park property (where their daughter Judith lived) and half the horses, while Blunt took Caxtons Farm, also known as Newbuildings, and the rest of the stock. Always struggling with financial concerns and chemical dependency issues, Wilfrid sold off numerous horses in order to pay debts, and constantly attempted to obtain additional assets. Lady Anne left the management of her properties to Judith, and spent many months of every year in Egypt at the Sheykh Obeyd estate, moving there permanently in 1915.[5] [4]
Due primarily to the manoeuvring of Wilfrid in an attempt to disinherit Judith and obtain the entire Crabbet property for himself, Judith and her mother were estranged at the time of Lady Anne's death in 1917, and thus Lady Anne's share of the Crabbet Stud passed to Judith's daughters, under the oversight of an independent trustee. Wilfrid filed a lawsuit soon afterward. Ownership of the Arabian horses went back and forth between the estates of father and daughter in the following years. Wilfrid sold yet more horses in his control, mostly to pay off debts, and shot at least 4 in an attempt to spite his daughter, action which required intervention of the trustee of the estate with a court injunction to prevent him from further "dissipating the assets" of the estate. The lawsuit was eventually settled in favour of the granddaughters in 1920, and Judith bought their share from the trustee, combining it with her own assets and reuniting the stud. Father and daughter briefly reconciled shortly before Wilfrid's death in 1922, but his promise to rewrite his will to restore Judith's inheritance was never fulfilled.[6] [4]
Recognition[]
8 of Blunt's poems ("Song", "The Desolate City", "With Esther", "To Manon, on his Fortune in loving Her", "St. Valentine's Day", "Gibraltar", "Written at Florence", and "The Two Highwaymen") were included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.[7]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Sonnets and Songs (as "Proteus"). London: John Murray, 1875.
- The Love Sonnets of Proteus. London: C. Kegan Paul, 1881.
- The Wind and the Whirlwind. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1883.
- A New Pilgrimage, and other poems. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1889.
- In Vinculus. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1889.
- The Love-Lyrics and Sonnets of Proteus. Hammersmith, UK: Kelmscott Press, , 1892.
- The celebrated romance of the stealing of the mare: Translated from the original Arabic by Anne Blunt. Done into verse by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. London: Reeves & Turner, 1892.
- The Poetry of Wilfrid Blunt. (edited by William Ernest Henley and George O'Brien Wyndham). London: Heinemann, 1898.
- Love Poems of W.S. Blunt. London & New York: John Lane, 1902.
- The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia: Known also as the Moallakat (with Lady Anne Blunt). London: privately printed by the Chiswick Press, 1903.
- Poetical Works. (2 volumes), London: Macmillan, 1914; (1 volume), Grosse Point, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968. Volume I, Volume II.
- Poems (edited by Floyd Dell). London: Macmillan, 1923; New York: Knopf, 1923.
Plays[]
- Fand of the Fair Cheek: A three-act tragedy in rhymed verse. Privately printed, 1904.
- The Little Left Hand: A mid-Victorian drama in three acts. London: Macmillan, 1914.
Novels[]
- Griselda: A society novel in rhymed verse. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1893
- Satan Absolved: A Victorian mystery. London & New York: John Lane, 1899.
Short fiction[]
- Esther: A young man's tragedy. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1893.
- with The Love Sonnets of Proteus. Boston: Copeland & Day, 1895.
Non-fiction[]
- The Future of Islam. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1882.
- Ideas About India. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1885.
- Atrocities of Justice under British Rule in Egypt. London: T.F. Unwin, 1906.
- Francis Thompson. London: Burns & Oates, 1907.
- Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt London: T.F. Unwin, 1907; New York: Knopf, 1907; New York: H. Fertig, 1967. London: Gregg International, 1969.
- The New Situation in Egypt. London: Burns & Oates, 1908.
- India under Ripon: A private diary.[8] London & Leipzig: T. Fisher Unwin, 1909.
- Gordon at Khartoum. London: Stephen Swift, 1911.
- The Land War in Ireland. London: Stephen Swift, 1912; New York: AMS Press, 1983.
Letters and journals[]
- Proteus and Amadeus: A Correspondence (with Charles Meynell; edited by Aubrey de Vere). London: C. Kegan Paul, 1878.
- My Diaries: Being a personal narrative of events, 1888-1914. (2 volumes), London: Secker, 1919; New York: Knopf, 1923. Part I (1888-1900); Part II (1900-1914).
The Mockery of Life -, by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt - Poem animation
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat..[9]
With Esther by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
See also[]
References[]
- Finch, Edith (1938). Wilfred Scawen Blunt, 1840-1922. London: Jonathan Cape, 1938.
- Wentworth, Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness (1979) The Authentic Arabian Horse, 3rd ed. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1979
- Woods, C.I. "Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen", Dictionary of Irish Biography, October 2009. Web, Mar. 11, 2005.
Notes[]
- ↑ Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Web, July 9, 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Woods (2009).
- ↑ Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, Wikipedia, July 26, 2011, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Sep. 4, 2011.
- ↑ Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse
- ↑ Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse
- ↑ "Alphabetical list of authors: Addison, Joseph to Brome, Alexander. Arthur Quiller-Couch, editor, Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900 (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1919). Bartleby.com, Web, May 15, 2012.
- ↑ Note: Ripon refers to George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon.
- ↑ Search results = au:Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 9, 2013.
External links[]
- Poems
- "A Disappointment"
- Blunt in A Victorian Anthology: "To Manon," "To the Same," "Laughter and Death," "Gibraltar," "The Old Squire"
- Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen (1840-1922) (7 poems) at Representative Poetry Online
- Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at EnglishVerse.com. (the 8 poems from the Oxford Book of English Verse)
- Sonnets by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at Sonnet Central
- Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at PoemHunter (410 poems)
- Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at Poetry Nook (438 poems)
- Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at AllPoetry (441 poems)
- Audio / video
- Books
- About
- Wilfrid Scawen Blunt in the Encyclopædia Britannica
- Wilfred Scawen Blunt, an Amorous Adventurer and Quail with Scotch at LostPastRemembered
- "Arab Pen, English Purse: John Sabunji and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt" - Blunt's political activities in the Middle East, by Martin Kramer
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