Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Encyclopedia
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (Sometimes spelled "Wilfred") was an English poet
and writer. He was born at Petworth House
in Sussex
, and served in the Diplomatic Service
from 1858 to 1869. His mother was a Catholic
convert and he was educated at Twyford School
, Stonyhurst
and at St Mary's College, Oscott. He is best known for his poetry
, which was published in a collected edition in 1914, but also wrote a number of political essays and polemic
s.
, who was the daughter of the Earl of Lovelace
and granddaughter of Lord Byron. Together they travelled through Spain
, Algeria
, Egypt
, the Syrian Desert
, and extensively in the Middle East
and India
. Based upon pure-blooded Arabian horse
s 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.
In 1882 he championed the cause of Urabi Pasha, which led him to be banned from entering Egypt
for four years. Blunt generally opposed British imperialism
as a matter of philosophy, and his support for Irish
causes led to his imprisonment in 1888.
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 Park Estate in 1904.
Wilfrid had a number of mistresses, among them a long term relationship with the courtesan Catherine "Skittles" Walters
, the Pre-Raphaelite beauty Jane Morris, 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, unfavourable 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.
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 four 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 never materialised.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and writer. He was born at Petworth House
Petworth House
Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, and served in the Diplomatic Service
Diplomatic service
Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel enjoy diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to other countries...
from 1858 to 1869. His mother was a Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
convert and he was educated at Twyford School
Twyford School
Twyford School is a co-educational, independent, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire.-History:Twyford claims to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom....
, Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College is a Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate near the village of Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley area of Lancashire, England, and occupies a Grade I listed building...
and at St Mary's College, Oscott. He is best known for his poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, which was published in a collected edition in 1914, but also wrote a number of political essays and polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
s.
Personal life
In 1869, he married Lady Anne NoelLady Anne Blunt
Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth , known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The two married on 8 June 1869...
, who was the daughter of the Earl of Lovelace
Earl of Lovelace
Earl of Lovelace is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for William King-Noel, 8th Baron King. The King family descends from Jerome King, a grocer, of Exeter, and his wife Anne, daughter of Peter Locke, nephew of the philosopher John Locke...
and granddaughter of Lord Byron. Together they travelled through Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, the Syrian Desert
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert , also known as the Syro-Arabian desert is a combination of steppe and true desert that is located in the northern Arabian Peninsula covering 200,000 square miles . also the desert is very rocky and flat...
, and extensively in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Based upon pure-blooded Arabian horse
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
s they obtained in Egypt and the Nejd, they co-founded Crabbet Arabian Stud
Crabbet Arabian Stud
The Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was a horse breeding farm established on 2 July 1878 when the first Arabian horses brought to England by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt arrived at Crabbet Park, their estate in Sussex...
, and later purchased a property near Cairo, named Sheykh Obeyd
Sheykh Obeyd
Sheykh Obeyd was a stud farm that raised Arabian horses, located near Cairo, Egypt. It was founded by Wilfred Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt in the late 19th century, was the home of Lady Anne following her divorce from Wilfred, and was where she lived until her death...
which housed their horse breeding operation in Egypt.
In 1882 he championed the cause of Urabi Pasha, which led him to be banned from entering Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
for four years. Blunt generally opposed British imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
as a matter of philosophy, and his support for Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
causes led to his imprisonment in 1888.
Wilfrid and Lady Anne's only child to live to maturity was Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth
Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth
Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth also known as Lady Wentworth was a British peeress, Arabian horse breeder and tennis player...
, later known as Lady Wentworth. As an adult, she was married in Cairo but moved permanently to the Crabbet Park Estate in 1904.
Wilfrid had a number of mistresses, among them a long term relationship with the courtesan Catherine "Skittles" Walters
Catherine Walters
Catherine Walters, also known as "Skittles" , was a fashion trendsetter and one of the last of the great courtesans of Victorian London...
, the Pre-Raphaelite beauty Jane Morris, 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, unfavourable 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.
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 four 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 never materialised.
Work in Africa
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.See also
- Crabbet Arabian StudCrabbet Arabian StudThe Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was a horse breeding farm established on 2 July 1878 when the first Arabian horses brought to England by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt arrived at Crabbet Park, their estate in Sussex...
- Lady Anne BluntLady Anne BluntAnne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth , known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The two married on 8 June 1869...
- Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness WentworthJudith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness WentworthJudith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth also known as Lady Wentworth was a British peeress, Arabian horse breeder and tennis player...