Mary or Violet Hobhouse (8 June 1864 – 24 August 1901) was an Irish poet and novelist.

Life

Mary Hobhouse was born Mary Violet McNeill on 8 June 1864 in London. She was the second daughter of land agent and deputy lord lieutenant of County Antrim, Edmund McNeill and his wife Mary (née Miller). She was one of ten children, with only three surviving to adulthood. The family moved from her mother's home of Ballycastle, County Antrim in 1866 to a newly built mansion, Craigdunn near

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

. She started writing as a young woman, reading widely on Irish tradition, language and folklore, producing her own patriotic lyrics and translations from Irish. Hobhouse was an ardent unionist, and spoke in England against

Irish home rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...

during the 1887 and 1888 elections. She married Walter Hobhouse (1862–1928) in July 1887. He was a student at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

who went on to be ordained and along with other appointments, was a headmaster of Durham School, archdeacon of

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre. History Aston wa ...

, and the canon residentiary of Gloucester. The couple had two sons and a daughter. After her marriage, Hobhouse continued to write, including two novels: ''An unknown quantity'' in 1898 and ''Warp and weft'' in 1899. Hobhouse and her family lived in England for many years, she regularly visited the family home in Antrim. She died at her home, 82 Onslow Gardens, London on 24 August 1901 having contracted tuberculosis. Her husband prepared a volume of her devotional poetry, ''Speculum animae'', which was circulated amongst her friends.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobhouse, Mary 1864 births 1901 deaths People from County Antrim 19th-century Irish poets 19th-century Irish writers 19th-century Irish women writers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Irish unionists Tuberculosis deaths in England