HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife
Lady Anne Blunt Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth (née King-Noel; 22 September 1837 – 15 December 1917), known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in E ...
travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the
Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...
bloodlines through their farm, the
Crabbet Arabian Stud The Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was an English horse breeding farm that ran from 1878 to 1972. Its founder owners, husband and wife team Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt, decided while travelling in the Mid ...
. He was best known for his poetry, which appeared in a collected edition in 1914, and also wrote political essays and
polemics Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...
. He became additionally known for strongly
anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
views that were still uncommon in his time.


Early life

Blunt was the son of Francis Scawen Blunt, of Crabbet, by his wife Mary Chandler. Blunt was born at
Petworth House Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...
in Sussex, home of his aunt's husband
Baron Leconfield Baron Leconfield, of Leconfield in the East Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1859 for Col. George Wyndham (1787–1869). He was the eldest illegitimate son and adopted heir of Geo ...
. He served in the
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 obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...
1858–1869. He was raised in the faith of his mother, a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
convert, and educated at
Twyford School Twyford School is a co-educational, independent, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire, England. History Twyford states itself to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom. It moved to i ...
,
Stonyhurst Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is centred on Stonyhurst College, occupying the great house, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish ...
, and at
St Mary's College, Oscott St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of the three seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Purpose Oscott Co ...
. He was a cousin of
Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...
.


Personal life

In 1869 Blunt married Lady Anne Noel, daughter of the
Earl of Lovelace Earl of Lovelace was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for William King-Noel, 8th Baron King, a title created in 1725. History The King or Locke King family stems from the elevation of the son of Jerome ...
and
Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the A ...
, and granddaughter of
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
. Together the Blunts travelled through Spain, Algeria, Egypt, the
Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...
, and extensively in the Middle East and India. Based upon pure-blooded
Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...
s they obtained in Egypt and the
Nejd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
, they co-founded
Crabbet Arabian Stud The Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was an English horse breeding farm that ran from 1878 to 1972. Its founder owners, husband and wife team Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt, decided while travelling in the Mid ...
, and later bought a property near Cairo named
Sheykh Obeyd Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
to house their horse-breeding operation in Egypt.Wentworth, ''The Authentic Arabian Horse'' As an adult Blunt became an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, though he underwent episodes of faith. His writings and some of his friendships show he gained a strong serious interest in Islam. Blunt had supposedly become a convert to Islam under the influence of
al-Afghani al-Afghani () is a ''nisba'' meaning " Afghan" or from Afghanistan. It may refer to: * Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, 19th-century political activist * Abul Wafa Al-Afghani, Islamic scholar * Sa'id al-Afghani, 20th-century scholar * Dr. Muhammad Muhsin ...
. He agreed before he died to see a priest, Fr
Vincent McNabb Vincent McNabb, Ordo Praedicatorum, O.P. (8 July 1868 – 17 June 1943) was an Irish Catholics, Irish Catholic scholar and Dominican Order, Dominican priest based in London, active in evangelisation and Christian apologetics, apologetics. ...
, and receive Communion, so fulfilling a prediction of Sir William Henry Gregory, as recalled by his wife: "You will see Wilfrid will die with the wafer in his mouth." In 1882, Blunt championed the cause of Urabi Pasha, which led to him being barred from
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
for four years. Blunt was generally
anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
as a matter of belief. His support for Irish independence led to imprisonment in 1888 for chairing an anti-eviction meeting in County Galway that had been banned by the Chief Secretary,
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...
. He was held in Galway Prison, then at
Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leade ...
in Dublin.Article by Elizabeth Longford. Blunt's three attempts to enter
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
were unsuccessful. He stood as a "Tory Democrat" supporting Irish Home Rule at Camberwell North in 1885 and as a
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
at Kiddermister in 1886, where he lost by 285 votes. While in prison in Ireland, he contested a Deptford by-election in 1888, but lost by 275 votes. His most memorable line of poetry on the subject comes from ''Satan Absolved'' (1899), where the devil, answering a Kiplingesque remark by God, snaps back: "The white man's burden, Lord, is the burden of his cash." Here,
Elizabeth Longford Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, (''née'' Harman; 30 August 1906 – 23 October 2002), better known as Elizabeth Longford, was a British historian. She was a member of the Royal Society of Literature and was on the board of trustees ...
wrote, "Blunt stood
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
's familiar concept on its head, arguing that the imperialists' burden is not their moral responsibility for the colonised peoples, but their urge to make money out of them."
Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''White ...
mentions Blunt by name when describing late 19th and early 20th century Orientalist authors: " ebelieved his vision of things Oriental was individual, self-created out of some intensely personal encounter with the Orient, Islam, or the Arabs" and "expressed general contempt for official knowledge held about the East." Notably, Said marked Blunt as exceptional in not exhibiting most other Orientalists' "final...traditional Western hostility to and fear of the Orient.” Wilfrid and Lady Anne's only child to reach maturity was
Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth, (6 February 1873 – 8 August 1957) also known as Lady Wentworth, was a British peer, Arabian horse breeder and real tennis player. As the owner of the Crabbet Arabian Stud from 19 ...
, 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 mistresses, including long-term relations with a courtesan, Catherine "Skittles" Walters, and a Pre-Raphaelite beauty,
Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Willi ...
, the wife of his friend
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
. Eventually he moved another mistress, Dorothy Carleton, into his home. This triggered Lady Anne's legal separation from him in 1906. At the time, Lady Anne signed a Deed of Partition drawn up by Wilfrid, under terms unfavourable to Lady Anne, whereby 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 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 each year in Egypt at the Sheykh Obeyd estate, moving there permanently in 1915. Due primarily to Wilfrid's manœuvring 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. As a result, Lady Anne's share of the Crabbet Stud passed to Judith's daughters, under the oversight of an independent trustee. Blunt filed a lawsuit soon afterwards. Ownership of the Arabian horses went back and forth between the estates of father and daughter in subsequent years. Blunt sold more horses to pay off debts and shot at least four in an attempt to spite his daughter, an action which led to intervention of the trustee of the estate with a court injunction to prevent him from further "dissipating the assets" of the estate. The suit was settled in favour of the granddaughters in 1920 and Judith bought their share from the trustee, combining it with her own and reuniting the stud. Father and daughter briefly were reconciled shortly before Wilfrid Scawen Blunt's death in 1922, but his promise to rewrite his will to restore Judith's inheritance was not kept. Blunt was a friend of
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, aiding him in a 1906 biography of his father,
Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He inspired a generation of party managers, created the National Union of ...
, Blunt having befriended him years earlier in 1883 at a chess tournament.


Work in Africa

In the early 1880s, Britain was increasing its influence in Egypt. It established a "veiled protectorate" through military occupation in 1882. In the autumn of 1881, Wilfrid Blunt's ship ran aground in the Suez Canal. Rather than remain idle at Suez for a few days, Blunt visited friends in Cairo. It is untrue that "he was sent to notify Sir Edward Malet, the British agent, of Egyptian public opinion about the recent changes in government and development policies." Blunt was in Cairo by accident and, again by accident, met Sheikh al Jasraji, who was close to
Ahmed 'Urabi Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the v ...
. Blunt then met his old friend Malet, the British Consul General, and began to play the role of intermediary. In mid-December 1881, Blunt met with 'Urabi, known as Arabi or "El Wahid" (the Only One) due to his popularity with the Egyptians. 'Urabi was impressed with Blunt's enthusiasm and appreciation of
Egyptian culture The culture of Egypt has thousands of years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations in the world. For millennia, Egypt developed strikingly unique, complex and stable cultures that influenced other cultures of Europ ...
. Blunt was under the influence of Afghani's disciple,
Muhammad Abduh ; "The Theology of Unity") , alma_mater = Al-Azhar University , office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt , term1 = 1899 – 1905 , Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya , disciple_of = , awards = , infl ...
and had recently written some articles on the Future of Islam. Their mutual respect helped 'Urabi to explain peacefully the reasoning behind his new nationalist 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 Ottoman oligarchy. Wilfrid Blunt was not vital in the relay of this information to the British Consul General in Egypt, as everybody in Egypt knew that the indigenous Egyptians resented foreigners – whether they were Muslim Turko-Circassian or Christian Greek, Italian or Armenian – who were growing rich while the natives remained in poverty. Blunt felt he had been used by Malet and Colvin who were only pretending to be sympathetic to the Nationalists. However, Malet, Colvin, Cromer and other British officials dismissed Blunt as a romantic idealist of a quixotic type. Indeed, his own claim to be for Arabs what Byron had been to the Greeks, was sufficient to make him utterly ridiculous to the British public because he was not a good poet, whereas Byron was one of the greatest British poets of all time. After the
conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
, Blunt was banned from Egypt, while Urabi was exiled to Ceylon. Blunt remained vigorously opposed to colonial expansion in Africa, writing three books outlining his views: ''The Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt...'' (1907), ''Gordon at Khartoum'' (1911), and ''My Diaries: Being a Personal Narrative of Events, 1888-1914'' (2 vols. 1919–1920). Historian Robert O. Collins wrote, The most vigorous English advocate of Egyptian nationalism, Blunt was both arrogant and irascible, his works scathing, discursive, and at times utterly ridiculous. Immature and unfair, both he and his writings must be used with caution, but even the dullest of men will come away stimulated if not aroused and with fresh insights to challenge the sometimes smug attitudes of British officials in Whitehall and Cairo. Of course, to them Blunt was anathema if not disloyal and Edward Mallet, the British Consul-General at Cairo from 1879 to 1883, replied to Blunt's charges in his posthumously published ''Egypt, 1879-1883'' (London, 1909).


Egyptian Garden scandal

In 1901, a pack of foxhounds was shipped to Cairo to entertain the army officers. A fox hunt then took place in the desert near Cairo. The fox was chased into Blunt's garden, and the hounds and hunt followed it. As well as a house and garden, the land contained the Blunts'
Sheykh Obeyd Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation o ...
, housing a number of valuable
Arabian horse The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...
s. Blunt's staff challenged the trespassers – who, though army officers, were not in uniform – and beat them when they refused to turn back. For this, the staff were accused of assault against army officers and imprisoned. Blunt made strenuous efforts to free his staff, much to the embarrassment of the British army officers and civil servants involved.


Bibliography

*''Sonnets and Songs. By Proteus''. John Murray, 1875 *Aubrey de Vere (ed.): ''Proteus and Amadeus: A Correspondence'' Kegan Paul, 1878 *''The Love Sonnets of Proteus''. Kegan Paul, 1881 *'' The Future of Islam'' Kegan Paul, Trench, London 1882 *''Esther'' (1892) *''Griselda'' Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1893 *''The Quatrains of Youth'', 1898 *''Satan Absolved: A Victorian Mystery''. J. Lane, London 1899 *''Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia'', 1903 *''Atrocities of Justice under the English Rule in Egypt'' T. F. Unwin, London, 1907 *''Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt'' Knopf, 1907 *'' India under Ripon; A Private Diary''Note: Ripon refers to
George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, (24 October 1827 – 9 July 1909), styled Viscount Goderich from 1833 to 1859 and known as the Earl of Ripon in 1859 and as the Earl de Grey and Ripon from 1859 to 1871, was a British po ...
T. Fisher Unwin, London 1909 *''
Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...
at Khartoum''. S. Swift, London 1911 *''The Land War in Ireland''. S. Swift, London 1912 *''The Poetical Works''. 2 vols. . Macmillan, London 1914 *''My Diaries: Being a Personal Narrative of Events, 1888-1914''. Secker, London 1919-1921; 2 vols. Knopf, New York 1921 *''Poems''. Knopf, New York 1923; Macmillan, London 1923.


See also

*
Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...


Notes


References and further reading

*Luisa Villa, "A 'Political Education': Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, the Arabs and the Egyptian Revolution (1881–82)", ''
Journal of Victorian Culture The ''Journal of Victorian Culture'' is a quarterly academic journal of cultural history. Established in 1996 and published by Oxford University Press, it tries to promote the best work on all aspects of nineteenth-century society, culture, and t ...
'' 17.1 (2012): 46–63 *Edmund King GC., "Radicalism in the Margins: The Politics of Reading Wilfrid Scawen Blunt in 1920." ''Journal of British Studies'' 55.3 (2016): 501–51
online
*Frank C. Sharp and Jan Marsh (2012), ''The Collected Letters of Jane Morris'', Boydell & Brewer, London *Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1979), ''The Authentic Arabian Horse,'' 3rd ed., London: George Allen & Unwin * The Earl of Lytton (1961), ''Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. A Memoir by his Grandson'', London: Macdonald * includes some poems * * Blunt's political activities in the Middle East, by
Martin Kramer Martin Seth Kramer (Hebrew: מרטין קרמר; born September 9, 1954, Washington, D.C.) is an American-Israeli scholar of the Middle East at Tel Aviv University and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. His focus is on the history an ...


External links

* * * *
The Penetration of Arabia: A Record of the Development of Western Knowledge Concerning the Arabian Peninsula
' from 1904 features Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
The Papers of Wilfrid Blunt
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen 1840 births 1922 deaths 19th-century English poets English atheists English Roman Catholics British diplomats Victorian poets People educated at Stonyhurst College Alumni of St Mary's College, Oscott People from Petworth People educated at Twyford School English male poets Arabian breeders and trainers