THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT ALSO TO LOOK AT KIP FENN, A MAJOR NOVEL ABOUT THE 21st CENTURY
- freely available on this site
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen ___ 1840-1922
___ British ___ diplomat, writer
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Blunt was born into an old Sussex
family at Crabbet Park, but his father died when he was only two. Thereafter,
he was educated at Stonyhurst and Oscott, before entering the diplomatic
service when only 18. He served in several European capitals and in Buenos
Aires, taking full advantage of his single status in privileged society,
and publishing love sonnets. In 1869, he left his government office, married
Lady Anne Noel, Byron's granddaughter, and soon inherited Crabbet Park after
the death of his brother. Thereafter, Blunt and his wife travelled and lived
much in the Middle East, often travelling on horseback together. In 1873,
after many miscarriages and the deaths of infant babies, Anne gave birth
to Judith, her only surviving child. Blunt became increasingly outspoken
on international issues, opposing British rule in Egypt, and British policy
in the Sudan and sympathising with Muslim aspirations. His ideas were propagated
in books such as 'The Future of Islam' and 'Ideas about India'. In 1888,
he served a term in prison because of his championing of Irish home rule.
Apart from poetry and controversial ideas on foreign policy, Blunt is also
remembered for having an affair with Jane Morris, William Morris's wife,
for breeding Arab horses, and for his spicy diaries.
One biography
link
DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1888-1914 ___ political social
travel people love/sex nature horses Egypt India
WEB TEXT LINKS
substantial
extracts on Richard Burton
short references
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
West
Sussex Record Office ___ possibly
Cambridge
University: Fitzwilliam Museum
___ or possibly
SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
My Diaries: Being a Personal Narrative
of Events 1888-1914
May 2005
THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
Please
email if you have any corrections, additions or comments. |
IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS:
1) The first line of basic information
may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different
names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or
uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown,
or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British'
a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was
compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts
were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if
they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates
and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with
caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are
only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies.
4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges,
and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising.
I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some
variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited
myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their
original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the
titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries. |