Margaret L. Woods
Margaret Louisa Woods was a notable English novelist and poet, born into a well-connected family in the late 19th century. Her father, George Granville Bradley, enjoyed a distinguished career as a schoolmaster and dean, which set the stage for Margaret's own educational journey at home and in a local school. At the age of twenty-three, she married Henry George Woods, a prominent figure in academia and the Church of England, who was notably young for his position as president of Trinity College, Oxford. Woods began her literary career in her early thirties, publishing her first novel, "A Village Tragedy," in 1888.
Her works often explored the lives of fascinating women from history, including Esther Vanhomrigh, the muse of Jonathan Swift, and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, showcasing her ability to weave rich narratives from both elite and underclass perspectives. In addition to her historical fiction, Woods's poetry adhered to late-Victorian conventions, though she also ventured into more innovative forms, such as her free verse meditative poem "The Builders." Throughout her career, she contributed to reputable literary publications and continued to write even as her husband shifted his focus to theology. Her literary legacy includes a collection of poems published in 1914, reflecting both her artistic explorations and personal tributes, particularly to her late husband, who passed away in 1915.
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Margaret L. Woods
Author
- Born: November 20, 1856
- Birthplace: Rugby, Warwickshire, England
- Died: December 1, 1945
- Place of death: Thursley, Surrey, England
Biography
Margaret Louisa Woods was born the daughter of George Granville and Marian Philpot Bradley. Her father rose from schoolmaster at Rugby to dean of Westminster School. Margaret was educated at home and at Miss Gawthorp’s School in Leamington. At the age of twenty-three, Margaret married Henry George Woods (1842-1915), who at thirty-seven was an unusually youthful president of Trinity College, Oxford, as a well as a minister in the Church of England.
Woods began to publish in her early thirties, beginning with the novel A Village Tragedy (1888). She wrote fictionalized historical works about two of the most interesting women of the early eighteenth century: Esther Vanhomrigh (1891), a novel about Vanessa (Esther) Vanhomrigh, the acknowledged muse of Jonathan Swift, and The Princess of Hanover (1902), a narrative poem about Sophia Dorothea, electress of Hanover and the victim of court intrigues and a disastrous marriage. From the elite, Woods could also turn her attention to the underclass, as in the novel The Vagabonds (1894) and the melodramatic narrative poem Wild Justice: A Dramatic Poem (1896), about a woman and children who survived family violence.
Woods’s ornate poetry in classical verse reflects the late-Victorian conventions of her day. More innovative is her long, meditative poem in free verse about Westminster Abbey, “The Builders,” and another work of religious meditation, Pastels Under the Southern Cross (1911), a travel narrative. Her collected poems were published in 1914. Woods contributed regularly to the London Fortnightly Review. As time went on, her husband, Henry George Woods, changed the focus of his interest from the scholarly world to theology and ministry. His theological works included Christianity and War (1916), published the year after his death, which includes an introduction by Margaret L. Woods written in tribute to him.