Violet Hunt
Isobel Violet Hunt (1862-1942) was an English writer known for her contributions to supernatural fiction and her complex personal life. Born in Durham to a family deeply involved in the arts—her father was a Pre-Raphaelite painter and her mother a novelist—Hunt initially pursued a path as an artist but ultimately became a published author in 1894. She is particularly noted for her biography of Elizabeth Siddal, which controversially portrayed Siddal's husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in a negative light. Throughout her life, Hunt had notable relationships with prominent literary figures such as H.G. Wells and Somerset Maugham and was friends with Oscar Wilde, who allegedly proposed to her when she was a teenager.
Hunt's personal relationships often drew public attention, particularly her long-term affair with Ford Madox Heuffer, which was complicated by his marital status and legal troubles. Beyond her tumultuous romantic life, Hunt was an active member of the Women Writer's Suffrage League and produced a wide range of literary works, including novels, short stories, and nonfiction. Her legacy includes significant contributions to literature, with some of her works continuing to be studied and appreciated today.
Subject Terms
Violet Hunt
British novelist and biographer.
- Born: September 28, 1862
- Birthplace: Durham, England
- Died: January 16, 1942
- Place of death:London, England
Biography
Isobel Violet Hunt was born on September 28, 1862, in Durham, England. Her father was Alfred William Hunt, a Pre-Raphaelite painter who specialized in landscapes, and her mother, Margaret Hunt, was a novelist. Her sister Venetia married William Arthur Smith Benson, a famous designer. The family moved to London in 1865, and Hunt was groomed to be an artist like her father, but instead chose to become a writer.
Influenced by the works of her friend Henry James, Hunt began writing for publication 1894. One of her best-known efforts is a biography of artist and model Elizabeth Siddell. The book, which cast Siddell’s husband Dante Gabriel Rossetti in a bad light, is considered to be biased based on Hunt’s dislike of the man. Through the course of her career, she had relationships with H. G. Wells and Somerset Maugham, and was friends with Oscar Wilde, who she claims proposed to her in 1879. Hunt is also reported to be the inspiration for Nora Nesbit in Maugham’s novel Of Human Bondage.
Hunt lived with a married man, author Ford Madox Heuffer, from 1910 to 1918. Heuffer wrote more than sixty works under the name Ford Madox Ford. Heuffer’s wife refused to grant him a divorce, and an after a failed attempt to gain German citizenship so they could marry, Heuffer was briefly imprisoned for bigamy in 1911. The relationship ended badly, and in 1925, Hunt was legally barred from referring to herself as Heuffer’s wife.
Hunt is noted for her supernatural fiction, and was sometimes referred to as "Violent Hunt." She was a member of the Women Writer’s Suffrage League, and her life has been documented in three different biographies. Hunt died on January 16, 1942.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
The Maiden's Progress, 1894
A Hard Woman, 1895
The Way of Marriage, 1896
Unkist, Unkind!, 1897
The Human Interest, 1899
Affairs of the Heart, 1900
The Celebrity at Home, 1904
Sooner or Later, 1904
The Cat, 1905
The Workaday Woman, 1906
White Rose of Weary Leaf, 1908
The Wife of Altamont, 1910
The Doll, 1911
The Governess, 1912 (with Margaret Raine Hunt)
The Celebrity's Daughter, 1913
The Desirable Alien, 1913 (with Ford Madox Ford)
The House of Many Mirrors, 1915
Zeppelin Nights: A London Entertainment, 1916 (with Ford Madox Ford)
Their Lives, 1916
The Last Ditch, (1918)
Their Hearts, 1921
Nonfiction:
The Wife of Rossetti, 1932
The Flurried Years, 1926 (published in United States as I Have This to Say, 1982)
Return of the Good Soldier: Ford Madox Ford and Violet Hunt's 1917 Diary, 1983 (with Ford Madox Ford)
Short Fiction (horror):
Tales of the Uneasy, 1911
Tiger Skin, 1924
More Tales of the Uneasy, 1925
Bibliography
Belford, Barbara. Violet: The Story of the Irrepressible Violet Hunt and Her Circle of Lovers and Friends—For Madox Ford, H. G. Wells, Somerset Maugham, and Henry James. Simon & Schuster, 1990. A biography of Hunt, covering her life and career with a focus on her circle of personal associations with other literary figures, making good use of Hunt's extensive diaries.
Hardwick, Joan. An Immodest Violet: The Life of Violet Hunt. Deutsch, 1990. A standard biography of Hunt's life as a writer and social figure.
Hunt, Violet. I Have This to Say. AMS, 1982. Hunt's autobiography, republished for the US market.
Johnson, George M. Late-Victorian and Edwardian British Novelists. Gale Research, 1999. This reference book includes basic information on Hunt.
Wiesenfarth, Joseph. Ford Madox Ford and the Regiment of Women: Violet Hunt, Jean Rhys, Stella Bowen, Janice Biala. U of Wisconsin P, 2005. This biography of Ford pays particular attention to his relationships with women, including Hunt.