| 1851 | Born (11 June) in Hobart, Tasmania, the first of nine children of Thomas Arnold, Jr., and Julia Sorell Arnold. |
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| 1856 | Tom Arnold joins the Catholic Church (12 January). Arnold family removes to England, arriving in London 17 October and living first with the Arnolds at Fox How in Ambleside, Westmoreland. When Mary's parents and siblings move to Dublin, Ireland, Mary remains with her grandmother and aunt. |
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| 1858 | Enters as boarder at Anne Clough's school for girls, Eller How, Ambleside. |
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| 1861 | Enters as boarder at Miss Davies's Rock Terrace School for Young Ladies, Shropshire. |
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| 1862 | Family move from Dublin to Birmingham, where Tom Arnold teaches at Newman's Oratory School, which Mary's brothers Willy and Theodore attend. |
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| 1865 | Enters Miss May's boarding school, Clifton. Tom Arnold leaves the Catholic Church and moves the family to Oxford. |
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| 1867 | Leaves school, joins family in Oxford. Begins the study of medieval Spain under the guidance of Mark Pattison. Other Oxford influences include philosophers Benjamin Jowett and T.H. Green, and critic Walter Pater. |
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| 1870 | "A Westmoreland Story," Mary Arnold's first publication, appears in the Churchman's Companion. |
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| 1871 | Meets Thomas Humphry Ward, Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, in January and becomes engaged in June. Her first articles are published. |
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| 1872 | Marries (6 April). During the early years of her marriage, Mary writes and publishes literary criticism. |
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| 1874 | Dorothy Mary Ward born. |
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| 1876 | Tom Arnold rejoins the Catholic Church and returns to Dublin; Julia Arnold remains in Oxford. Arnold Sandwith Ward born. |
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| 1877 | Elected secretary of Association of the Education of Women. Invited to contribute articles about medieval Spanish ecclesiastics to The Dictionary of Christian Biography; writes 209 entries by 1882. |
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| 1879 | Somerville Hall, one of the first two women's colleges at Oxford University, opens; Janet Penrose Ward (later Trevelyan) born. |
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| 1881 | The Wards move to London, where Humphry writes for the Times while Mary writes nonfiction and a children's book, Milly and Olly, published in December. |
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| 1883 | Arnold Toynbee (the inspiration for Edward Hallin) dies. |
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| 1884 | Miss Bretherton, Mary Ward's first novel, published. |
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| 1888 | Robert Elsmere is published and becomes a best seller. Ward's mother and her Uncle, Matthew Arnold, die. |
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| 1889 | "An Appeal Against Female Suffrage" published in The Nineteenth Century. |
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| 1890 | Ward and a committee organize and open University Hall, a settlement house. |
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| 1891 | Gertrude Ward, Mary's sister in law and secretary, enters training to be a district nurse. |
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| 1892 | The History of David Grieve published. The Wards lease Stocks, a country house in Hertfordshire, near the site of a December 1891 murder of two gamekeepers by poachers. (The Wards purchase the house in 1896). |
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| 1894 | Marcella published (3 April). Birth of nephew Aldous Huxley, named for the hero of Marcella, to Mary's sister, Julia Arnold Huxley. |
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| 1895 | The Story of Bessie Costrell published. |
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| 1897 | After years of planning and fundraising, Ward's settlement building, named for benefactor Passmore Edwards, opens in the Bloomsbury district of London. Saturday "Play Centres" are organized for children; after school play centres follow. |
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| 1896 | Sir George Tressady, sequel to Marcella, published. |
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| 1898 | Helbeck of Bannisdale published. |
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| 1899 | A school for handicapped children is opened at the Passmore Edwards Centre. |
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| 1900 | Eleanor published. "Haworth Edition" of The Life and Works of The Sisters Brontė, with introductions by Mary Ward, published. Mary Ward's father dies. |
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| 1903 | Lady Rose's Daughter published. |
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| 1905 | The Marriage of William Ashe published. |
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| 1906 | Fenwick's Career published. |
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| 1908 | Mary, accompanied by Humphry and daughter Dorothy, gives lecture tour in US and Canada, and meets Theodore Roosevelt. Women's National Anti-Suffrage League formed, with Mary Ward as secretary. Diana Mallory (US title, The Testing of Diana Mallory) published. |
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| 1909 | Daphne (US title, Marriage (à la Mode) published. |
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| 1910 | Canadian Born (US title, Lady Merton, Colonist) published. |
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| 1911 | The Case of Richard Meynell (sequel to Robert Elsmere) published. Westmoreland Edition of Ward's collected works (US title, The Autograph Edition) published. |
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| 1913 | The Mating of Lydia and The Coryston Family published. |
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| 1914 | Delia Blanchflower published. |
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| 1915 | Eltham House published. |
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| 1916 | Novels A Great Success and Lady Connie published. At Theodore Roosevelt's suggestion, Ward visits munitions factories and the battle front to write a series of articles about the War, published in US newspapers and in the book England's Effort. |
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| 1917 | Additional tours of factories and battle zones are recorded in Towards the Goal. War novel Missing is published. |
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| 1918 | The War and Elizabeth (US title, Elizabeth's Campaign) and memoirs, A Writer's Recollections, published. Women's suffrage bill passed by Parliament. |
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| 1919 | Tours of French and Belgian battlefields recorded in Fields of Victory. Cousin Philip (US title, Helena) published. Impoverished by high war taxes, poor sales of her books, and their son's gambling debts, the Wards sell their London home and many of the furnishings of Stocks (Stocks is sold in 1921). Mary Ward's health degenerates. |
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| 1920 | Mary Ward accepts invitation to be among the first seven woman magistrates in England. Humphry Ward undergoes emergency liver surgery (he lives until 1926). Mary Ward dies of heart failure on 24 March. Harvest published posthumously. |
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| 1921 | The Passmore Edwards Centre is renamed The Mary Ward Centre. |