Humbert Wolfe CB

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(5 January 1885 – 5 January 1940) was an Italian-born British poet,

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

and civil servant.

Biography

Humbert Wolfe was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy, and came from a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family background,"Wolfe, Humbert" in Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, ''Twentieth Century Authors, A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature'', (Third Edition). New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1950, (pp. 1540-1) his father, Martin Wolff, being of German descent and his mother, Consuela, ''née'' Terraccini, Italian. He was brought up in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

and was a pupil at

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational private day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination. For the sixth form admission is based on GCSE results. The school gives means-tested ...

. Wolfe attended

Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He was one of the most popular British authors of the 1920s. He was also a translator of

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

, Edmond Fleg (1874–1963) and Eugene Heltai (Heltai Jenő). A Christian convert, he remained very aware of his Jewish heritage. His career was in the Civil Service, beginning in the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

and then in the

Ministry of Labour A ministry of labour ('' UK''), or labor ('' US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, and s ...

. By 1940 he had a position of high responsibility. His work was recognised with a

and then a CB. Wolfe said in an interview with ''Twentieth Century Authors'' that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished." Wolfe's verses have been set to music by a number of composers, including

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

in his ''12 Humbert Wolfe Songs'', Op. 48 (1929). He had a long-term affair with the novelist

Pamela Frankau Pamela Sydney Frankau (3 January 1908 – 8 June 1967) was a popular English novelist from a prominent artistic and literary family. She was abandoned by her novelist father Gilbert Frankau at an early age, and she became a prolific writer. Sh ...

, while remaining married. He died on his 55th birthday. Though his works are little read today, the following

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

from ''The Uncelestial City'' continues to be widely known and quoted: : :You cannot hope ::to bribe or twist, :thank God! the ::British journalist. :But, seeing what ::the man will do :unbribed, there's ::no occasion to. In 2014–2015, five busts of the poet were created and sited by sculptor Anthony Padgett to mark the 75th anniversary of Wolfe's death. The sculptures have been sited where Wolfe died in London – 75 Eccleston Square, where he studied – Wadham College Oxford, where there is a collection of his manuscripts –

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

and where he grew up – Bradford Library and

Works

*
London Sonnets
' (1920) *
Shylock Reasons with Mr. Chesterton and other poems
' (1920) * ''Please note that a wikilink to the author's article on abour Supply and Regulationin B1922is not available'' *
Circular Saws
' (1923) *
Labour Supply and Regulation
' (1923) *''The Lilac'' (1924) *''Lampoons'' (1925) *''The Unknown Goddess'' (1925) poems *''Humoresque'' (1926) *''News of the Devil'' (1926) poems *
Requiem
' (1927) poems *
Cursory Rhymes
' (1927) poems *
Others Abide
' (1927) translator, Ancient Greek poems *''Kensington Gardens'' (1924) *
Dialogues and Monologues
' (1928) criticism *''This Blind Rose'' (1928) poems *''Troy'' (1928) Faber & Gwyer,

Ariel poems The Ariel Poems were two series of pamphlets that contained illustrated poems published by Faber and Gwyer and later by Faber and Faber. The first series had 38 titles published between 1927 and 1931, which were printed at the Curwen Press. T ...

*''The Moon and Mrs. Misses Smith'' (1928) *''The Craft of Verse'' (1928) essay *''The Silver Cat and other poems'' (1928) *
Notes on English Verse Satire
' (1929) *
A Winter Miscellany
' (1930) editor, prose anthology, plus some original poems *''Homage to Meleager'' (1930 Limited Edition) *
Tennyson
' (1930) criticism of ''Maud'' *
The Uncelestial City
' (1930) poems *''Early Poems'' (1930) *
George Moore
' (1931) biography *''Snow'' (1931) poems *''Signpost to Poetry'' (1931) *''Reverie of Policeman: A ballet in three acts'' (1933) *''Now a Stranger'' (1933) autobiography *''Romantic and Unromantic Poetry'' (1933) *''Truffle Eater. Pretty Stories and funny pictures'' An anti-Nazi parody of the famous

Struwwelpeter ''Der Struwwelpeter'' ('Shock-Headed Peter') is an 1845 German children's book written and illustrated by Heinrich Hoffmann. It comprises ten illustrated and rhymed stories, mostly about children. Each cautionary tale has a clear moral lesson ...

, published under the alias "Oistros", with pictures by Archibald Louis Charles Savory (1933) *
Portraits by Inference
' (1934) biographical sketches *''Sonnets pour Helene'' (by

Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a " prince of poets". His works include '' Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' '' Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Discours'' (1562-1563 ...

) (1934) translator *
X at Oberammergau : A poem
' (1935) drama *''The Fourth of August'' (1935) poems *''Selected Lyrics of Heinrich Heine'' (1935) translator *''P. L. M.: Peoples Landfalls Mountains'' (1936) *''The Pilgrim's Way'' (1936) *
Personalities; a selection from the writings of A. A. Baumann
' (1936) editor, biographical sketches by Arthur A. Baumann *''The Silent Knight: A Romantic Comedy in Three Acts'' (by Eugene Heltai)(1937) *''Others Abide: Translated Greek Epigrams'' (1937) *''The Upward Anguish'' (1938) autobiography *''Out of Great Tribulation'' (1939) poems *''Kensington Gardens in War-Time'' (1940) poems *
Cyrano de Bergerac
' (1941) by

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with th ...

translator

References

Other sources

*Bagguley, Philip (1997). ''Harlequin in Whitehall: a Life of Humbert Wolfe, Poet and Civil Servant 1885-1940''. London: Nyala Publications, *Helen Ferris, ''Favorite Poems Old and New'' (1957).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Humbert 1885 births 1940 deaths Writers from Bradford Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Converts to Christianity from Judaism Civil servants in the Board of Trade Civil servants in the Ministry of Labour Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath People educated at Bradford Grammar School English male poets 20th-century English poets 20th-century English male writers