Mary, Lady MacCarthy (August 1882 – 29 December 1953) was a British writer; known for her involvement in the "

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

", and commonly called Molly.

Life

She was born Mary Josepha Warre-Cornish in Lynton, Devon; the daughter of schoolmaster and man of letters Francis Warre Warre-Cornish by his wife, Blanche. In 1906 she married the literary critic Sir

Desmond MacCarthy Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy (20 May 1877 – 7 June 1952) was a British writer and literary and dramatic critic. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, from 1896. Early life and education The son ...

, with whom she had two sons, Michael and Dermod, and a daughter, Rachel (later Lady David Cecil). Though prevented by progressive hearing-loss from full participation in group conversation, she was active in the Bloomsbury group, as demonstrated by her formation of its Memoir group and Novel group, and by coining the term "Bloomsberries" to describe its members. Her sister Cecilia married

William Wordsworth Fisher Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher (26 March 1875 – 24 June 1937) was a Royal Navy officer who captained a battleship at the Battle of Jutland and became Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Arthur Marder wrote that he was "the ...

later Admiral. Her daughter Rachel married the biographer David Cecil. She died at Hampton, Middlesex, of heart failure, and is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with her husband.

Selected works

* '' A Pier and a Band'' (1918) * '' A Nineteenth Century Childhood'' (1924) * '' Fighting Fitzgerald and Other Papers'' (1930) * '' Handicaps: Six Studies'' (1936) * '' The Festival, Etc.'' (1937)

References

Sources

* ''The Bloomsbury Group: A Collection of Memoirs and Commentary'', ed. S. P. Rosenbaum (University of Toronto Press, revised edition, 1995). * ''Clever Hearts: Desmond and Molly MacCarthy: A Biography'', by Hugh and Mirabel Cecil (Gollancz, 1990). {{DEFAULTSORT:Maccarthy, Mary 1882 births 1953 deaths Bloomsbury Group English women novelists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists Wives of knights