Leonard Woolf - Biography

Leonard Sidney Woolf (25 November 1880 – 14 August 1969) was an English political theorist, author, publisher and civil servant, and husband of author Virginia Woolf.

Early life

Woolf was born in London, the third of ten children of Solomon Rees Sydney, a Jewish barrister and Queen's Counsel and Marie (née de Jongh). After his father died in 1892, Woolf was sent to board at Arlington House School near Brighton, Sussex. From 1894 to 1899 he attended St Paul's School in London, and in 1899 won a classical scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected to the Cambridge Apostles. Other members included Lytton Strachey, John Maynard Keynes, G.E. Moore and E. M. Forster, as well as Bertrand Russell. Thoby Stephen, Virginia Stephen's brother, was friendly with the Apostles, though not a member himself. Woolf was awarded his B.A. degree in 1902 but stayed for a fifth year to study for the civil service examination.

In October 1904 Woolf moved to Sri Lanka to become a cadet in the Ceylon Civil Service, in Jaffna and later Kandy, and by August 1908 was named an assistant government agent in the Southern Province, where he administered the District of Hambantota. Woolf returned to England in May 1911 for a year's leave. Instead, he resigned in early 1912 and that same year married Adeline Virginia Stephen (Virginia Woolf).

As a couple, Leonard and Virginia Woolf became influential in the Bloomsbury group, which also included various other 'Apostles'.

Writing

After marriage, Woolf turned his hand to writing, publishing in 1913 his first novel, The Village in the Jungle, based on his years in Sri Lanka. A series of books was to follow at roughly two-year intervals. On the introduction of conscription in 1916 during World War I, Woolf was rejected for military service on medical grounds, and turned to politics and sociology. He joined the Labour Party and Fabian Society and became a regular contributor to the New Statesman. In 1916 he wrote International Government, proposing an international agency to enforce world peace.

As his wife began to suffer greatly from mental illness, Woolf devoted much of his time to caring for her (Leonard Woolf himself suffered with depression/mental illnesses). In 1917 the Woolfs bought a small, hand-operated printing press; with it they founded the famous Hogarth Press. Their first project was a pamphlet, hand-printed and bound by themselves. Within ten years, the Press had become a full-scale publishing house with a highly distinguished authors list. Woolf continued as its director until his death. His wife's mental problems continued, however, until her suicide in 1941. After Virginia Woolf's suicide, Leonard fell in love with a married artist, Trekkie Parsons.

In 1919 Woolf became editor of the International Review, and edited the international section of the Contemporary Review (1920–1922). He was literary editor of Nation Athenaeum (1923–1930), joint editor of The Political Quarterly (1931–1959), and for a time served as secretary of the Labour Party's advisory committees on international and colonial questions.

In 1960, Woolf revisited Sri Lanka and was surprised at the warmth of the welcome he received, and even the fact that he was still remembered, according to E.F.C. Ludowyk in his introduction to The Village in the Jungle.

Family

Among his nine siblings Bella was also an author.

Death

Woolf died on 14 August 1969, and was cremated with his ashes scattered on the grounds of Monk's House, Rodmell, Sussex. His papers are held by the University of Sussex.

Works

• The Village in the Jungle – 1913
• The Wise Virgins – 1914 (Republished in 2003 by Persephone Books)
• International Government – 1916
• The Future of Constantinople – 1917
• Cooperation and the Future of Industry – 1918
• Economic Imperialism – 1920
• Empire and Commerce in Africa – 1920
• Socialism and Co-operation – 1921
• Fear and Politics – 1925
• Essays on Literature, History, Politics – 1927
• Hunting the Highbrow – 1927
• Imperialism and Civilization – 1928
• After the Deluge (Principia Politica), 3 vols. – 1931, 1939, 1953
• Quack! Quack! – 1935
• Barbarians At The Gate – 1939
• The War for Peace – 1940
• A Calendar of Consolation – selected by Leonard Woolf, 1967

Autobiographical works

• Published in America as Also .
• Also (1977), (1967).
• Also
• Published in America as
• Published in America as

Biographical works on Woolf

• • Edited excerpt of book available at
  • Review of book with details about Leonard Woolf available at

Related works and cultural references

• In 1982, a film version in Sinhala of Woolf's 'Village in the Jungle', Bæddegama was released. It featured Arthur C Clarke in the role of Woolf.
• In 2002, a film version of Michael Cunningham's 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Hours was released starring Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf. The part of Leonard Woolf was played by Stephen Dillane.
• In 2005 a book titled Woolf in Ceylon was published by author Christopher Ondaatje. This is an unusual "in-the-footsteps of" book by the older brother of novelist Michael Ondaatje.

See also

• Trekkie Parsons

External links

• Works by Leonard Woolf at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions illustrated)
• (plain text and HTML)
• The Leonard Woolf fonds at the Victoria University Library at the University of Toronto consists of correspondence from Woolf to Ellen Alderm, 1935, and Mrs. Easdale, 1935, 1964–1968, primarily re submissions to Hogarth Press