The life of a tragic 20th Century icon
Virginia Woolf was a literary giant of the 20th Century but was equally controversial and known for more than her written words.
Born Adeline Virginia Stephen at the family home at Hyde Park Gate, Kensington, London on 25th January 1882, Virginia was the youngest daughter in an upper middle class, Victorian family. At that time daughters from such families were expected to grow into young ladies, take part in the London “Season” at 18 and marry well. Formal education and a career were not a childhood focus for even intelligent women of Virginia’s social standing; that was left to the men in the family usually reducing the women to running the home, pregnancies and child care. Virginia and her sister,Vanessa, had different ideas and craved independence to be themselves.
Poor mental health and family trauma
Yet Virginia presented as “fragile” from a young age and much of her life was punctuated by periods of psychiatric intervention. Her long history of poor mental health has been a source of fact but also misunderstanding, speculation and often unhelpful medical and care interventions which, at times, reduced her to being an invalid. However, Virginia suffered family traumas which coloured her early years. Her mother, Julia, died in 1895 and her beloved, elder half-sister, Stella Duckworth, who took over the younger children’s care after their mother’s death, died in 1897 shortly after her own marriage took place. Her father, Leslie Stephen, died in 1904 and her favourite brother, Thoby, in 1906. At the same time throughout her life, Virginia also alluded to sexual abuse during her childhood by her older half-brothers, Gerald and George Duckworth, sons of her mother’s first marriage. These allegations have never been conclusively substantiated but they remained an on-going, stressful reality for Virginia. Today they may have prompted investigation; then they were quietly suppressed or ignored to maintain “respectability” within the family and their social circle.
The Bloomsbury Set
After the death of their father, Vanessa and Virginia left Kensington for cheaper Bloomsbury. As young single women, they were determined to make their own way in the world of art for Vanessa and literature for Virginia. At the sisters’ new home, the “Bloomsbury Group” originated as a regular meeting of friends and intellectuals. It attracted artists, writers and critics and set up projects such as the Omega Gallery to promote members’ work. It was here in Bloomsbury that Vanessa could develop her creative output and gain more recognition.
Leonard Woolf, who became Virginia’s husband, was a colonial administrator in the then Ceylon. He came from a Jewish family who resided in Putney. Leonard associated with members of the “Bloomsbury Group” through which he met Virginia, although he had admired her for years. By the time she was 30, Virginia had already resisted offers of marriage from several suitors, but she did eventually accept Leonard and they married on 10th August 1912 at St. Pancras Register Office. Marie Woolf, Leonard’s mother, was not supportive of the marriage and did not attend. Others were concerned how Virginia would cope with the demands of marriage and domestic responsibilities.
Not surprisingly, there has been frequent speculation for decades about the couple’s marital relationship. Due to her fragile mental health, Virginia and Leonard were advised not to have children. It has also been claimed, but unresolved, that the marriage was never consummated. Virginia certainly had close relationships with other women, notably Vita Sackville-West, and it is possible she found heterosexual relationships difficult, although she seemed not to be adverse to the possibility of marriage as a young woman. Yet, Leonard stood by her and became her mentor, protector and carer for the rest of their married life as well as publishing much of her writing.
The Sussex connection
To help her often poor mental state and having to cope with the stresses of living and working in London, Virginia was encouraged to spend time in the country. Therefore, in 1911, she took a year’s lease on Little Talland House at Firle in East Sussex. In 1912, after their marriage, Leonard and Virginia leased 18th Century Asheham House (now demolished) at nearby Beddingham on the Lewes – Seaford road. In 1919, when that lease ended, Leonard and Virginia purchased Monk’s House, a weatherboard and brick residence at Rodmell near Lewes within a reasonable distance of Vanessa’s home with her children and the painter Duncan Grant at Charleston Farm House in Firle village. Although the couple always maintained a London residence, where Leonard ran the Hogarth Press, Monk’s House remained their home.
It was at Monk’s House that Virginia wrote many of her major works beginning with “Jacob’s Room” and including “To the Lighthouse”, “Orlando”, and “A Room of One’s Own” before finishing with “ Between the Acts” in 1941. She had a writing hut in the garden where she could enjoy the weather as well as work. Despite her success, writing was stressful for Virginia and forthcoming publication deadlines could make her fearful. The need to deal with not always favourable literary criticism deeply affected Virginia’s precarious mental health and often precipitated a period of mental deterioration. However, this did not preclude entertaining friends, who came to stay during the summer and regular visits to Vanessa’s nearby home – such visits were mostly made on foot. Virginia, always an avid walker, even included parts of her routes around London in her novel “Mrs Dalloway”.
The advent of World War Two brought fresh fears for the couple. They were aware they were on a Nazi Death List as Leonard was Jewish. Living near the South Coast in war time also put more strain on Virginia’s fragile mental state especially seeing the Battle of Britain overhead and the constant fear of invasion with Sussex a prime landing area for enemy troops. On 28th March 1941, she left Monk’s House for a walk, put stones in her coat pockets and waded into the nearby river Ouse where she drowned. Her body was found three weeks later some miles downstream; the coroner’s verdict was suicide. Virginia’s ashes were interred in the garden at Monk’s House. Leonard remained at the house until his death on 14th August 1969. His ashes were interred near Virginia’s. Her literary achievements remain a constant part of British culture and appear regularly on many reading lists as well as being adapted for other genres. For many, she was a major influence on the “modern” novel.
Monk’s House is now in the care of the National Trust – see the website for details and opening times during the summer months. It is a place of pilgrimage for admirers of Virginia and the Bloomsbury Group and others from all over the World. Its size limits the number of visitors at any one time but its peace and serenity belies the traumas of a prominent English writer of the 20th Century who found solace and inspiration in her Sussex home.
Contributed by Helena Millen
Helena was born and attended school in West Sussex. Further education and a professional career prompted a move away and had no connection with the people, places and events she currently writes about. Now retired and back on the South Coast means Helena can now indulge in these interests and hopefully share them with others to enjoy and even possibly inspire.
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