Maisie Ward
Encyclopedia
Maisie Ward scion of one of Britain's distinguished Catholic families, was a writer, publisher, and speaker.
, her reputation has dimmed in subsequent decades. That is an ironic development given that she and her husband were ahead of their time in so many ways, foreshadowing most of what was good about the Second Vatican Council
.
Maisie Ward hailed from genteel Victorian blue blood, but she literally earned her own stripes, first as a World War I nurse and then as a writer. She could claim author's rights to the first and only authorized biography of friend G. K. Chesterton
– a book which, to this day, remains as galvanizing on its subject as is Chesterton’s own on St. Thomas Aquinas
. And she also wrote widely in other areas, including New Testament scholarship, spirituality, and substantive biographies of Newman, her own father, and Robert Browning
. Also falling under her pen's purview were the stories of countless saints and lesser notables, among them her personal friend, the accomplished writer and mystic Caryll Houselander
(another wrongly overlooked voice).
In 1926 she and her husband, Frank Sheed
, moved to London and founded Sheed & Ward. Words were the couple’s stock in trade. The amount and quality of what they wrote, spoke, translated and edited are a tribute to the contagious enthusiasm born of their felicitous pairing.
The couple have sometimes been cited as a modern Catholic example of street preaching
.
, father of Sir Henry George Ward
and grandfather of Dudley Ward; the great-granddaughter of William Ward
, and of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk
and Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons; the granddaughter of William George Ward
, and of James Hope-Scott
and Lady Victoria Alexandrina Fitzalan-Howard; the niece of James Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour; and the daughter of Wilfrid Philip Ward
and the novelist Josephine Mary Hope-Scott Ward.
Maisie and Frank's son, Wilfrid Sheed
was also a writer, and their daughter, Rosemary Sheed was a translator.
Life
Famous in her day as one of the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as a forceful public lecturer in the Catholic Evidence GuildCatholic Evidence Guild
The Catholic Evidence Guild is a loose international association of Roman Catholic lay volunteers which seeks to research and present clear and compelling explanations of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. The organisation was founded in the Diocese of Westminster, England towards the end...
, her reputation has dimmed in subsequent decades. That is an ironic development given that she and her husband were ahead of their time in so many ways, foreshadowing most of what was good about the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
.
Maisie Ward hailed from genteel Victorian blue blood, but she literally earned her own stripes, first as a World War I nurse and then as a writer. She could claim author's rights to the first and only authorized biography of friend G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
– a book which, to this day, remains as galvanizing on its subject as is Chesterton’s own on St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
. And she also wrote widely in other areas, including New Testament scholarship, spirituality, and substantive biographies of Newman, her own father, and Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
. Also falling under her pen's purview were the stories of countless saints and lesser notables, among them her personal friend, the accomplished writer and mystic Caryll Houselander
Caryll Houselander
Caryll Houselander , lay Roman Catholic ecclesiastical artist, mystic, popular religious writer and poet.-Early life:...
(another wrongly overlooked voice).
In 1926 she and her husband, Frank Sheed
Frank Sheed
Frank Sheed, in full, Francis Joseph Sheed, , an Australian-born lawyer, was, like his wife Maisie Ward, a writer, publisher, and speaker. Famous in their day as the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as forceful public lecturers in the Catholic Evidence Guild, their reputations have dimmed...
, moved to London and founded Sheed & Ward. Words were the couple’s stock in trade. The amount and quality of what they wrote, spoke, translated and edited are a tribute to the contagious enthusiasm born of their felicitous pairing.
The couple have sometimes been cited as a modern Catholic example of street preaching
Open-air preaching
Open-air preaching, street preaching or public preaching is the act of publicly proclaiming a religious message to crowds of people in open places...
.
Family
Ward was the great-great-grandniece of Robert Plumer WardRobert Plumer Ward
Robert Ward or from 1828 Robert Plumer Ward , novelist and politician, born in London, educated at Oxford, and called to the Bar 1790, held various political offices, and wrote some books on the law of nations; also three novels, Tremaine, or the Man of Refinement, full of prolix discussions; De...
, father of Sir Henry George Ward
Henry George Ward
Sir Henry George Ward GCMG was an English diplomat and politician. The son of politician and, in his retirement, writer Robert Ward and his first wife Catherine Julia Maling, and the cousin of William Ward and William George Ward, he entered the diplomatic service in 1816...
and grandfather of Dudley Ward; the great-granddaughter of William Ward
William Ward (cricketer)
William Ward was a noted English cricketer. He came from an affluent family which owned property on the Isle of Wight. He was educated at Winchester College, and then received financial training in Antwerp.-Life and career:William Ward was a prominent right-handed batsman and an occasional slow...
, and of Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, Chief Butler of England was the son of Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower...
and Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons; the granddaughter of William George Ward
William George Ward
William George Ward was an English Roman Catholic theologian and mathematician whose career illustrates the development of religious opinion at a time of crisis in the history of English religious thought....
, and of James Hope-Scott
James Hope-Scott
James Robert Hope-Scott was a British barrister and Tractarian.-Early life and conversion:Born at Great Marlow, in the county of Buckinghamshire, and christened James Robert Hope, he was the third son of Sir Alexander Hope, and grandson of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun...
and Lady Victoria Alexandrina Fitzalan-Howard; the niece of James Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour; and the daughter of Wilfrid Philip Ward
Wilfrid Philip Ward
Wilfrid Philip Ward was an English essayist and biographer.-Biography:He was born in 1856 at Old Hall, Ware, Hertfordshire to William George Ward. He attended St. Edmund's College in Ware, Hertfordshire; Ushaw College, in Durham, England; and Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Afterward, he...
and the novelist Josephine Mary Hope-Scott Ward.
Maisie and Frank's son, Wilfrid Sheed
Wilfrid Sheed
Wilfrid John Joseph Sheed was an English-born American novelist and essayist.Sheed was born in London to Francis "Frank" Sheed and Mary "Maisie" Ward, prominent Roman Catholic publishers in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid-20th century...
was also a writer, and their daughter, Rosemary Sheed was a translator.
Works
- Gilbert Keith Chesterton
- Carryll Houselander: That Divine Eccentric
- Unfinished Business [autobiography], New York: Sheed & Ward, 1963.
- The Authenticity of the Gospels
- Catholic Evidence Training Outlines
- Robert Browning and His World: His Private Face
- The Wilfrid Wards and the Transition, London: Sheed & Ward, 1934.
- Insurrection vs. Resurrection, London: Sheed & Ward, 1937.
- The Oxford Groups
- To and Fro on the Earth: A Sequel to an Autobiography, New York: Sheed & Ward, 1973.
Further reading
- Dana Greene, The Living of Maisie Ward. University of Notre Dame Press (April 1997).
- Frank Sheed, The Church and I, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974.
- Wilfrid Sheed, Frank and Maisie: A Memoir with Parents, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.