Desmond MacCarthy

Grave of Desmond and Mary MacCarthy

Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy FRSL (20 May 1877–7 June 1952) was a British literary critic and journalist; he was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, from 1896.

Early life and education

The son of Charles Desmond MacCarthy, M.A., and a descendant of the MacCarthy Kings of Desmond,[1][2] MacCarthy was born on 20 May 1877[3] in Plymouth, Devon, and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.[4] At Cambridge he got to know Lytton Strachey, Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore.

Career

Though often thought to be a member of the "Bloomsbury Group", MacCarthy in fact had a wider circle of friends, including Logan Pearsall Smith.

In 1903 he became a journalist, with moderate success.

For part of the First World War he worked in Naval Intelligence.

In 1917 he joined the New Statesman as drama critic, and in 1920 became its literary editor. He wrote a weekly column under the pen-name "The Affable Hawk". During this time he recruited Cyril Connolly to the paper.

By 1928 he was losing interest in the New Statesman, and became the first editor of Life and Letters.[5] Other periodicals he was associated with were New Quarterly and Eye Witness. MacCarthy became a literary critic for the Sunday Times, and several volumes of his collected criticism were published.

He was author of the short ghost story "Pargiton and Harby", reprinted in the Fourth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories.

Personal life

In 1906 MacCarthy married Mollie, the daughter of Francis Warre Warre-Cornish. She was a respected literary figure in her own right. Her sister Cecilia married William Wordsworth Fisher. The MacCarthys' daughter Rachel married the literary historian Lord David Cecil; their son was the actor Jonathan Cecil. He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife.

Works

References

  1. ↑ Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 1902, pg 15
  2. ↑ Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, John O'Hart, 5th ed., 1892, MACCARTHY DUNA (NO.9) Of Ballyneadig and Lyradane pedigree
  3. ↑ Birth Certificate GRO
  4. ↑ "MacCarthy, Charles Otto Desmond (MRTY894CO)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ↑ Jeremy Lewis Cyril Connolly: A Life Jonathan Cape 1997

Further reading

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