Theodore Watts-Dunton

Jodie Matthews (University of Huddersfield)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Sean Seeger (University of Essex)

Dates

Born 12 Oct 1832
Died 6 Jun 1914
Activity 1874-1914

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Theodore Watts-Dunton was known primarily as a literary critic for the Athenaeum and Encyclopaedia Britannica, for his romantic writing about the Romani people of England and Wales in poetry and prose fiction, and for his literary and artistic friendships, in particular his long-time support and companionship to the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne. While successful in his own lifetime, his work has fallen out of favour and is no longer generally well-known.

Walter Theodore Watts was born in 1832 in St. Ives, Huntingdonshire to John King Watts, a solicitor, and his East Anglian mother, Susannah Dunton. Theodore incorporated her surname into his own by deed poll in 1897. He was apparently enchanted by literature from a young age, with a formative experience being that of reading Spenser’s Faerie Queen. Much is made by his biographer,...

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1051 words

Citation: Matthews, Jodie. "Theodore Watts-Dunton". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 February 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4630, accessed 14 December 2025.]