Hubert Bland
| Hubert Bland | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 3 January 1855 Woolwich, south-east London |
| Died |
14 April 1914 (aged 59) Well Hall House, Eltham |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Journalist, author |
| Known for | Socialism, writings, infidelity |
Hubert Bland (3 January 1855 – 14 April 1914) was the husband of Edith Nesbit and was known for being an infamous libertine, a journalist, an early English socialist, and one of the founders of the Fabian Society.
Bland was born in Woolwich, south-east London, the youngest of the four children of Henry Bland, a successful commercial clerk, and his wife Mary Ann. He received his formal education in local schools.
He was baptised on 14 March 1855 at St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich.
As a young man, Bland, showed his “passion was for politics” by his “strong interest in the political ideas raised at social protest meetings.”
Bland wanted to attend the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and become an army officer, but there was not enough money after his father's death, so he went to work as a bank clerk. Later, he went into a brush-making business that failed. After that, he worked as secretary to the General Hydraulic Power Company, parent company of the London Hydraulic Power Company.
In 1877, he met 19-year-old Edith Nesbit (1858-1924). They married on 22 April 1880 with Edith already seven months pregnant. They did not immediately live together as Bland initially continued to live with his mother. According to biographer, Julia Briggs,
Bland continued to spend half of each week with his widowed mother and her paid companion, Maggie Doran,
who also had a son by him, though Edith did not realize this until later that summer when Bland fell ill with smallpox.
When, in 1880, Edith learned of her husband’s affair with Maggie, she made friends with her.
In 1886, Bland met Alice Hoatson, a friend of Edith, and in 1886 she became his mistress for the rest of his life. Bland had two children by Hoatson: Rosamund (b. 1886), his favourite child, and John (b. 1899). They were raised by Edith as her own.
With Nesbit, Bland produced three children: Paul (1880–1940), Iris (b. 1881) and Fabian (1885–1900), who died aged 15 from a tonsil operation performed at home. Fabian had been given food before the anaesthetic for the operation.
“The marriage between Nesbit and Bland was unconventional and would today be characterized as an open marriage.” Given Bland’s affairs and out of wedlock children, his “marriage to Edith was inevitably stormy at times.”
“Romance, in-loveness, cannot survive six weeks of the appalling intimacy of marriage. . . . The thing that should follow is friendship, . . . friendship touched by intimacy. . . . Fools may make satisfactory lovers, only the wise can make lasting friends.” — Hubert Bland on “Modern Marriage” in Letters to a Daughter, 190.
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