Mary Hutchinson

Biography

Mary Hutchinson was born in 1889 to Sir Hugh Barnes and Winifred Strachey Barnes. As a child, she lived in India with her parents. Eventually, she was sent to a boarding school in England. She remained there until she was an adult, and in 1910 she married St John Hutchinson. Together they had one child, Jeremy Hutchinson.

Mary and St John were part of the Bloomsbury Circle, an artistic group that met in Bloomsbury from 1904 to 1940. This group included major authors such as Virginia Woolf, Clive Bell, and John Maynard Keynes. Mary’s role in the group was mainly as hostess and patron. Inspired by all the creativity around her, she wound up writing a series of short stories and essays in 1927, publishing them in a single volume entitled Fugitive Pieces.

Inspired also by the many affairs and open sexuality of the Bloomsbury Group, Mary Hutchinson entered an affair with Clive Bell, who was married at the time to Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf’s sister. Hutchinson and Bell were often seen together in Paris during the 1920s, but their relationship lasted much longer than that. Correspondence between the two lasted until his death in 1964. She was also good friends with T. S. and Vivienne Eliot, remaining friends with the latter even after her divorce with T. S. Eliot.

This information about her life leads to a better understanding of the short story “War.” In it, the main characters both take part in affairs. They also decide to go to Paris, because that is where more of the action will be taking place. Mary was in Paris with Clive Bell around the time that this short story was written. There is also hint of same-sex attraction, which goes along with the ideas and practices of the Bloomsbury Group.