Rolfe, Frederick William, 1860-1913 (writer, pseudonym Baron Corvo)
Dates
- Existence: 1860 - 1913
Biography
Frederick William Rolfe, styled Baron Corvo (1860-1913), writer, was born in London in 1860. Leaving home at 14 Rolfe worked in a succession of schools before he converted to Catholicism in 1884 and enrolled at St. Mary's College at Oscott in 1887 with the intention of joining the priesthood. Rolfe was an eccentric, arrogant, vain man who picked quarrels, bore grudges and never forgot a slight. This attitude led to his expulsion from St Mary's in 1888 and his forcible ejection from the Scots College in Rome a year later. Destitute and alone he was taken in by the duchess of Sforze-Cesarini, who gave him the title Baron Corvo before he returned to Britain in 1890. He then spent time in Christchurch, Aberdeen, Holywell workhouse and London, all the while leaving a stream of debtors and disillusioned and antagonised acquaintances behind him. Rolfe painted and worked on photographic techniques, but failed to make a success of these artforms. He managed to eke out a living through writing, contributing poems and articles to magazines. In 1898 he published Stories Toto Told Me and Chronicles of the House of Borgia in 1901. Rolfe's most successful work, Hadrian the Seventh, a semi-autobiographical work of a seminary drop-out becoming pope, was published in 1904. Rolfe left for Venice in 1908 where he lived permanently in debt and often homeless. He died of pneumonia there in 1913.
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Frederick Rolfe Baron Corvo, 1955
Correspondence between Meynell and Donald Weeks (1955). With this is an original typescript of 30 pages captioned 'Extracts from the letters of Frederick William Rolfe (Baron Corvo)' (i.e., the 'Venice letters') and a typescript transcript of a letter from Richard Whiteing to Wilfrid Meynell (1903).
Frederick Rolfe: Statement concerning Chronicles of the House of Borgia (London, 1901)
Frederick William Rolfe ('Baron Corvo'): Letters from him to Grant Richards
The letters mostly discuss Rolfe's literary plans, and the possibility that Richards might wish to publish a volume of his reviews, his translation of the poetry of Meleager, and two novels. They are imbued with Rolfe's firm belief in the merit and significance of his work.