He was one of the most popular British authors of the 1920s.[1] He was also a translator of Heinrich Heine, Edmond Fleg (1874–1963) and Eugene Heltai (Heltai Jenő). A Christian convert, he remained very aware of his Jewish heritage.[citation needed]
His career was in the Civil Service, beginning in the Board of Trade and then in the Ministry of Labour. By 1940 he had a position of high responsibility. His work was recognised with a CBE and then a CB.
Wolfe said in an interview with Twentieth Century Authors that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished."[1]
Wolfe's verses have been set to music by a number of composers, including Gustav Holst in his 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48 (1929).[3]
He had a long-term affair with the novelist Pamela Frankau, while remaining married.
He died on his 55th birthday.
Though his works are little read today, the following epigram from The Uncelestial City continues to be widely known and quoted:
You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to.[4]
The 5 Heads of Humbert Wolfe by Anthony Padgett
In 2014–2015, five busts of the poet were created and sited by sculptor Anthony Padgett to mark the 75th anniversary of Wolfe's death.
The sculptures have been sited where Wolfe died in London – 75 Eccleston Square,[5] where he studied – Wadham College Oxford,[6] where there is a collection of his manuscripts –
New York Public Library and where he grew up – Bradford Library and Bradford Grammar School.[7]
Reverie of Policeman: A ballet in three acts (1933)
Now a Stranger (1933) autobiography
Romantic and Unromantic Poetry (1933)
Truffle Eater. Pretty Stories and funny pictures An anti-Nazi parody of the famous Struwwelpeter, published under the alias "Oistros", with pictures by Archibald Louis Charles Savory (1933)
^ abc"Wolfe, Humbert" in Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, Twentieth Century Authors, A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature, (Third Edition). New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1950, (pp. 1540-1)
Bagguley, Philip (1997). Harlequin in Whitehall: a Life of Humbert Wolfe, Poet and Civil Servant 1885-1940. London: Nyala Publications, ISBN9780952937609
