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 …
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Citation: Matthews, Jodie. "Theodore Watts-Dunton". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4630, accessed 25 November 2024.]