Editing Virginia Woolf (section)

=== Marriage and war (1912–1920) ===
[[File:Virginia and Leonard Woolf, 1912 (borderless crop).jpg|thumb|upright|Engagement photograph, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, 23 July 1912|alt=Virginia and Leonard on their engagement in July 1912]]
[[Leonard Woolf]] was one of Thoby Stephen's friends at Trinity College, Cambridge, and had encountered the Stephen sisters in Thoby's rooms while visiting for [[May Week]] between 1899 and 1904. He recalled that in "white dresses and large hats, with parasols in their hands, their beauty literally took one's breath away".{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=204-205}} In 1904 Leonard left Britain for a civil service position in [[Ceylon]],{{sfn|Wright|2011|p=40}} but returned for a year's leave in 1911 after letters from Lytton Strachey, describing Virginia's beauty enticed him back.{{sfn|Harris|2011|p=47}}{{sfn|Wright|2011|p=50}} He and Virginia attended social engagements together, and he moved into Brunswick Square as a tenant in December of that year.

Leonard proposed to Virginia on 11 January 1912.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=300-301}} Initially she expressed reluctance, but the two continued courting. Leonard decided not to return to Ceylon and resigned from his post. On 29 May Virginia declared her love for Leonard,{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=301-304}} and they married on 10 August at [[Camden Town Hall|St Pancras Town Hall]]. The couple spent their honeymoon first at Asham and the [[Quantock Hills]] before travelling to the south of France, Spain and Italy. Upon returning, they moved to [[Clifford's Inn]],{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=317-318}} and began to divide their time between London and Asham.{{sfn|Harris|2011|p=49}} Though Virginia wanted to have children, Leonard refused, as he believed Virginia was not mentally strong enough to be a mother, and worried that having children might worsen her mental health.{{sfn|Haynes|2019b}}

Virginia had completed a penultimate draft of her first novel ''[[The Voyage Out|The Voyage Out]]'' before her wedding but made large-scale alterations to the manuscript between December 1912 and March 1913. The work was later accepted by her half-brother Gerald Duckworth's publishing house, and she found the process of reading and correcting the proofs extremely emotionally difficult.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=321-322}} This led to one of several breakdowns over the next two years; Virginia attempted suicide on 9 September 1913 with an overdose of [[Veronal]], being saved with the help of surgeon, [[Geoffrey Keynes]].{{sfn|Harris|2011|pp=52,54}} Virginia's illness led to Duckworth delaying the publication of ''The Voyage Out'' until 26 March 1915.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=322}}

In the autumn of 1914 the couple moved to a house on [[Richmond Green]].{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=325}} In late March 1915 they moved to Hogarth House, after which they named [[Hogarth Press|their publishing house]] in 1917.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=346-347, 358}} The decision to move to London's suburbs was made for the sake of Virginia's health.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=346}} Many of Virginia's friends were against the war, and Virginia herself opposed it from a standpoint of pacifism and anti-censorship.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=339-341,345}} Leonard was exempted from the [[Military Service Act 1916|introduction of conscription in 1916]] on medical grounds.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=13}} The Woolfs employed two servants at the recommendation of [[Roger Fry]] in 1916; Lottie Hope worked for some other Bloomsbury Group members, and [[Nellie Boxall]] would stay with them until 1934.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|pp=349-350}}

The Woolfs spent parts of the World War I era in Asham but were obliged by the owner to leave in 1919.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=346,416}} "In despair" they purchased the Round House in Lewes. No sooner had they bought the Round House, than [[Monk's House]] in nearby [[Rodmell]] came up for auction, a [[weatherboarded]] house with oak-beamed rooms, said to date from the 15th or 16th century.{{sfn|Woolf|1964|p=61}} The Woolfs sold the Round House and purchased Monk's House for £700.{{sfn|Lee|1997a|p=67}} Monk's House also lacked running water but came with an acre of garden, and had a view across the Ouse towards the hills of the [[South Downs]]. Leonard Woolf describes this view as being unchanged since the days of [[Chaucer]].{{sfn|Eagle|Carnell|1981|p=228}} The Woolfs would retain Monk's House until the end of Virginia's life; it became their permanent home after their London home was bombed, and it was where she completed ''[[Between the Acts]]'' in early 1941, which was followed by her final breakdown and suicide in the nearby River Ouse on 28 March.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=13}}