Sir Desmond MacCarthy (1878-1952) was an English critic, a member of the "Bloomsbury group".

MacCarthy was born in Plymouth, England, and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became a journalist, editing periodicals such as New Quarterly, Eye Witness and Life and Letters. He joined the New Statesman in 1913, becoming its literary editor a few years later. He was a literary critic for the Sunday Times, and several volumes of his collected criticism were published.

Works

• Portraits (1931)
• Drama (1940)
• Theatre(1955)