22 December 2022 Susannah

22 December 1880: George Eliot dies

George Eliot's grave

While honeymooning in Venice, Eliot’s new husband jumped from the hotel balcony into the Grand Canal in a reported suicide attempt. He survived, and the newlyweds returned to England. [1]

On 22 December 1880, George Eliot died from kidney disease and a throat infection in London. Westminster Abbey refused her burial, so she was buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.

George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, was a prominent English novelist during the Victorian era. She achieved literary acclaim with her insightful and socially conscious novels, but her personal life caused a scandal.

When she was 34, she met author, philosopher, and scientist, George Henry Lewes who was married, although not living with his wife. The couple’s unconventional union drew criticism from society and the scandal was immense. The pair were attacked for their looks (or rather, lack of them), their morals and their behaviour. Charles Dickens unkindly described them as the ugliest couple in London.

Their partnership was intellectually stimulating and emotionally fulfilling. She adored George and he adored her. Their relationship brought the world her novels because it was Lewes who encouraged her to write fiction. She could not publish under her own scandalous name, so she chose ‘George’ in compliment to the man she called ‘husband’ and ‘Eliot’ because it was easy to pronounce.

Her books were immediately successful and brought her fame and fortune. She was offered the largest sums ever paid to a female author writing in English. Lewes advised her with every book, encouraged her, and protected her and most of her books were dedicated to him. Her masterpiece Middlemarch was published in 1872.

Tragedy struck in her later years when Lewes died in 1878. The loss deeply affected her, and she wrote no more novels. However, she found solace and companionship in John Cross, her financial adviser who was twenty years her junior. They married in 1880 and went off for a honeymoon in Italy – where John tried to commit suicide by leaping into the Grand Canal in Venice. He was rescued by a passing gondolier. The couple returned home and moved into a house in Chelsea in London.

George Eliot’s health soon began to decline, and she succumbed to kidney disease in 1880 at the age of 61. Her death marked the end of a remarkable literary career that had left an indelible mark on Victorian literature, influencing generations of writers who followed her.