06 Dec 2022
On This Day
6 December 2022 Cheryl

6 December 1882: Anthony Trollope dies

Anthony Trollope's death

In 1882, Anthony Trollope’s niece, Edith was reading aloud from a new and popular comic novel, F. Anstey’s Vice Versa, in which, according to The Routledge Research Companion to Anthony Trollope, “a fiftyish father magically switches bodies with his son and finds youth is not the idyll he remembered.” Trollope found the book hilarious, and supposedly laughed so hard that he suffered a stroke. [1]

In November 1882, after three big evenings out in a row with huge dinners, Anthony Trollope suffered a stroke and was paralysed and unable to speak. For a man who had so delighted in words and had produced so many millions of them, it was a terrible ending. He died on 6 December 1882, aged 67.

Trollope’s writing career truly took off when he worked for the British Postal Service as a postal surveyor beginning in 1834. His position required extensive travel, providing him with ample time to hone his craft. Remarkably disciplined, Trollope developed a strict writing routine during his travels. He was known for writing for a fixed number of hours each day, regardless of the circumstances, and often used a watch to ensure his adherence to this schedule.

Throughout the 1860s and 1870s Trollope was at the height of his popularity, and he produced a substantial body of work. His Barsetshire novels were bestsellers and he commanded huge advances from publishers. The Palliser series of novels continued the success, and his prolific output made him the most published novelist of the period.

In 1871, Trollope made his first trip to Australia, arriving on 28 July with his wife and their cook. The trip was made to visit their younger son, Frederick, a sheep farmer near Grenfell, New South Wales. On that occasion, he stayed for 12 months and revisited Australia in 1875.

Trollope died of a paralytic stroke on 6 December 1882 in London, survived by his wife and two sons. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, near the grave of his contemporary, Wilkie Collins. During his distinguished career, Trollope produced a total of 47 novels, 42 short stories, 5 travel books, and 2 nonfiction books. His Autobiography was published in 1883.