Orwell

GEORGE ORWELL (1903 - 1950)

Orwell's wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, was born in South Shields on 25 September 1905 in Park Terrace, Ocean Road. Her father worked as Collector of Customs with offices in King Street. The family later resided at Westgate House in Wellington Terrace. Eileen was educated at Sunderland High School and Oxford. Eileen was taught by J.R.R Tolkien (q.v.) for a time.She and Orwell married in 1936 and Eileen appears as Rosemary Waterlow in Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Curiously enough Orwell mentions the unemployed of Middlesbrough three times in the first chapter, though he had never been to the town. Perhaps he had read Aldous Huxley (q.v.) on the topic.

During World War II, Eileen worked with the novelist Lettice Cooper at the Ministry of Food, preparing recipes and scripts for 'The Kitchen Front', a regular morning broadcast. The character of Ann in Lettice Cooper's 1947 novel Black Bethlehem is clearly based on Eileen. Bernard Crick in his biography of Orwell, remarks that many features of the Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four owed as much to her experiences in the Ministry of Food as to Orwell's at the BBC. In this connection it is intriguing to note that a few years ago, the Sunderland Echo published three poems written by Eileen in 1934 for the fiftieth anniversary of Sunderland High School. These, 'Death', 'Birth' and 'Phoenix' are collectively entitled END OF THE CENTURY 1984. Some of the lines even hint at ideas included in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is quite possible that Orwell was aware of Eileen's poems, though the pair did not meet until the following year. Scholars have hitherto considered that 1984 was simply the publication year, 1948, reversed (though that was not the book's original title) but Eileen's work has fuelled fresh academic controversy.

According to Frank Medhurst in the Darlington and Stockton Times 11.9. 98, George Orwell (real name Eric Blair) arrived at Greystone with Eileen and baby Richard in early 1944, after their London flat was damaged by a bomb. The house belonged to Eileen's sister-in-law, Gwen, a doctor, who had originally found baby Richard for adoption by the Blairs. The then housekeeper, Mrs Blackburn, remembers Mr Blair reading in the garden or sitting in the bay window of the drawing-room reading or making notes. This room overlooked a valley of rural farmland with woodland in the distance. According to Peter Davison, editor of the Complete Works of George Orwell, the (flying) bomb damage occurred on 28 June 1944 and the visit north could only have been in mid-August 1944. Orwell himself 'fetched' baby Richard to London between 15 and 21 October 1944. Orwell went to France on 15 February 1945 and Eileen went with Richard to Greystone, to which address Orwell had his correspondence directed. Eileen died on 29 March 1945 at Fernwood House in Clayton Road, Newcastle, the former home of old Walter Runciman the ship-owner. The house was now a private clinic and she had been undergoing an operation. The letter she was writing when she was taken away to be operated on was left poignantly half-finished. Eileen's body was taken for burial from 20 Haldane Terrace and the funeral took place on 3 April 1945 in St Andrew's cemetery, Jesmond. The grave, which lies near the cemetery lodge, has a headstone paid for by Eric Arthur Blair. It is located in Section B, no. 145. Orwell revisited the grave on his way to Scotland in May 1946.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
GEORGE ORWELL (1903 - 1950) Orwell's wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, was born in South Shields on 25 September 1905 in Park Terrace, Ocean Road. Her father worked as Collector of Customs with offices in King Street. The family later resided at Westgate House in Wellington Terrace. Eileen was educated at Sunderland High School and Oxford. Eileen was taught by J.R.R Tolkien (q.v.) for a time.She and Orwell married in 1936 and Eileen appears as Rosemary Waterlow in Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Curiously enough Orwell mentions the unemployed of Middlesbrough three times in the first chapter, though he had never been to the town. Perhaps he had read Aldous Huxley (q.v.) on the topic. During World War II, Eileen worked with the novelist Lettice Cooper at the Ministry of Food, preparing recipes and scripts for 'The Kitchen Front', a regular morning broadcast. The character of Ann in Lettice Cooper's 1947 novel Black Bethlehem is clearly based on Eileen. Bernard Crick in his biography of Orwell, remarks that many features of the Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four owed as much to her experiences in the Ministry of Food as to Orwell's at the BBC. In this connection it is intriguing to note that a few years ago, the Sunderland Echo published three poems written by Eileen in 1934 for the fiftieth anniversary of Sunderland High School. These, 'Death', 'Birth' and 'Phoenix' are collectively entitled END OF THE CENTURY 1984. Some of the lines even hint at ideas included in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is quite possible that Orwell was aware of Eileen's poems, though the pair did not meet until the following year. Scholars have hitherto considered that 1984 was simply the publication year, 1948, reversed (though that was not the book's original title) but Eileen's work has fuelled fresh academic controversy. According to Frank Medhurst in the Darlington and Stockton Times 11.9. 98, George Orwell (real name Eric Blair) arrived at Greystone with Eileen and baby Richard in early 1944, after their London flat was damaged by a bomb. The house belonged to Eileen's sister-in-law, Gwen, a doctor, who had originally found baby Richard for adoption by the Blairs. The then housekeeper, Mrs Blackburn, remembers Mr Blair reading in the garden or sitting in the bay window of the drawing-room reading or making notes. This room overlooked a valley of rural farmland with woodland in the distance. According to Peter Davison, editor of the Complete Works of George Orwell, the (flying) bomb damage occurred on 28 June 1944 and the visit north could only have been in mid-August 1944. Orwell himself 'fetched' baby Richard to London between 15 and 21 October 1944. Orwell went to France on 15 February 1945 and Eileen went with Richard to Greystone, to which address Orwell had his correspondence directed. Eileen died on 29 March 1945 at Fernwood House in Clayton Road, Newcastle, the former home of old Walter Runciman the ship-owner. The house was now a private clinic and she had been undergoing an operation. The letter she was writing when she was taken away to be operated on was left poignantly half-finished. Eileen's body was taken for burial from 20 Haldane Terrace and the funeral took place on 3 April 1945 in St Andrew's cemetery, Jesmond. The grave, which lies near the cemetery lodge, has a headstone paid for by Eric Arthur Blair. It is located in Section B, no. 145. Orwell revisited the grave on his way to Scotland in May 1946.
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