Eileen O'Shaughnessy
Encyclopedia
Eileen Maud O'Shaughnessy (25 September 1905 – 29 March 1945) was the first wife of British writer
George Orwell
.
O'Shaughnessy was born in South Shields
, County Durham
, in the north-east of England
, the only daughter of Marie O'Shaughnessy and Lawrence O'Shaughnessy, who was a customs collector. Despite being very close to her older brother Lawrence, a distinguished thoracic surgeon, in a letter to a friend she described him as "one of nature's Fascists".
It was through her brother's marriage to Gwen Hunton that she and Orwell had access to Greystone, near Carlton
, where they stayed in 1944/45. Greystone had recently been left vacant following the death of Gwen's maiden aunt, Mary Hunton.
She attended Sunderland Church High School. In the autumn of 1924, she entered St Hugh's College, Oxford
, one of the women's colleges at Oxford
, where she read English. In 1927 she received a very good Second. By choice there followed a succession of jobs 'of no special consequence and with no connection from one to the next', which she held briefly, and which began with work as an assistant mistress at Silchester House, a girls' boarding school in Taplow
in the Thames valley, and included being a sceretary; a reader for the elderly Dame Elizabeth Cadbury
; and the proprietor of an office in Victoria Street, London
, for typing and secretarial work. When she closed it down she took up freelance journalism, selling an occasional feature piece to the Evening News. Further, she helped her brother Laurence, by typing, proof-reading and editing his scientific papers and books. In the autumn of 1934 she enrolled at University College, London, in a two-year graduate course programme in Educational Psychology, that would have led to her MA degree. She was particularly attracted to intelligence-testing in children "and quite early decided upon that as the subject for the thesis she would be writing." Elizaveta Fen, a fellow student who would become one of Eileen's closest friends, met her then for the first time : " She was twenty-eight-years-old and looked several years younger. She was tall and slender, her shoulders rather broad and high. She had blue eyes and dark brown, naturally wavy hair. George once said that she had 'a cat's face' - and one could see that this was true in a most attractive sense .. "
O'Shaughnessy was also an amateur poet.
O'Shaughnessy met Orwell in the spring of 1935. At this moment he was living at 77 Parliament Hill in Hampstead
, occupying a spare room in the first floor flat of Rosalind Henschel Obermeyer, a niece of the conductor and composer Sir George Henschel
and a friend of Mabel Fierze. (Orwell would have met Mrs Obermeyer at the Fierzes, who were mutual friends). Obermeyer was pursuing an advanced course in psychology at University College, London and one evening invited some of her friends and acquaintances to a party. One " was an attractive young woman whom Rosalind did not know especially well, although they often sat next to each other at lectures: her name was Eileen O'Shaughnessy." Another was the future translator and author of memoirs Elizaveta Fen who later recalled Orwell and his friend Richard Rees, "draped" at the fireplace, looking, she thought, " moth-eaten and prematurely aged." Orwell and O'Shaughnessy married the following year, on 9 June 1936, at St Mary's in Wallington
. Orwell, though a non-practising member of the Church of England
, 'was sufficiently a traditionalist to wish to be married in it.' The logical end of their life at this time would have been children, but Eileen did not become pregnant and they learnt, (though not for another two years), that Eric was sterile, as he told Rayner Heppenstall
, and as Eileen confided in Elizaveta Fen. Soon after their marriage she joined Orwell when he went to fight in the Spanish Civil War
, returning the following year after he was wounded in the throat by a sniper.
On the outbreak of World War II, Eileen started work in the Censorship Department in London, staying during the week with her family in Greenwich. Her brother Laurence was killed by a bomb during the evacuation
from Dunkirk, after which, according to Elizaveta Fen, " her grip on life, which had never been very firm, loosened considerably." In the spring of 1942, Eileen changed jobs to work at the Ministry of Food.
In June 1944 Orwell and O'Shaughnessy adopted a three-week old boy they named Richard Horatio Blair. She died in tragic circumstances in the spring of 1945 in Newcastle upon Tyne
whilst undergoing routine surgery, her death being caused by the anesthetic. She and Richard were living at Greystone at the time, with Orwell working in Paris as a war correspondent for The Observer
. She is buried in Saint Andrew's and Jesmond Cemetery, West Jesmond, Newcastle.
may have been influenced by one of O'Shaughnessy's poems, "End of the Century, 1984", although this hypothesis cannot be proven. The poem was written in 1934, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Sunderland Church High School, which she had attended, and to look ahead 50 years to the school's centenary in 1984.
Although the poem was written a year before she met Orwell, there are striking similarities between the futuristic vision of O'Shaughnessy's poem and that of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, including the use of mind control, and the eradication of personal freedom by a police state.
The writers Peter Stansky and William Abrahams noted in their study of Orwell that , "Very likely the tininess of The Stores, [their house in Wallington, Hertfordshire
, where they kept animals in the garden] -,appealed to her fantasy side. She was [ ] deeply imaginative, and enjoyed 'inventing' another world, populated with farmyard animals whose traits of personality she developed with the skill of a psychologist or a novelist, bestowing names upon them (Kate and Muriel were the goats at the Stores) and creating for them [ ] series of adventures. For a time she thought of incorporating them into a children's story that would be set in a farmyard." This project was abandoned when the war came; - " it survived only in the conversations she and [Orwell] would have in bed at night, amusing themselves as the bombs fell [ ] inventing new adventures: foibles and follies for the animals of their imaginary farm. "
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
.
O'Shaughnessy was born in South Shields
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...
, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, in the north-east of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the only daughter of Marie O'Shaughnessy and Lawrence O'Shaughnessy, who was a customs collector. Despite being very close to her older brother Lawrence, a distinguished thoracic surgeon, in a letter to a friend she described him as "one of nature's Fascists".
It was through her brother's marriage to Gwen Hunton that she and Orwell had access to Greystone, near Carlton
Carlton, County Durham
Carlton is a village and civil parish within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the north-west of Stockton-on-Tees, a short distance from the village of Redmarshall. Located within the village are Carlton Village Stores and...
, where they stayed in 1944/45. Greystone had recently been left vacant following the death of Gwen's maiden aunt, Mary Hunton.
She attended Sunderland Church High School. In the autumn of 1924, she entered St Hugh's College, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, one of the women's colleges at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where she read English. In 1927 she received a very good Second. By choice there followed a succession of jobs 'of no special consequence and with no connection from one to the next', which she held briefly, and which began with work as an assistant mistress at Silchester House, a girls' boarding school in Taplow
Taplow
Taplow is a village and civil parish within South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the east bank of the River Thames facing Maidenhead on the opposite bank. Taplow railway station is situated near the A4 south of the village....
in the Thames valley, and included being a sceretary; a reader for the elderly Dame Elizabeth Cadbury
Elizabeth Cadbury
Dame Elizabeth Mary Cadbury, DBE , was an English philanthropist and wife of George Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer.-Early life:...
; and the proprietor of an office in Victoria Street, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, for typing and secretarial work. When she closed it down she took up freelance journalism, selling an occasional feature piece to the Evening News. Further, she helped her brother Laurence, by typing, proof-reading and editing his scientific papers and books. In the autumn of 1934 she enrolled at University College, London, in a two-year graduate course programme in Educational Psychology, that would have led to her MA degree. She was particularly attracted to intelligence-testing in children "and quite early decided upon that as the subject for the thesis she would be writing." Elizaveta Fen, a fellow student who would become one of Eileen's closest friends, met her then for the first time : " She was twenty-eight-years-old and looked several years younger. She was tall and slender, her shoulders rather broad and high. She had blue eyes and dark brown, naturally wavy hair. George once said that she had 'a cat's face' - and one could see that this was true in a most attractive sense .. "
O'Shaughnessy was also an amateur poet.
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, occupying a spare room in the first floor flat of Rosalind Henschel Obermeyer, a niece of the conductor and composer Sir George Henschel
George Henschel
Sir George Henschel , was a British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer of German birth....
and a friend of Mabel Fierze. (Orwell would have met Mrs Obermeyer at the Fierzes, who were mutual friends). Obermeyer was pursuing an advanced course in psychology at University College, London and one evening invited some of her friends and acquaintances to a party. One " was an attractive young woman whom Rosalind did not know especially well, although they often sat next to each other at lectures: her name was Eileen O'Shaughnessy." Another was the future translator and author of memoirs Elizaveta Fen who later recalled Orwell and his friend Richard Rees, "draped" at the fireplace, looking, she thought, " moth-eaten and prematurely aged." Orwell and O'Shaughnessy married the following year, on 9 June 1936, at St Mary's in Wallington
Wallington, Hertfordshire
Wallington is a small village and civil parish in the county of Hertfordshire, near the town of Baldock. Nearby villages include Rushden and Sandon.-George Orwell:...
. Orwell, though a non-practising member of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, 'was sufficiently a traditionalist to wish to be married in it.' The logical end of their life at this time would have been children, but Eileen did not become pregnant and they learnt, (though not for another two years), that Eric was sterile, as he told Rayner Heppenstall
Rayner Heppenstall
John Rayner Heppenstall was a British novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer.-Early life:...
, and as Eileen confided in Elizaveta Fen. Soon after their marriage she joined Orwell when he went to fight in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, returning the following year after he was wounded in the throat by a sniper.
On the outbreak of World War II, Eileen started work in the Censorship Department in London, staying during the week with her family in Greenwich. Her brother Laurence was killed by a bomb during the evacuation
Operation Dynamo
The Dunkirk evacuation, commonly known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and the early hours of 3 June 1940, because the British, French and Belgian troops were...
from Dunkirk, after which, according to Elizaveta Fen, " her grip on life, which had never been very firm, loosened considerably." In the spring of 1942, Eileen changed jobs to work at the Ministry of Food.
In June 1944 Orwell and O'Shaughnessy adopted a three-week old boy they named Richard Horatio Blair. She died in tragic circumstances in the spring of 1945 in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
whilst undergoing routine surgery, her death being caused by the anesthetic. She and Richard were living at Greystone at the time, with Orwell working in Paris as a war correspondent for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
. She is buried in Saint Andrew's and Jesmond Cemetery, West Jesmond, Newcastle.
Influence on Orwell's writing
Some scholars believe that Eileen had a large influence on Orwell's writing. It is suggested that Orwell's classic novel Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
may have been influenced by one of O'Shaughnessy's poems, "End of the Century, 1984", although this hypothesis cannot be proven. The poem was written in 1934, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Sunderland Church High School, which she had attended, and to look ahead 50 years to the school's centenary in 1984.
Although the poem was written a year before she met Orwell, there are striking similarities between the futuristic vision of O'Shaughnessy's poem and that of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, including the use of mind control, and the eradication of personal freedom by a police state.
The writers Peter Stansky and William Abrahams noted in their study of Orwell that , "Very likely the tininess of The Stores, [their house in Wallington, Hertfordshire
Wallington, Hertfordshire
Wallington is a small village and civil parish in the county of Hertfordshire, near the town of Baldock. Nearby villages include Rushden and Sandon.-George Orwell:...
, where they kept animals in the garden] -,appealed to her fantasy side. She was [ ] deeply imaginative, and enjoyed 'inventing' another world, populated with farmyard animals whose traits of personality she developed with the skill of a psychologist or a novelist, bestowing names upon them (Kate and Muriel were the goats at the Stores) and creating for them [ ] series of adventures. For a time she thought of incorporating them into a children's story that would be set in a farmyard." This project was abandoned when the war came; - " it survived only in the conversations she and [Orwell] would have in bed at night, amusing themselves as the bombs fell [ ] inventing new adventures: foibles and follies for the animals of their imaginary farm. "