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the garden, the
fire, and the clock |
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''While visiting Scotland near the end of
May 1946, Orwell spent some time at Eileen's gravesite in Newcastle. The
Polyantha roses that he had planted on her grave the year before had all
rooted well, he noted in in his diary. And that day, he planted six new
varieties of flowers, hopefully they would all take root. A visitor to the
cemetery in 2012, discovered with some difficulty, Eileen's uncared-for
gravestone with the extremely simple engraving he chose for her - a sharp
contrast to the words on the gravestone right next to hers which began more
typically. ''In loving memory of my beloved wife.'' And, of course, there was
no sign of the flowers Orwell left in Eileen's memory seventy years earlier,
only scrubby weeds and baked mud. Until quite recently hardly anyone knew
where Eileen's grave was. Happily, her gravesite is now being better cared
for''. From Eileen: The Making of George Orwell, by Sylvia Topp |
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When
I visited Eileen's grave in August 2017, I found it, as said uncared for,
with grass and weeds, in particular Horsetail weed beginning to grow
profusely around it. This is a very invasive, deep rooted, fast growing weed
that is difficult to eradicate. Indeed, on one visit in late 2019, Eileen's
grave was a little oasis in a sea of Horsetail weed. I have since noticed
that the council gardeners are, at least, trying to keep it under control. I
decided to return in a few days with some tools, to cut the grass and dig the
borders and place some cut flowers. It was also at this time that I learned
Unbound Books were crowdfunding the first biography of Eileen, entitled,
Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp,
I immediately entered my pledge to get the book published; it quickly
achieved its 100% funding. Via
the Orwell Society, which I had recently joined, I contacted Orwell's son
Richard Blair, who is Patron of the Orwell Society, to tell him what I had
done, and he asked if there was any sign of the rose he had planted in 2015,
for the 70th anniversary of Eileen's death. Unfortunately, as I was cutting
the grass, I found the small rotted stump of the rose, a victim of
overzealous council gardeners. But still attached was the name tag, the rose
was Tranquillity, a white rose forming from yellow buds tinged with red.
I
contacted Richard with an update of what I had found and I asked if I could
replace the rose. Richard gratefully approved and asked if I could plant
another white rose. I looked around the local garden centres to try and find Tranquility - but with no luck. So after looking at many
varieties I decided on Rosa Noaschnee (Flower
Carpet White) as it is naturally disease resistant and has a long flowering
season. This has proved correct, as it produces masses of white blooms with
yellow stamens from July through to October. I
planted it in September 2017 to the left of the headstone, well out of the
way of a council mower, along with some bedding plants, Pansy, Impatience and
Lobelia in front of the headstone. Unfortunately, I returned a few days later
to find no bedding, that blight of the gardener; the slug had munched the
lot. |
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At
the beginning of Spring 2018 the rose was doing fine, with masses of buds
waiting to bloom, and with the dreaded slug in my mind, I decided to plant
Begonias in front of the headstone - they have a long flowering season,
produce masses of colour, from white to pink to crimson and, most
importantly, they have waxy flowers and foliage which slugs hate. To
add the defences and decoration I purchased some slate chippings, and this
has proved a perfect strategy, no slug problems. I also added a black glazed
terracotta pot and put in a beautiful new variety of black Petunia. |
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In
July 2019, and with Eileen: The Making of George Orwell almost ready for
publication, I decided to have a granite plaque made to go in front of the
headstone. I ran the idea past Richard first, and he gave the go ahead. I
thought it would be a nice addition for Orwell fans and students who visit
the grave, but also anyone walking through St Andrew's cemetery may see it
and be drawn to read the inscription and portrait, and discover Eileen's
grave for the first time. I
have, on a few occasions, chatted to visitors, dog walkers etc. walking past,
talking about Eileen, her biography, the Orwell Society, and many had no idea
the grave was there, along with Eileen's portrait I chose the inscription: EILEEN MAUD BLAIR Wife of ERIC ARTHUR BLAIR (George Orwell) 1936-1945 I
then went to a garden centre to source a piece of stone on which to attach
the plaque. I chose a piece of Lakeland stepping stone. The plaque and stone were
put in place in August 2019; I sent some photographs to Richard and was
overjoyed he was pleased with the result. In
September 2019, I put a white Cyclamen in full bloom in the black terracotta
pot. Cyclamen, which are bulbs, flower for a very long time: indeed, they
flower when nothing else will, but I was utterly amazed when visiting
throughout autumn and winter up to March 2020 that it was still producing
blooms, seven months of continuous flowering. This
brings us to 2020 and Covid-19. Sylvia Topp's book
tour was cut short in March and Sylvia was advised to fly back home to
Canada. The tour was to have culminated with a visit and talk at The Word in
South Shields, the unveiling of a blue plaque on Westgate House, South
Shields (Eileen's childhood home) on the 29th March, and a visit to her
grave, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of her death. I was
not able to tend Eileen's grave as regularly as usual, and as I do not grow
my own bedding, was unable to purchase any. I did, however, in July, with the
Grainger Market in Newcastle fully reopened, with restrictions, purchase and
plant a lovely Campanula Pristar White in the black
pot, and on the 15th of August, with things getting back to some sort of
normality. I visited and planted another white Cyclamen in full bloom in
front of the plaque, for the 75th anniversary of the publication of Animal
Farm. On
the 18th March 2021, my first visit of the year, I took two Primroses, purple
and white, for the anniversary of Eileen's death, 29th March, I noticed, by
the shape of the leaves, what looked like a Primrose coming through in front
of the headstone and thought I would leave it. On going
back on 25th March to water the plants, they were flowering beautifully, and
the plant coming through was unmistakably a Primrose. I have never planted
these flowers until that visit on the 18th. It would be lovely and rather
fanciful to think that this flower could have grown from seed lying dormant
from the plants Orwell had put in on his last visit on May 22nd 1946, and
over the previous 5 years, with me digging and adding feed and compost to the
baked, dry soil, had brought seed to the surface, but plant science suggests
seed cannot lie dormant for such a long period of time, it is much more
likely it is seed transferred from the plants I had been putting in, but this
lovely white Primrose now flowers beautifully every Spring. In
March 2022, the postponed weekend of events from 2020 went ahead. Sylvia Topp and her daughter flew over from her home in Canada,
and travelled up to Newcastle with Richard Blair, Quentin Kopp and members of
the Orwell Society. The weather couldn't have been kinder. On
Saturday 26th March we all went to The Word in South Shields for the official
book launch, and then to the packed auditorium for talks, interviews,
readings, and a screening of local film maker Gary Alikivi's
short documentary Wild Flower about Eileen, which he made in 2013. I was gob
smacked and overjoyed to receive a copy of the graphic novel of Nineteen
Eighty-Four by Fido Nesti from Richard, for my
upkeep of his mother’s grave. Gary Alikivi then
took us all on an Eileen related walk around South Shields. |
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Right-hand
image: The owner of Westgate House and the Lady Mayoress receiving a gift of
a Nineteen Eighty-Four commemorative plaque from Quentin Kopp and Richard
Blair. |
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Then
on Sunday we all travelled back to South Shields for the unveiling of a blue
plaque at Eileen's childhood home Westgate House. Gary Alikivi
was instrumental in getting the plaque instigated. Dignitaries
in attendance were the Lady Mayoress, who unveiled the plaque and South
Tyneside MP, Emma Lewell- Buck. We
then travelled by Metro to Eileen's grave in St Andrew's Cemetery in West
Jesmond, to see the work I had done over the previous 6 years. Richard
said a few words, laid daffodils on the grave, and presented Gary Alikivi with a copy of the graphic novel of Animal Farm. |
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In
June 2022 I was contacted, via the Orwell Society, by Eileen M. Hunt,
political theorist and Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame
University, Indiana USA. Eileen is researching for a book on the women who
influenced Orwell, and would be in Newcastle for a big conference at
Newcastle Civic Centre. She asked if I would take her on an Eileen Blair tour
of related sites; which I did with pleasure. As
well as those mentioned previously, I also arranged a visit to Fernwood House
in Jesmond, now owned by Lowes Financial Management. From 1937 to 1963 it was
a maternity hospital, and was where Eileen died on the operating table on
29th March 1945, whilst under anaesthetic to undergo a Hysterectomy with
severe uterine bleeding. Orwell was in France reporting on the end of the
war. I had
never visited myself, but as I would be accompanying an American professor, I
took a chance, and we were graciously granted a visit to Eileen's 'possible'
room and the operating theatre on the ground floor, now board and meeting rooms. This
was a very emotional visit, as Eileen's last letter she ever wrote to Orwell,
whilst the administered morphine took effect and her writing tails off, was
discovered on the table next to her bed: ''already enema'd,
injected with morphia in the right arm which is a
nuisance, cleaned and packed up like a precious image in cotton wool and
bandages...I haven't seen Harvey Evers(surgeon) since arrival &
apparently Gwen (O'Shaughnessy, sister- in- law) didn't communicate with him
& no one knows what operation I am having! They don't believe that Harvey
Evers really left it to me to decide...But I must say I feel irritated though
I am being a model patient. This is a nice room-ground floor so one can see
the garden. Not much in it except daffodils and I think arabis
but a nice lawn. My bed isn't near the window but it faces the right way. I
also see the fire and the clock.'' No
one was prosecuted for an operation that should not have gone ahead, until
blood transfusions had been given, as Eileen 'was in a very anaemic
condition' (Coroners report) |
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Whilst
in Newcastle arranging Eileen's funeral, Orwell stayed with Royal Victoria
Infirmary Thoracic Surgeon, Dr George Alexander Mason at 7 Kensington Terrace,
Dr Mason was a friend and colleague of Dr Eric O'Shaughnessy, Eileen's
brother. My thanks to Téa-Anya Earle of the Royal
College of Surgeons library, who found this in the medical directory for
1945. Kensington Terrace is now Newcastle University student accommodation. |
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Every
year I try and plant something different. I planted the right border with
Lobelia and white decorative pebbles, and in 2023 I decided to source the plants
Orwell had put in on his last visit in 1946 before heading for Barnhill on
Jura, where he would write his final great novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. His
diary entry reads: ''Polyantha roses on E's grave have all
rooted well. Planted aubrietia, miniature phlox, saxifrage, a kind of dwarf
broom, a house-leek of some kind, & miniature dianthus. Plants not in very good condition, but it was rainy
weather, so they should strike.'' I
found them all, and they did strike and flower beautifully. |
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With
the publication of ‘Eileen: The Making of George Orwell’ in 2020 and the very
controversial ‘Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life’ by Anna Funder in 2023,
it is always lovely to see, when I visit, that people are discovering Eileen's
grave, possibly for the first time. They leave little mementos of their
visit, cut flowers on numerous occasions and, in 2023, a little toy farm pig
and horse, in reference to Animal Farm. And an old three-penny-bit, in
reference to Gordon Comstock in ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’. Will this
become tradition? I rather hope so. In
March 2024 I added a small toy farm goat, for Eileen, and the goat called
Muriel that Eileen and Orwell kept on their small holding at Wallington, and
was a named animal in Animal Farm. Click here for a Google Map of the
location of Eileen’s grave |
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Photo by Gary Alikivi |
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Eileen
O'Shaughnessy in Her Own Words by Angela Smith and Sylvia
Topp. Published by Palgrave Macmillan November
2025. The
complete letters published for the first time in one volume. |
An
excellent talk by Professor Angela Smith at Sunderland Museum on 14th Feb
2026. Also, on the right of this photograph, Sunderland local historian Chris
Sharp, who did research into Nell Heaton for the book. |
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In
early February 2024 I received an intriguing email from Quentin Kopp. He
began by saying 'you have a fan!' He then continued. I had apparently met and
chatted to two Newcastle University students at Eileen's grave in September
2023, they had forgotten my name but would like to get in contact, Quentin
asked if it would be ok to forward my email address. I had an idea I
remembered the students in question, and said yes to the request. The
next day I received an email from Maria Eversden Aguila, she had remembered my passion in talking about
Eileen and the Orwell Society and tending Eileen's grave over the previous 7
years. Maria had been accompanied by a fellow student and were just walking
through St Andrews Cemetery when I started talking to them, on the off chance
they were looking for Eileen's grave, it turned out to be one of those
serendipitous moments. Maria
is studying Film Practice in the Culture Lab at Newcastle University, and
they had been tasked with making a 8 to 10 minute documentary short under the
title 'Something Worth Fighting For' and would I like to be the subject of
their film! As you can imagine I was gob smacked. After I got over the shock
of them remembering me after 6 months I agreed, and we organised a meet up in
a local cafe on February 26th to discuss the way forward. It was here I first
met all of the students in their group together, Conrad Klappholtz,
Milo McInnes, Fabiola Lambert, and Dylan Lambert,
and they were all very enthusiastic about the project. I
took along my copy of Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp, copies of the Orwell Society Journal and copies of
a local magazine Kingston Park Life I had written articles for, including a
short review of Sylvia Topp's book and a piece
about Jack Common and Kiddar's Luck. As I didn't
know the full structure of the film Maria had planned, we discussed many
things besides how I became involved with the Orwell Society, how I began
looking after Eileen's grave, myself in general, and the pieces I had written
for my web domain about my mam's music hall theatre career, dad's war, my
childhood living in Byker, the Tyneside Cinema etc. With Maria taking copious
notes with which to structure questions. As
they were looking for somewhere quiet to do the initial filming and
interview, I got permission to film in the library of the Natural History
Society of Northumbria which is part of the Great North Museum: Hancock, on a
day it was closed to the public, in late March. Maria, Dylan, Milo, and
Conrad arrived with boxes of equipment, cameras, tripods, lights, lapel mics,
I was excited but also a little apprehensive, as I had never been interviewed
on camera before. We got set up, checked for light and sound levels, doing
the clapperboard clap of the hands to get everything in sync. Maria
began asking the questions and my nerves immediately got the better of me, in
a social setting I can talk till the cows come home, but under lights and on
camera and looking directly at Maria, my memory for the simplest things
failed me, and I kept asking if they would cut, but they said 'no, keep
going', the cameras memory cards were good for 40 minutes filming and they
could take all of the false starts etc out during
the editing process. I
ended by reading the moving passage from Eileen: The Making of George Orwell,
regarding Eileen's last letter to Orwell discovered on the table beside her
bed after her fatal operation. As we left, I thought I had been terrible and
let everyone down, this was their film project and I hoped they had no
regrets in their choice of subject. When
I got home I emailed Maria with my worries, but she kindly replied she didn't
know what I was talking about as I had been fine. I also emailed Quentin Kopp
about how it had gone, and he was very understanding and suggested if Maria
would like to do a Zoom link interview with him for inclusion, to pass on his
email address, I thought this was a wonderful idea, and when I emailed Maria
she agreed. More of that later. In
early April we went along to St Andrews Cemetery to do the outside filming of
me working on Eileen's grave and talking about what I had planted, and
Fernwood House, where she died, which is about half a mile from St Andrews.
Outside under natural light and talking in general terms, I was much more
relaxed, and filming was completed. On
May 21st the Culture Lab viewing hall was booked for the first screenings of
the films made by all of the students and their interpretation of the heading
'Something Worth Fighting For', and my first viewing of our documentary now
titled 'Here Lies Eileen'. Pizza's and wine had been ordered for the
reception before the screenings, and then we all took our seats. All
of the films, with subjects ranging from ethnic diversity and inclusion in
Newcastle to the criminal felling of the famous Sycamore tree along Hadrian's
Wall, were all superb. 'Here Lies Eileen' was one of the last films screened,
and at last my initial fears were allayed. I
cannot express how over joyed I was when I saw what these talented young
people had produced. Within the context of Eileen's story and resting place,
they had woven the fact that everyone has a story and everyone's story has
worth, but what they hadn't told me was not only had they done a zoom link
interview with Quentin, but had also done a zoom interview with Richard
Blair! I was nearly in tears. I'm sure Conrad would not mind me mentioning a
lovely aside he told me later. After the interview with Richard, he
immediately telephoned his father, who is an English teacher, and said
'you'll never guess who I've just been speaking to!' After
the screenings everyone stayed and chatted, and as I had taken my camera
along, had some photos taken by Maria's friend Pepe, who was visiting from
Spain. As I was talking to the tutors in our little group, they said it was a
very moving film Maria and the team had produced, and they had no idea about
Eileen before they saw the documentary in production. I hope, when people see
the film, it will encourage them to visit Eileen's grave and reflect on what
she did for Orwell and his writing.
Although this was the first draft of the film and there was still some
editing and tweaks to do, I hope it will be made available for everyone to
see in the near future. As I write
this in November 2024, time will tell, I wish Maria, Conrad, Milo, Fabiola
and Dylan well in their chosen career, and I hope it is a fitting tribute to
Eileen and her short, productive life with Eric. |
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Maria introduces the film
Photo by Pepe |
Maria, her fellow students and yours truly
Photo by Pepe |
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On
Monday 7th April 2025, it was a lovely, warm early Spring day, I went to
water the plants, which were coming into bloom beautifully. I noticed a
couple photographing the grave and began chatting. In one of those
serendipitous meetings the lady was the Italian freelance journalist Monica Zornetta. In June
2024 Monica had written a piece for the Italian newspaper Domani
entitled 'La vita invisibile della
Signora Orwell Un buco nero nell' opera del marito (The invisible life of Mrs.Orwell
a black hole in her husband's work), published June 11th 2024. Monica
and her husband live in Newcastle and were paying another visit, it being the
80th anniversary of Eileen's death, and the 80th anniversary of the
publication of Animal Farm. |
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Thank
you to https://www.citylit.ac.ukbiography course
students for your visit and flowers. Also to Alan Bennett for the roses SONG Oh a rose sky and a gay sky, Is the sky of the dawning day; And a gold sky and a bright sky Is the sky when the sun holds sway; But the sky of skies is pearly grey, With a rift to show its colour by, And if it be August or if it be May, Soft winds will whisper a lullaby, And the things of earth will rest. First published poem aged 16 ‘Nineteen
Eighty-Four’ commemorative plaques available from the Orwell Society: https://orwellsociety.com(Opens
in a new window) If
you are a member of a book group or individual and would like a tour of
Eileen related sites in the North East, including South Shields, my services
are free. Please contact me at brian@balmerino.net Sources: Eileen:
The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp Orwell's
Roses by Rebecca Solnit The
Orwell Society All
photographs by Brian Thompson, except where indicated Click here to go to my web domain |
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