Biography

            Eric Author Blair was born on June 25, 1903, in British controlled India. His fathers name was Richard Blair and his mothers name was Ida Mabel Blair. His family was what he described as, “lower upper middle class”, and he lives for the greater part of his childhood in England, moving there when he one.

            While he was in England he met the Buddicom family and became friends with them, especially Jacintha Buddicom. Other then them he was mostly around his mother and sisters. He did not see his father, who was still stationed in India, until 1912. At the age of six his mother decided that he should go to the Angelican Parish school, where he remained until he was eight. Then he was supposed to go to a public school, but his family could not afford the tuition for the school. His only option was to get a scholarship. His uncle recommended St. Cyprians School, and the headmaster there helped Eric win the scholarship for the school. He then made a deal with the Blairs so they would only have to pay half of the tuition. At the school, Eric met Cyril Connolly, who became an editor, publishing many of Eric’s essays.

            At the end of his time there he wrote two award winning essays, and received scholarships from Wellington and Eton. Blair spent one term at Wellington before transferring over to Eton. When at Eton, Blair became a King’s scholar from 1917-1921. Blair’s mentor at Eton was A. S. F. Gow, a librarian at Trinity Collage. Gow would stay a good friend to Blair, giving him advice later on how to become a writer, when that became Blair’s new passion. Also at Eton, Blair produced a school newspaper with Roger Mynorms. His grades however seemed to show that he didn’t take his studies very seriously. However, the one thing that he did take seriously was the Eton Wall Game.

            The lack of study forced Blair out of collage, as he lost his scholarship. He then decided to become a police officer in Burma, mainly because he had relatives in the area around Burma. When he got to Burma he went through training before going out to Irrawaddy Delta police station in 1924. He then was moved to Twante, where he was responsible for around 200,000 people. While he was moving to another post he caught Dengue Fever, and was allowed to return home to England.

            Once he got home to Southwold, England, Blair decided that he wanted to become a writer. He asked his former mentor, Gow, for advice on what to do. Gow said that he should relocate to London. After staying in London for a while Blair decided to move to Paris, where he could write and be supported by his aunt, who lived there.

            After about three and a half years in Paris, Blair decided to move back to Southwold, England. He stayed there for a while before moving to Hampstead. While in Hampstead he worked at a second hand book store. It was there that well writing he adopted the name Orwell. His experience here was the inspiration for his novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Also in Hampstead he met his wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy.

            Orwell served in the Spanish army, deployed in the area around Barcelona. While he was there on the front he was sniped in the throat, barely having the bullet miss his artery. He was then declared unfit for duty. This event was the base for his story, Homage to Catalonia.

            Orwell then traveled back to London, where he wrote Animal Farm. At that time, all of the publishers would not take the book, because they felt that it was an attack against communism. This mattered because at that time the USSR was a very important ally against Nazi Germany. However the book was finally published by Secker and Warburg. The book was published in 1945, one year after they agreed to take the book. However, in light of the sudden rising communist threat, Animal Farm made George Orwell a famous author. Dampening his spirits however was the fact that his wife died right around the same time.

            His next big book, 1984 was published in 1949. He took almost four years to write the book. Almost that whole time he was suffering from tuberculosis. He was seriously ill partly due to the fact that he shipwrecked himself, getting completely soaked. When 1984 did come out it was a huge success, immediately becoming critically acclaimed.

            George Orwell married again, this time to Sonia Brownell. They were married October 13, 1949, in a hospital room located at University Collage Hospital in London, where he was still being treated for his tuberculosis. George Orwell died January 21, 1950, killed by a burst artery in his lung. He was 46 years old. He wanted to be buried in accordance to his religious upbringing, which meant he must be buried in the nearest church cemetery. His final resting place is in the All Saints Churchyard, his tombstone simply reading, “Here lies Eric Arthur Blair, born 25 June 1903, died 21 January 1950”. There is no mention on his tombstone of his more famous name, George Orwell.