How did George Henry Lewes’s death affect George Eliot?

The death of George Henry Lewes on November 30, 1878, profoundly impacted George Eliot, as he had fostered her genius and managed the practical details of her life for nearly 25 years. Following his passing, the burden of these responsibilities fell upon her, and she deeply missed the encouragement that she felt was essential to her writing process.1

In her grief, Eliot withdrew from social life for several months, seeing only Lewes’s son, Charles Lee Lewes. She dedicated herself to completing the final volume of Lewes’s work, Problems of Life and Mind, and established the George Henry Lewes Studentship in Physiology at the University of Cambridge. Eventually, she began to rely on John Walter Cross, a banker who had been introduced to the couple by Herbert Spencer, for both advice and emotional support. This relationship led to their marriage in May 1880, shortly before Eliot’s own death later that year.1