How did Maria Lewis influence Mary Ann Evans’s early religious beliefs?

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Portrait drawing of George Eliot, pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, with wavy dark hair, lace collar, and a calm expression, based on an 1865 work by Sir Frederic William Burton. — George Eliot George Eliot, engraving derived from a chalk drawing (1865) by Sir Frederic William Burton.

Maria Lewis, who served as the principal governess at Mrs. Wallington’s School in Nuneaton, played a foundational role in the early life of Mary Ann Evans, later known as the author George Eliot.

During Evans's time as a boarder at the school between 1828 and 1832, Lewis was instrumental in shaping the young girl's spiritual development by inculcating a strong sense of evangelical piety. This early influence established a period of intense religious devotion for Evans, which continued to deepen during her subsequent schooling under the daughters of a Baptist minister in Coventry, where she became known for her earnest engagement in good works and severe manner of dress.1