George and W. M. Meredith Papers

George Meredith was born to Augustus Urmston (1797-1876) and Jane Eliza (Macnamara) Meredith (1802-1833) in Portsmouth, England on February 12, 1828. Augustus Meredith had inherited an apparently prosperous Portsmouth naval outfitters and tailor shop from his father, but soon discovered that the business carried heavy debts. The Meredith family ran the business at a loss and relied on Jane Meredith's dowry to support them until her death. Augustus Meredith, unable to access funds that his late wife had left in trust for her son, was forced to declare bankruptcy and move to London to support himself in 1837. George Meredith was sent to live with relatives until 1841, when his father made him a ward in Chancery, and obtained the last of his formal education at the Moravian school at Neuwied on the Rhine in 1842 and 1843.

While apprenticed to solicitor Richard Stephen Charnock, Meredith (with the encouragement of Charnock and his literary circle) began writing poetry and helped to organize a monthly manuscript magazine, the Monthly Observer. He was also introduced to Edward Peacock and his widowed sister, Mary Ellen (Peacock) Nicolls (1821-1861). Meredith married Mary Ellen on August 9, 1849 and the couple had one son, Arthur Gryffydh (1853-1890). Their marriage was unhappy, however, and Mary Ellen eloped with artist Henry Wallis in 1858. Interestingly, although he never forgave Mary Ellen, many of Meredith's later works show sympathy for intelligent women in relationships with self-centered men and do not blame the woman exclusively for the failure of such relationships.

Meredith's first book of poetry appeared in 1851. It was followed by The Shaving of Shangpat (1855), Farina (1857), and The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859), the first of Meredith's works to contain a strong autobiographical component. His next novel, Evan Harrington, was published as a serial between February and October 1860 and was one of his first, if moderate, commercial successes. Meredith also became a reader for Chapman and Hall in about 1860, where he read every manuscript submitted to the publishers and advised for or against acceptance. During his time with the firm, which lasted until 1894, he discovered and encouraged such well-known authors as Thomas Hardy and George Gissing.

On September 20, 1864, George Meredith married Marie Vulliamy (1840-1885). The couple had two children, William Maxse (1865-1937) and Marie Eveleen (Meredith) Sturgis (1874-1933), and settled in Flint Cottage on Box Hill near Dorking in 1868. Meredith continued to write, publishing several novels between 1862 and 1885. Of particular note are The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1870-1871), which marked Meredith's greatest success up to that point; The Egoist (1879), which earned Meredith praise from many influential critics; and Diana of the Crossways (1885).

Meredith's health began to decline in the 1880s. He suffered from poor digestion and increasing symptoms of locomotor ataxia, which eventually forced him to give up his previously active lifestyle. In 1894, William Meredith left his engineering career to manage his father's literary affairs. George Meredith continued to write, first publishing novels and then devoting himself to poetry after 1895. His literary reputation continued to grow, and he received many prominent literary figures at his home on Box Hill until his death on May 18, 1909.

Selected Bibliography of George Meredith's Works