Editing George Orwell (section)

==Life==

===Early years===
[[File:Birth-Place-George-Orwell-Motihari.jpg|thumb|Orwell's birthplace in [[Motihari]], [[Bihar]], India]]

Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903 in [[Motihari]], Bengal Presidency (now [[Bihar]]), [[British Raj|British India]], into what he described as a "[[Middle class|lower-upper-middle class]]" family.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite book |last=Crick |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Crick |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=2004 |chapter=Eric Arthur Blair [''pseud.'' George Orwell] (1903–1950)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Road to Wigan Pier |page=1 |chapter=8 |date=1937 |last=Orwell |first=George |publisher=[[Left Book Club]]}}</ref> His great-great-grandfather Charles Blair was a wealthy slave-owning [[Landed gentry|country gentleman]] and [[Absentee landlord|absentee owner]] of two [[List of plantations in Jamaica|Jamaican plantations]];<ref name="LBS Charles Blair">{{cite web |title=Legacies of British Slavery |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146636746 |website=Legacies of British Slavery |publisher=University College London |access-date=28 April 2024}}</ref> hailing from [[Dorset]], he married Lady Mary Fane, daughter of [[Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland]].<ref name="Stansky">{{Cite book|first1=Peter|last1=Stansky|author-link=Peter Stansky|first2=William|last2=Abrahams|title=The Unknown Orwell and Orwell: The Transformation|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|location=[[Stanford, California]]|year=1994|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unknownorwellorw00stan/page/5 5–12]|chapter=From Bengal to St Cyprian's|isbn=978-0804723428 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/unknownorwellorw00stan|url=https://archive.org/details/unknownorwellorw00stan/page/5}}</ref> His grandfather Thomas Richard Arthur Blair was an [[Church of England|Anglican]] clergyman. Orwell's father was Richard Walmesley Blair, who worked as a Sub-Deputy Opium Agent in the [[Royal Commission on Opium#History|Opium Department]] of the [[Indian Civil Service]], overseeing the production and storage of [[opium]] for sale to China.<ref name="Taylor">{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=D.J. |title=Orwell: The Life |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=2003 |isbn=978-0805074734 |url=https://archive.org/details/orwelllife00tayl}}; {{Cite web |last=Chowdhury |first=Amlan |title=George Orwell's Birthplace in Motihari to Turn Museum |url=https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/9/15774/george-orwells-birthplace-in-motihari-to-turn-museum |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=www.thecitizen.in |date=16 December 2018 |language=en-US}}; {{Cite news |last1=Haleem |first1=Suhail |date=11 August 2014 |newspaper=BBC News |title=The Indian Animal Farm where Orwell was born |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28739420}}; {{Cite web |date=14 August 2014 |access-date=2 February 2023 |title=Arena News Week: Frank Maloney, George Orwell Museum and Giant Panda Tian Tian |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/arena/entries/fb151770-ff16-39a5-b426-f0e7904fa31e |website=BBC |language=en}}; {{Cite web |last=Rahman |first=Maseeh |date=30 June 2014 |title=George Orwell's birthplace in India set to become a museum |website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/george-orwell-birthplace-motihari-bihar-india-museum}}</ref> Orwell's mother, Ida Mabel Blair (''née'' Limouzin), grew up in [[Moulmein]], Burma, where her French father was involved in speculative ventures.<ref name="Stansky" /> Eric had two sisters: Marjorie, five years older; and Avril, five years younger. When Eric was one year old, his mother took him and Marjorie to England.<ref name="crick48">Crick (1982), p. 48</ref>{{refn|Stansky and Abrahams suggested that Ida Blair moved to England in 1907, based on information given by her daughter Avril, talking about a time before she was born. This is contrasted by Ida Blair's 1905, as well as a photograph of Eric, aged three, in an English suburban garden.<ref name=crick48/> The earlier date coincides with a difficult posting for Blair senior, and the need to start their daughter Marjorie (then six years old) in an English education.|group= n}} In 2014 restoration work began on Orwell's birthplace and ancestral house in Motihari.<ref>{{cite web|title=Renovation of British Author George Orwell's house in Motihari begins|url=http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/06/renovation-of-british-author-george-orwells-house-in-motihari-begins/|work=IANS|publisher=news.biharprabha.com|access-date=26 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629044724/http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/06/renovation-of-british-author-george-orwells-house-in-motihari-begins/|archive-date=29 June 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:ShiplakeBlairHome01.JPG|alt=|thumb|left|Blair family home at [[Shiplake]], Oxfordshire]]
In 1904, Ida settled with her children at [[Henley-on-Thames]] in Oxfordshire. Eric was brought up in the company of his mother and sisters and, apart from a brief visit in mid-1907,<ref>A Kind of Compulsion 1903–36, xviii</ref> he did not see his father until 1912.<ref name=Taylor/> Aged five, Eric was sent as a day student to a [[Teaching order|convent school]] in Henley-on-Thames. It was a Catholic [[convent]] run by French [[Ursulines|Ursuline]] nuns.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Gordon |last=Bowker |title=George Orwell |page=21}}</ref> His mother wanted him to have a [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public school]] education, but his family could not afford it. Through the social connections of Ida's brother Charles Limouzin, Blair gained a scholarship to [[St Cyprian's School]] in [[Eastbourne]], East Sussex.<ref name=Taylor/> Arriving in September 1911, he boarded for the next five years, returning home only for holidays. Although he knew nothing of the reduced fees, he "soon recognised that he was from a poorer home".<ref>Bowker p. 30</ref> Blair hated the school<ref>{{Cite book |first=Alaric |last=Jacob |author-link=Alaric Jacob |chapter=Sharing Orwell's Joys, but not his Fears |editor-first=Christopher |editor-last=Norris |title=Inside the Myth |publisher=Lawrence and Wishart |year=1984}}</ref> and many years later wrote an essay "[[Such, Such Were the Joys]]", published posthumously, based on his time there. At St Cyprian's, Blair first met [[Cyril Connolly]], who became a writer and who, as the editor of ''[[Horizon (British magazine)|Horizon]]'', published several of Orwell's essays.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Literature in English |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=517}}</ref>

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Before the [[First World War]], the family moved {{convert|2|mi|0}} south to [[Shiplake]], Oxfordshire, where Eric became friendly with the Buddicom family, especially their daughter [[Jacintha Buddicom|Jacintha]]. When they first met, he was standing on his head in a field. Asked why, he said, "You are noticed more if you stand on your head than if you are right way up."<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite book |first=Jacintha |last=Buddicom |author-link=Jacintha Buddicom |title=Eric and Us |publisher=Frewin |year=1974 |isbn=978-0856320767 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ericusremembranc0000budd }}</ref> Growing up together, Buddicom and Blair became idealistic adolescent sweethearts, reading and writing poetry together, and dreaming of becoming famous writers.<ref name="Times Media Limited">{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=D.J. |title=George Orwell: lost letter revealed |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/2e21f026-326a-4639-90eb-0a607b4f31c0 |access-date=22 September 2024 |agency=The Times |publisher=Times Media Limited |date=17 April 2010}}</ref> Blair also enjoyed shooting, fishing and birdwatching with Jacintha's brother and sister.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

While at St Cyprian's, Blair wrote two poems that were published in the ''[[Henley Standard|Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard |date=2 October 1914}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard |date=21 July 1916}}</ref> He came second to Connolly in the [[Harrow History Prize]], had his work praised by the school's external examiner, and earned scholarships to [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington]] and [[Eton College|Eton]]. But inclusion on the Eton scholarship roll did not guarantee a place, and none was immediately available. He chose to stay at St Cyprian's until December 1916, in case a place at Eton became available.<ref name=Taylor/>

[[File:Awake! Young Men of England.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.9|First World War poem by 11-year-old Blair, "Awake! Young Men of England", published in 1914 in the ''[[Henley Standard|Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard]]'']]
In January, Blair took up the place at Wellington, where he spent the Spring term. In May 1917 a place became available as a [[King's Scholar]] at Eton. At this time the family lived at Mall Chambers, Notting Hill Gate. Blair remained at Eton until December 1921, when he left midway between his 18th and 19th birthdays. Wellington was "beastly", Blair told Jacintha, but he said he was "interested and happy" at Eton.<ref>Jacintha Buddicom, ''Eric and Us'', p. 58</ref> His principal tutor was [[A. S. F. Gow]], Fellow of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], who gave him advice later in his career.<ref name=Taylor/> Blair was taught French by [[Aldous Huxley]]. [[Steven Runciman]], who was at Eton with Blair, noted that he and his contemporaries appreciated Huxley's linguistic flair.<ref name=Wadhams/>

Blair's performance reports suggest he neglected his studies,<ref name=Wadhams/> but he worked with [[R. A. B. Mynors|Roger Mynors]] to produce a college magazine, ''The Election Times'', joined in the production of other publications—''College Days'' and ''Bubble and Squeak''—and participated in the [[Eton Wall Game]]. His parents could not afford to send him to university without another scholarship, and they concluded from his poor results he would not be able to win one. Runciman noted he had a romantic idea about the [[Eastern world|East]],<ref name=Wadhams>{{Cite book |first=Stephen |last=Wadhams |title=Remembering Orwell |publisher=Penguin |year=1984}}</ref> and the family decided Blair should join the [[Imperial Police]], the precursor of the Indian Police Service. For this he had to pass an entrance examination. In December 1921, he left Eton and travelled to join his retired father, mother, and younger sister Avril, who that month had moved to 40 Stradbroke Road, [[Southwold]], Suffolk, the first of their four homes in the town.<ref name=Binns>{{Cite book |last=Binns|first=Ronald |title=Orwell in Southwold |publisher=Zoilus Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1999735920}}</ref> Blair was enrolled at a [[crammer]] there called Craighurst, and brushed up on his Classics, English, and History. He passed the exam, coming seventh out of the 26 who passed.<ref name=Taylor/><ref>''A Kind of Compulsion'', p. 87, gives Blair as seventh of ''29'' successful candidates, and 21st of the 23 successful candidates who passed the Indian Imperial Police riding test, in September 1922.</ref>

===Policing in Burma===
[[File:OrwellBurmaPassport.jpg|alt=|thumb|upright|Blair pictured in a passport photograph in Burma. This was the last time he had a [[toothbrush moustache]]; he would later acquire a [[pencil moustache]] similar to other British officers stationed in Burma.]]

Blair's maternal grandmother lived at [[Mawlamyaing|Moulmein]], so he chose a posting in [[British rule in Burma|Burma]], then still a province of British India. In October 1922 he sailed on board SS ''Herefordshire'' to join the [[Indian Imperial Police]] in Burma. A month later, he arrived at [[Rangoon]] and travelled to the police training school in [[Mandalay]]. He was appointed an Assistant District Superintendent (on probation) on 29 November 1922,<ref>{{cite book|page=514|title=The India Office and Burma Office List: 1927|publisher=Harrison & Sons, Ltd.|year=1927}}</ref> at the pay of [[Indian rupee|Rs.]] 525 per month.<ref>{{cite book|page=399|title=The Combined Civil List for India: January 1923|publisher=The Pioneer Press|year=1923}}</ref> After a short posting at [[Maymyo]], Burma's principal [[hill station]], he was posted to the frontier outpost of [[Myaungmya]] in the [[Irrawaddy Delta]] at the beginning of 1924.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Unknown Orwell: Orwell, the Transformation |date=1994 |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=176}}</ref>

Working as an imperial police officer gave him considerable responsibility while most of his contemporaries were still at university in England. When he was posted farther east in the Delta to [[Twante]] as a sub-divisional officer, he was responsible for the security of some 200,000 people. At the end of 1924, he was posted to [[Syriam]], closer to Rangoon. Syriam had the refinery of the [[Burmah Oil Company]], "the surrounding land a barren waste, all vegetation killed off by the fumes of [[sulphur dioxide]] pouring out day and night from the stacks of the refinery." But the town was near Rangoon, a cosmopolitan seaport, and Blair went into the city as often as he could, "to browse in a bookshop; to eat well-cooked food; to get away from the boring routine of police life".<ref>Stansky & Abrahams, ''The Unknown Orwell'', pp. 170–171</ref> In September 1925 he went to [[Insein Township|Insein]], the home of [[Insein Prison]].<ref name=Shelden>Michael Shelden ''Orwell: The Authorised Biography'', William Heinemann, 1991</ref> By this time, Blair had completed his training and was receiving a monthly salary of Rs. 740, including allowances.<ref>{{cite book|page=409|title=The Combined Civil List for India: July–September 1925|publisher=The Pioneer Press|year=1925}}</ref>

Blair recalled he faced hostility from the Burmese, "in the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves". He recalled that "I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Volume 6: The Twentieth Century and Beyond |date=2006 |publisher=Broadview Press |page=546}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Orwell |first1=George |title=Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays |date=2009 |publisher=HMH |pages=29–30}}</ref>

[[File:KatharBritishClub.JPG|left|thumb|British Club in [[Katha, Myanmar]] ]]
In Burma, Blair acquired a reputation as an outsider. He spent much of his time alone, reading or pursuing non-''[[Pukka sahib|pukka]]'' activities, such as attending the churches of the [[Karen people|Karen]] ethnic group. A colleague, Roger Beadon, recalled that Blair was fast to learn the language and that before he left Burma, "was able to speak fluently with Burmese priests in 'very high-flown Burmese'."<ref>''A Kind of Compulsion, 1903–36'', p. 87</ref> Blair made changes to his appearance in Burma that remained for the rest of his life, including adopting a [[pencil moustache]]. [[Emma Larkin]] writes in the introduction to ''Burmese Days'': <blockquote>While in Burma, he acquired a moustache similar to those worn by officers of the British regiments stationed there. [He] also acquired some tattoos; on each knuckle he had a small untidy blue circle. Many Burmese living in rural areas still sport tattoos like this—they are believed to protect against bullets and snake bites.<ref>[[Emma Larkin]], Introduction, ''Burmese Days'', Penguin Classics edition, 2009</ref></blockquote>

In April 1926 he moved to Moulmein, where his maternal grandmother lived. At the end of that year, he was assigned to [[Katha, Myanmar|Katha]] in [[Upper Burma]], where he contracted [[dengue fever]] in 1927. Entitled to a [[leave (military)|leave]] in England that year, he was allowed to return in July due to his illness. While on holiday with his family in [[Cornwall]] in September 1927, he reappraised his life. Deciding against returning to Burma, he resigned from the Indian Imperial Police to become a writer, with effect from 12 March 1928.<ref>{{cite book|page=894|title=The India Office and Burma Office List: 1929|publisher=Harrison & Sons, Ltd.|year=1929}}</ref> He drew on his experiences in the Burma police for the novel ''[[Burmese Days]]'' (1934) and the essays "[[A Hanging]]" (1931) and "[[Shooting an Elephant]]" (1936).<ref>{{cite news |title=Exploring Burma Through George Orwell |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4761169&t=1610634531933 |access-date=14 January 2021 |agency=NPR}}</ref>

===London and Paris===
[[File:George_Orwell's_Home,_Notting_Hill,_London.jpg|thumb|The blue house on the right was Blair's 1927 lodgings in [[Portobello Road]], London.]]
In England, he settled back in the family home at [[Southwold]], renewing acquaintance with local friends and attending an [[Old Etonian]] dinner. He visited his old tutor Gow at Cambridge for advice on becoming a writer.<ref>Crick (1982), p. 122</ref> In 1927 he moved to London.<ref>Stansky & Abrahams, ''The Unknown Orwell'', p. 195</ref> [[Ruth Pitter]], a family acquaintance, helped him find lodgings, and by the end of 1927 he had moved into rooms in [[Portobello Road]];<ref>Ruth Pitter ''BBC Overseas Service broadcast'', 3 January 1956</ref> a [[blue plaque]] commemorates his residence there.<ref>{{openplaque|2825}}</ref> Pitter's involvement in the move "would have lent it a reassuring respectability in Mrs. Blair's eyes". Pitter had a sympathetic interest in Blair's writing, pointed out weaknesses in his poetry, and advised him to write about what he knew. In fact he decided to write of "certain aspects of the present that he set out to know" and ventured into the [[East End of London]]—the first of the occasional sorties he would make intermittently over a period of five years to discover the world of poverty and the down-and-outers who inhabit it.<ref>Stansky & Abrahams, ''The Unknown Orwell'', p. 204</ref>

In imitation of [[Jack London]], whose writing he admired (particularly ''[[The People of the Abyss]]''), Blair started to explore the poorer parts of London. On his first outing he set out to [[Limehouse Causeway]], spending his first night in a common lodging house, possibly George Levy's "kip". For a while he "went native" in his own country, dressing like a [[tramp]], adopting the name P.S. Burton; he recorded his experiences of the low life for use in "[[The Spike (essay)|The Spike]]", his first published essay in English, and in the second half of his first book, ''[[Down and Out in Paris and London]]'' (1933).<ref>{{cite news |title=Orwell's take on destitution, live from Paris and London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/28/george-orwell-down-out-london-paris-live-performance|access-date=16 November 2021 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
[[File:Rue du Pot-de-Fer.JPG|left|thumb|upright|Rue du Pot de Fer on the [[Rive Gauche (Paris)|Left Bank]] in the [[5th arrondissement of Paris|5th arrondissement]], where Blair lived in Paris]]

In early 1928 he moved to Paris. He lived in the rue du Pot de Fer, a working class district in the [[5th arrondissement of Paris|5th arrondissement]].<ref name=Taylor/> His aunt [[Ellen Kate Limouzin|Ellen (Nellie) Kate Limouzin]] also lived in Paris (with the [[Esperanto|Esperantist]] [[Eugène Lanti]]) and gave him social and, when necessary, financial support. He began to write novels, including an early version of ''Burmese Days'', but nothing else survives from that period.<ref name=Taylor/> He was more successful as a journalist and published articles in ''[[Monde (review)|Monde]]'', a political/literary journal edited by [[Henri Barbusse]] (his first article as a professional writer, "La Censure en Angleterre", appeared in that journal on 6 October 1928); ''[[G. K.'s Weekly]]'', where his first article to appear in England, "A Farthing Newspaper", was printed on 29 December 1928;<ref>''A Kind of Compulsion'' (1903–36), p. 113</ref> and ''Le Progrès Civique'' (founded by the left-wing coalition [[Cartel des Gauches|Le Cartel des Gauches]]). Three pieces appeared in successive weeks in ''Le Progrès Civique'': discussing unemployment, a day in the life of a tramp, and the beggars of London, respectively. "In one or another of its destructive forms, poverty was to become his obsessive subject—at the heart of almost everything he wrote until ''[[Homage to Catalonia]]''."<ref>Stansky & Abrahams, ''The Unknown Orwell'', p. 216</ref>

He fell seriously ill in February 1929 and was taken to the [[Hôpital Cochin]], a free hospital where medical students were trained. His experiences there were the basis of his essay "[[How the Poor Die]]", published in 1946 (though he chose not to identify the hospital). Shortly afterwards, he had all his money stolen from his lodging house. Whether through necessity or to collect material, he undertook menial jobs such as dishwashing in a fashionable hotel on the [[rue de Rivoli]], which he later described in ''Down and Out in Paris and London''. In August 1929, he sent a copy of "[[The Spike (essay)|The Spike]]" to [[John Middleton Murry]]'s ''[[Adelphi (magazine)|New Adelphi]]'' magazine in London. The magazine was edited by [[Max Plowman]] and [[Sir Richard Rees, 2nd Baronet|Sir Richard Rees]], and Plowman accepted the work for publication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marks |first1=Peter |title=George Orwell the Essayist: Literature, Politics and the Periodical Culture |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=28}}</ref>

===Southwold===

[[File:SouthwoldPier.JPG|thumb|right|[[Southwold Pier]] in [[Southwold]]. Orwell wrote ''[[A Clergyman's Daughter]]'' (1935) in the town, basing the fictional town of Knype Hill partly on Southwold.]]

In December 1929, after nearly two years in Paris, Blair returned to England and went directly to his parents' house in [[Southwold]], a coastal town in [[Suffolk]], which remained his base for the next five years. The family was well established in the town, where his sister Avril ran a tea-house. He became acquainted with many local people, including Brenda Salkeld, the clergyman's daughter who worked as a gym-teacher at [[Saint Felix School|St Felix Girls' School]]. Although Salkeld rejected his offer of marriage, she remained a friend and regular correspondent for many years. He also renewed friendships with older friends, such as Dennis Collings, whose girlfriend Eleanor Jacques was also to play a part in his life.<ref name=Taylor/>

In early 1930 he stayed briefly in [[Bramley, Leeds]], with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey Dakin. Blair was writing reviews for ''Adelphi'' and acting as a private tutor to a disabled child at Southwold. He then became tutor to three young brothers, one of whom, [[Richard Stanley Peters|Richard Peters]], later became a distinguished academic.<ref>R.S. Peters (1974). ''A Boy's View of George Orwell'' Psychology and Ethical Development. Allen & Unwin</ref> <blockquote>His history in these years is marked by dualities and contrasts. There is Blair leading a respectable, outwardly eventless life at his parents' house in Southwold, writing; then in contrast, there is Blair as Burton (the name he used in his down-and-out episodes) in search of experience in the kips and spikes, in the East End, on the road, and in the hop fields of Kent.<ref>Stansky & Abrahams, p. 230 ''The Unknown Orwell''</ref></blockquote> He went painting and bathing on the beach, and there he met Mabel and Francis Fierz, who later influenced his career. Over the next year he visited them in London, often meeting their friend Max Plowman. He also often stayed at the homes of Ruth Pitter and Richard Rees, where he could "change" for his sporadic tramping expeditions. One of his jobs was domestic work at a lodgings for [[half crown (British coin)|half a crown]] (two shillings and sixpence, or one-eighth of a pound) a day.<ref name="autogenerated1996">Stella Judt "I once met George Orwell" in ''I once Met'' 1996</ref>

Blair now contributed regularly to ''Adelphi'', with "[[A Hanging]]" appearing in August 1931. From August to September 1931 his explorations of poverty continued, and, like the protagonist of ''[[A Clergyman's Daughter]]'', he followed the [[East End]] tradition of working in the Kent [[Hops|hop]] fields. He kept a diary about his experiences there. Afterwards, he lodged in the [[Tooley Street#George Orwell|Tooley Street kip]], but could not stand it for long, and with financial help from his parents moved to Windsor Street, where he stayed until Christmas. "Hop Picking", by Eric Blair, appeared in the October 1931 issue of ''[[New Statesman]]'', whose editorial staff included his old friend Cyril Connolly. Mabel Fierz put him in contact with [[Leonard Moore (literary agent)|Leonard Moore]], who became his [[literary agent]] in April 1932.<ref>{{cite book |title=George Orwell: A Life in Letters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WE4AAAAQBAJ |editor=Davison, Peter |date=2013 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=494|isbn=9780871404626 }}</ref>

At this time [[Jonathan Cape]] rejected ''A Scullion's Diary'', the first version of ''Down and Out''. On the advice of Richard Rees, he offered it to [[Faber & Faber]], but their editorial director, [[T. S. Eliot]], also rejected it. Blair ended the year by deliberately getting himself arrested,<ref name="Arrest">{{cite web|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1214/041214-orwell-court-record|title=Discovery of 'drunk and incapable' arrest record shows Orwell's 'honesty'|work=ucl.ac.uk|access-date=25 February 2015|date=4 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106070123/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1214/041214-orwell-court-record/|archive-date=6 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> so that he could experience Christmas in prison, but after he was picked up and taken to [[Bethnal Green]] police station in the [[East End of London]] the authorities did not regard his "drunk and disorderly" behaviour as imprisonable, and after two days in a cell he returned home to Southwold.<ref name="Arrest"/>

===Teaching career===
<!-- Courtesy note: [[P. S. Burton]] links here. as {{R to section}} -->
In April 1932 Blair became a teacher at The Hawthorns High School, a school for boys, in [[Hayes, Hillingdon|Hayes]], west London. This was a small private school, and had only 14 or 16 boys aged between ten and sixteen, and one other master.<ref>Crick (1982), p. 221</ref> While at the school he became friendly with the curate of the local parish church and became involved with activities there. Mabel Fierz had pursued matters with Moore, and at the end of June 1932, Moore told Blair that [[Victor Gollancz]] was prepared to publish ''A Scullion's Diary'' for a £40 advance, through his recently founded publishing house, [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]], which was an outlet for radical and socialist works.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wagner|first=David Paul|date=2019|title=Left Book Club|url=https://www.publishinghistory.com/left-book-club-victor-gollancz.html|website=Publishing History}}</ref>

At the end of the summer term in 1932, Blair returned to Southwold, where his parents had used a legacy to buy their own home. Blair and his sister Avril spent the holidays making the house habitable while he also worked on ''Burmese Days''.<ref>Avril Dunn ''My Brother George Orwell'' Twentieth Century 1961</ref> He was also spending time with Eleanor Jacques, but her attachment to Dennis Collings remained an obstacle to his hopes of a more serious relationship.

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"Clink", an essay describing his failed attempt to get sent to prison, appeared in the August 1932 number of ''Adelphi''. He returned to teaching at Hayes and prepared for the publication of his book, now known as ''Down and Out in Paris and London''. He wished to publish under a different name to avoid any embarrassment to his family over his time as a "tramp".<ref name="nybooks">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/may/26/intimate-orwell/?pagination=false |title=The Intimate Orwell |last=Leys |first=Simon |date=6 May 2011 |access-date=6 May 2011 |magazine=[[The New York Review of Books]]}}</ref> In a letter to Moore (dated 15 November 1932), he left the choice of pseudonym to Moore and to Gollancz. Four days later, he wrote to Moore, suggesting the pseudonyms P. S. Burton (a name he used when tramping), Kenneth Miles, George Orwell, and H. Lewis Allways.<ref>Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.)''Orwell: An Age Like This'', letters 31 and 33 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World)</ref> He finally adopted the [[pen name]] George Orwell because "It is a good round English name."<ref>{{cite news|title=George Orwell: from Animal Farm to Zog, an A–Z of Orwell|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5386673/George-Orwell-from-Animal-Farm-to-Zog-an-A-Z-of-Orwell.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5386673/George-Orwell-from-Animal-Farm-to-Zog-an-A-Z-of-Orwell.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|agency=The Telegraph|date=20 March 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The name George was inspired by the [[Saint George|patron saint of England]], and Orwell after the [[River Orwell]] in Suffolk which was one of Orwell's favourite locations.<ref name="Down"/>

''Down and Out in Paris and London'' was published by Victor Gollancz in London on 9 January 1933 and received favourable reviews, with [[Cecil Day-Lewis]] complimenting Orwell's "clarity and good sense", and ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'' comparing Orwell's eccentric characters to the [[Charles Dickens#Characters|characters of Dickens]].<ref name="Down">{{cite book |last1=Brunsdale |first1=Mitzi |title=Student Companion to George Orwell |date=2000 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=48–49, 64}}</ref> ''Down and Out'' was modestly successful and was next published by [[Harper (publisher)|Harper & Brothers]] in New York.<ref name="Down"/>

In mid-1933 Blair left Hawthorns to become a teacher at [[Frays River|Frays College]], in [[Uxbridge]], west London. This was a much larger establishment with 200 pupils and a full complement of staff. He acquired a motorcycle and took trips through the surrounding countryside. On one of these expeditions he became soaked and caught a chill that developed into pneumonia. He was taken to a [[cottage hospital]] in Uxbridge, where for a time his life was believed to be in danger. When he was discharged in January 1934, he returned to Southwold to convalesce and, supported by his parents, never returned to teaching.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Applegate |first1=Edd |title=Advocacy Journalists: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors |date=2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=151}}</ref>

He was disappointed when Gollancz turned down ''Burmese Days'', mainly on the grounds of potential suits for libel, but Harper were prepared to publish it in the United States. Meanwhile, Blair started work on the novel ''[[A Clergyman's Daughter]]'', drawing upon his life as a teacher and on life in Southwold. Eventually in October, after sending ''A Clergyman's Daughter'' to Moore, he left for London to take a job that had been found for him by his aunt Nellie Limouzin.<ref name="Down"/>

===Hampstead===

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| caption1          = Orwell's former home at 77 Parliament Hill, [[Hampstead]], London
| caption2          = His time as a bookseller is marked with this plaque in [[Pond Street, Hampstead|Pond Street]], Hampstead.
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This job was as a part-time assistant in Booklovers' Corner, a second-hand bookshop in Hampstead run by Francis and Myfanwy Westrope, who were friends of Nellie Limouzin in the [[Esperanto]] movement. The Westropes were friendly and provided him with comfortable accommodation at Warwick Mansions, [[Pond Street, Hampstead|Pond Street]]. He was sharing the job with [[Jon Kimche]], who also lived with the Westropes. Blair worked at the shop in the afternoons and had his mornings free to write and his evenings free to socialise. These experiences provided background for the novel ''[[Keep the Aspidistra Flying]]'' (1936). As well as the various guests of the Westropes, he was able to enjoy the company of Richard Rees and the ''Adelphi'' writers and Mabel Fierz. The Westropes and Kimche were members of the [[Independent Labour Party]], although at this time Blair was not seriously politically active. He was writing for the ''Adelphi'' and preparing ''A Clergyman's Daughter'' and ''Burmese Days'' for publication.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Introduction to George Orwell |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=16}}</ref>

[[File:GEORGE ORWELL 1903-1950 Novelist and Political Essayist lived here.jpg|thumb|upright|[[English Heritage]] [[blue plaque]] in [[Kentish Town]], London, where Orwell lived from August 1935 until January 1936]]
At the beginning of 1935 he had to move out of Warwick Mansions, and Mabel Fierz found him a flat in Parliament Hill. ''A Clergyman's Daughter'' was published on 11 March 1935. In early 1935 Blair met his future wife [[Eileen O'Shaughnessy]], when his landlady, Rosalind Obermeyer, who was studying for a master's degree in psychology at [[University College London]], invited some of her fellow students to a party. One of these students, Elizaveta Fen, recalled Blair and his friend [[Sir Richard Rees, 2nd Baronet|Richard Rees]] "draped" at the fireplace, looking, she thought, "moth-eaten and prematurely aged."<ref>Stansky & Abrahams, ''Orwell:The Transformation'' pp.&nbsp;100–101</ref> Around this time, Blair had started to write reviews for ''[[The New English Weekly]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Introduction to George Orwell |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=17}}</ref>

In June, ''Burmese Days'' was published and Cyril Connolly's positive review in the ''New Statesman'' prompted Blair to re-establish contact with his old friend. In August, he moved into a flat, at 50 Lawford Road, [[Kentish Town]], which he shared with [[Michael Sayers]] and [[Rayner Heppenstall]]. The relationship was sometimes awkward and Blair and Heppenstall even came to blows, though they remained friends and later worked together on BBC broadcasts.<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 392</ref> Blair was now working on ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'', and also tried unsuccessfully to write a serial for the ''[[News Chronicle]]''. By October 1935 his flatmates had moved out and he was struggling to pay the rent on his own. He remained until the end of January 1936, when he stopped working at Booklovers' Corner. In 1980, [[English Heritage]] honoured Orwell with a [[blue plaque]] at his Kentish Town residence.<ref>{{cite news |title=George Orwell's Blue Plaque in Kentish Town, London NW5 |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/george-orwell/ |access-date=27 February 2021 |agency=English Heritage}}</ref>

===''The Road to Wigan Pier''===
{{main|The Road to Wigan Pier}}
At this time, Victor Gollancz suggested Orwell spend a short time investigating social conditions in economically depressed [[Northern England]].{{refn|The conventional view, based on Geoffrey Gorer's recollections, is of a specific commission with a £500 advance. Taylor argues that Orwell's subsequent life does not suggest he received such a large advance, Gollancz was not known to pay large sums to relatively unknown authors, and Gollancz took little proprietorial interest in progress.<ref>D. J. Taylor ''Orwell: The Life'' Chatto & Windus 2003</ref>|group= n}} The [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Depression]] had introduced a number of working-class writers from the North of England to the reading public. It was one of these working-class authors, [[Jack Hilton (author)|Jack Hilton]], whom Orwell sought for advice. Orwell had written to Hilton seeking lodging and asking for recommendations on his route. Hilton was unable to provide him lodging, but suggested that he travel to [[Wigan]] rather than Rochdale, "for there are the colliers and they're good stuff."<ref>Clarke, Ben. "George Orwell, Jack Hilton, and the Working Class." ''Review of English Studies'' 67.281 (2016) 764–785.</ref>

On 31 January 1936, Orwell set out by public transport and on foot. Arriving in Manchester after the banks had closed, he had to stay in a common lodging-house. The next day he picked up a list of contacts sent by Richard Rees. One of these, the trade union official Frank Meade, suggested [[Wigan]], where Orwell spent February staying in dirty lodgings over a [[tripe]] shop. In Wigan, he visited many homes to see how people lived, went down [[Bryn Hall Colliery|Bryn Hall coal mine]], and used the [[Museum of Wigan Life|local public library]] to consult public health records and reports on working conditions in mines.<ref>{{citation|url = http://orwellstracks.webklik.nl/page/wigan|title = Orwells tracks|access-date = 16 November 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203020355/http://orwellstracks.webklik.nl/page/wigan|archive-date = 3 December 2013|url-status = dead}}</ref>

During this time, he was distracted by concerns about style and possible libel in ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying''. He made a quick visit to [[Liverpool]] and during March, stayed in south Yorkshire, spending time in [[Sheffield]] and [[Barnsley]]. As well as visiting mines, including [[Grimethorpe]], and observing social conditions, he attended meetings of the Communist Party and of [[Oswald Mosley]] ("his speech the usual claptrap—The blame for everything was put upon mysterious international gangs of Jews") where he saw the tactics of the [[British Union of Fascists|Blackshirts]].<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 457</ref> He also made visits to his sister at [[Headingley]], during which he visited the [[Brontë Parsonage Museum|Brontë Parsonage]] at [[Haworth]].<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 450. The Road to Wigan Pier Diary</ref>
[[File:Wigan Pier - geograph.org.uk - 4175.jpg|alt=|thumb|A former warehouse at [[Wigan Pier]] is named after Orwell.]]
[[File:No 2 Kits Lane, Wallington 2020-07-18.jpg|alt=|thumb|No 2 Kits Lane, [[Wallington, Hertfordshire]], Orwell's residence {{circa}} 1936–1940]]
Orwell needed somewhere he could concentrate on writing his book, and once again help was provided by Aunt Nellie, who was living at [[Wallington, Hertfordshire]] in a very small 16th-century cottage called the "Stores". Orwell took over the tenancy and moved in on 2 April 1936.<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 468</ref> He started work on ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' by the end of April, but also spent hours working on the garden, planting a rose garden which is still extant, and revealing four years later that "outside my work the thing I care most about is gardening, especially vegetable gardening".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Orwell's Roses (by Rebecca Solnit review – deadheading with the writer and thinker) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/19/orwells-roses-by-rebecca-solnit-review-george-orwell-in-the-garden |work=The Guardian |author=Gaby Hinsliff |date=19 October 2021 |access-date=20 August 2022 }}</ref> He also tested the possibility of reopening the Stores as a village shop. ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' was published by Gollancz on 20 April 1936. On 4 August, Orwell gave a talk at the Adelphi Summer School held at [[Langham, Essex|Langham]], entitled ''An Outsider Sees the Distressed Areas''; others who spoke at the school included [[John Strachey (politician)|John Strachey]], [[Max Plowman]], [[Karl Polanyi]] and [[Reinhold Niebuhr]].<ref>Davison, Peter (ed.). ''George Orwell: A Kind of Compulsion 1903–1936'' (1998), p. 493.</ref>

The result of his journeys through the north was ''[[The Road to Wigan Pier]]'', published by Gollancz for the [[Left Book Club]] in 1937.<ref>Orwell, ''Facing Unpleasant Facts'', [[Secker & Warburg]] (new edition 2000), p. 12</ref> The first half of the book documents his social investigations of [[Lancashire]] and [[Yorkshire]], including an evocative description of working life in the coal mines. The second half is a long essay on his upbringing and the development of his political conscience, which includes an argument for socialism. Gollancz feared the second half would offend readers and added a disculpatory preface to the book while Orwell was in Spain.<ref>[[Ruth Dudley Edwards]], ''Victor Gollancz, a Biography'', pp. 246–247; quoted in ''A Kind of Compulsion: 1903–1936 (The Complete Works of George Orwell)'', p. 532.</ref> Orwell's research for ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' led to him being placed under surveillance by the [[Special Branch (Metropolitan Police)|Special Branch]] from 1936.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PageNotFound/PageNotFound.aspx?url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2005/highlights_july/july19/default.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208064406/http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2005/highlights_july/july19/default.htm |url-status=dead |title=George Orwell under the watchful eye of Big Brother – The National Archives|archive-date=8 December 2011|website=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref>

Orwell married O'Shaughnessy on 9 June 1936. Shortly afterwards, the political crisis began in Spain and Orwell followed developments there closely. At the end of the year, concerned by [[Francisco Franco]]'s military uprising, Orwell decided to go to Spain to take part in the [[Spanish Civil War]] on [[Second Spanish Republic|the Republican side]]. Under the erroneous impression that he needed papers from some left-wing organisation to cross the frontier, on [[John Strachey (politician)|John Strachey]]'s recommendation he applied unsuccessfully to [[Harry Pollitt]], leader of the [[British Communist Party]]. Pollitt was suspicious of Orwell's political reliability; he asked him whether he would undertake to join the [[International Brigades]] and advised him to get a safe-conduct from the Spanish Embassy in Paris.<ref>"Notes on the Spanish Militias" in Orwell in Spain, p. 278</ref> Not wishing to commit himself until he had seen the situation ''in situ'', Orwell instead used his Independent Labour Party contacts to get a letter of introduction to [[John McNair (UK politician)|John McNair]] in Barcelona.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ingle |first1=Stephen |title=George Orwell: A Political Life |date=1993 |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=41}}</ref>

===Spanish Civil War===
[[File:Placa de George Orwell in Barcelona 3.jpg|thumb|upright|The square in Barcelona renamed in Orwell's honour]]
Orwell set out for Spain on about 23 December 1936, dining with [[Henry Miller]] in Paris on the way. Miller told Orwell that going to fight in the Civil War out of some sense of obligation or guilt was "sheer stupidity" and that the Englishman's ideas "about combating Fascism, defending democracy, etc., etc., were all baloney".<ref>Haycock, ''I Am Spain'' (2013), 152</ref> A few days later in [[Barcelona]], Orwell met John McNair of the [[Independent Labour Party]] (ILP) Office.<ref>John McNair – Interview with Ian Angus UCL 1964</ref><ref name="catalonia">{{Cite book |last=Orwell |first=George |title=Homage to Catalonia |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2013 |page=197 |isbn=978-0-141-39302-5 }}</ref> The [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican government]] was supported by a number of factions with conflicting aims, including the [[Workers' Party of Marxist Unification]] (POUM), the [[anarcho-syndicalist]] [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT) and the [[Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia]] (a wing of the [[Communist Party of Spain (main)|Spanish Communist Party]]). Orwell was at first exasperated by this "kaleidoscope" of political parties and trade unions.<ref name="catalonia"/> The ILP was linked to the POUM so Orwell joined the POUM.<ref>{{cite book |first=George |last=Orwell |title=[[Homage to Catalonia]] |publisher= [[Penguin Books]] |year=2013|pages=197–198}}</ref>

After a time at the Lenin Barracks in Barcelona he was sent to the relatively quiet [[Aragon#Spanish Civil War 1936–1939|Aragon Front]] under [[Georges Kopp]]. By January 1937 he was at [[Alcubierre]] {{convert|1500|ft|m}} above sea level, in the depth of winter. There was very little military action and Orwell was shocked by the lack of munitions, food and firewood as well as other extreme deprivations.<ref>See article by [[Iain King]] on Orwell's war experiences, [http://www.military-history.org/articles/thinkers-at-war-george-orwell.htm here.]</ref> With his Cadet Corps and police training, Orwell was quickly made a corporal. On the arrival of a British [[ILP Contingent]] about three weeks later, Orwell and the other English militiaman, Williams, were sent with them to [[Sierra de Alcubierre|Monte Oscuro]] and on to [[Huesca]].

Meanwhile, back in England, Eileen had been handling the issues relating to the publication of ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' before setting out for Spain herself, leaving Nellie Limouzin to look after The Stores. Eileen volunteered for a post in John McNair's office and with the help of Georges Kopp paid visits to her husband, bringing him English tea, chocolate and cigars.<ref>Letter to Eileen Blair April 1937 in ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 1&nbsp;– An Age Like This 1945–1950'' p. 296 (Penguin)</ref> Orwell had to spend some days in hospital with a poisoned hand<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|last=Hicks|first=Granville|title=George Orwell's Prelude in Spain|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/05/16/specials/orwell-homage.html|website=The New York Times|date=18 May 1952}}</ref> and had most of his possessions stolen by the staff. He returned to the front and saw some action in a night attack on the Nationalist trenches where he chased an enemy soldier with a bayonet and bombed an enemy rifle position.

In April, Orwell returned to Barcelona.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Wanting to be sent to the Madrid front, which meant he "must join the International Column", he approached a Communist friend attached to the Spanish Medical Aid and explained his case. "Although he did not think much of the Communists, Orwell was still ready to treat them as friends and allies. That would soon change."<ref>Bowker, p. 216</ref> During the [[Barcelona May Days]] Orwell was caught up in the factional fighting. He spent much of the time on a roof, with a stack of novels, but encountered [[Jon Kimche]] from his Hampstead days during the stay. The subsequent campaign of lies and distortion carried out by the Communist press,<ref>"The accusation of espionage against the P.O.U.M. rested solely upon articles in the Communist press and the activities of the Communist-controlled secret police." ''Homage to Catalonia'' p. 168. Penguin, 1980</ref> in which the POUM was accused of collaborating with the fascists, had a dramatic effect on Orwell. Instead of joining the International Brigades as he had intended, he decided to return to the Aragon Front. Once the May fighting was over, he was approached by a Communist friend who asked if he still intended transferring to the International Brigades. Orwell expressed surprise that they should still want him, because according to the Communist press he was a fascist.<ref name="newsinger">{{cite web |url=http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj62/newsinger.htm |title=Newsinger, John "Orwell and the Spanish Revolution" ''International Socialism Journal'' Issue 62 Spring 1994 |publisher=Pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk |access-date=21 October 2010 |archive-date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017022834/http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj62/newsinger.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:George orwell.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial plaque in [[Lleida]] marking where Orwell received treatment at the Hospital Santa María de Lleida for his bullet wound to the neck]]
After his return to the front, he was wounded in the throat by a sniper's bullet. At 6&nbsp;ft 2 in (1.88 m), Orwell was considerably taller than the Spanish fighters<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.hoover.org/research/man-who-saved-orwell|title=Harry Milton&nbsp;– The Man Who Saved Orwell|journal=Hoover Digest|publisher=[[Hoover Institution]]|access-date=23 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620092650/http://www.hoover.org/research/man-who-saved-orwell|archive-date=20 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> and had been warned against standing against the trench parapet. Unable to speak, and with blood pouring from his mouth, Orwell was carried on a stretcher to [[Siétamo]], loaded on an ambulance and sent to hospital in [[Lleida]]. He recovered sufficiently to get up and on 27 May 1937 was sent on to [[Tarragona]] and two days later to a POUM sanatorium in the suburbs of Barcelona. The bullet had missed his main artery by the barest margin and his voice was barely audible. It had been such a clean shot that the wound immediately went through the process of [[cauterisation]]. He received [[electrotherapy]] treatment and was declared medically unfit for service.<ref>Taylor (2003: 228–229)</ref>

By the middle of June, the political situation in Barcelona had deteriorated and the POUM—painted by the pro-Soviet Communists as a [[Trotskyist]] organisation—was outlawed and under attack.<ref>Gordon Bowker, ''Orwell'', p. 218 {{ISBN|978-0349115511}}</ref> Members, including Kopp, were arrested and others were in hiding. Orwell and his wife were under threat and had to lie low,{{refn|The author states that evidence discovered at the National Historical Archives in Madrid in 1989 of a security police report to the Tribunal for Espionage and High Treason described Eric Blair and his wife Eileen Blair, as "known Trotskyists" and as "linking agents of the ILP and the POUM". Newsinger goes on to state that given Orwell's precarious health, "there can be little doubt that if he had been arrested he would have died in prison."|group= n}} although they broke cover to try to help Kopp. They finally escaped from Spain by train. In the first week of July 1937 Orwell arrived back at Wallington; on 13 July 1937 a deposition was presented to the Tribunal for Espionage & High Treason in [[Valencia]], charging the Orwells with "rabid Trotskyism", and being agents of the POUM.<ref>''Facing Unpleasant Facts'', p. xxix, Secker & Warburg, 2000</ref> The trial of the leaders of the POUM and of Orwell (in his absence) took place in Barcelona in October and November 1938. Observing events from French Morocco, Orwell wrote that they were "only a by-product of the [[Moscow trials|Russian Trotskyist trials]] and from the start every kind of lie, including flagrant absurdities, has been circulated in the Communist press."<ref>''Facing Unpleasant Facts'', pp. 31, 224</ref> Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War gave rise to ''[[Homage to Catalonia]]'' (1938).

In his book, ''The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War,'' [[Giles Tremlett]] writes that according to Soviet files, Orwell and his wife Eileen were spied on in Barcelona in May 1937.<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 October 2020|title=Revealed: Soviet spies targeted George Orwell during Spanish civil war|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/11/revealed-soviet-spies-targeted-george-orwell-during-spanish-civil-war|access-date=12 October 2020|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

===Rest and recuperation===
[[File:24 Crooms Hill, Greenwich, London-11July2010.jpg|thumb|Laurence O'Shaughnessy's former home, the large house on the corner, 24 Crooms Hill, [[Greenwich]], London<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theorwellprize.co.uk/george-orwell/about-orwell/gordon-bowker-orwells-london|title=Gordon Bowker: Orwell's London|date=23 September 2010|publisher=theorwellprise.co.uk|access-date=2 February 2011}}</ref>]]

Orwell returned to England in June 1937, and stayed at the O'Shaughnessy home at Greenwich. He found his views on the Spanish Civil War out of favour, but praised the book ''Red Spanish Notebook: the first six months of revolution and the civil war'' by Juan Ramón Breá and [[Mary Stanley Low]] in a review for ''[[Time and Tide (magazine)|Time and Tide]]'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yH_gSaP_GqsC&dq=mary+low+spain&pg=PT388 |title=Orwell in Spain |date=3 May 2001 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-14-191390-2 |pages=401 |language=en}}</ref> [[Kingsley Martin]] rejected two of Orwell's works and Gollancz was equally cautious. At the same time, the communist ''[[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Daily Worker]]'' was running an attack on ''The Road to Wigan Pier'', taking out of context Orwell writing that "the working classes smell"; a letter to Gollancz from Orwell threatening libel action brought a stop to this. Orwell was also able to find a more sympathetic publisher for his views in [[Fredric Warburg]] of Secker & Warburg. Orwell returned to Wallington, which he found in disarray after his absence. He acquired goats, a cockerel (rooster) he called [[Henry Ford]] and a poodle puppy he called [[Karl Marx|Marx]];<ref name=taylor/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paralumun.com/bioorwell.htm |title=George Orwell Biography |publisher=Paralumun.com |access-date=21 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427222231/http://www.paralumun.com/bioorwell.htm |archive-date=27 April 2011 |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/16-8-40/ |title=The Orwell Prize |publisher=Orwelldiaries.wordpress.com |date=16 August 2010 |access-date=21 October 2010}}</ref> and settled down to animal husbandry and writing ''Homage to Catalonia''.

There were thoughts of going to India to work on ''[[The Pioneer (newspaper)|The Pioneer]]'', a newspaper in [[Lucknow]], but by March 1938 Orwell's health had deteriorated. He was admitted to [[Preston Hall, Aylesford|Preston Hall Sanatorium]] at [[Aylesford]], Kent, a [[British Legion]] hospital for ex-servicemen to which his brother-in-law Laurence O'Shaughnessy was attached. He was thought initially to be suffering from [[tuberculosis]] and stayed in the sanatorium until September. ''Homage to Catalonia'' was published in London by [[Harvill Secker|Secker & Warburg]] and was a commercial flop; it re-emerged in the 1950s, following on the success of Orwell's later books.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Buchanan|first=Tom|date=1 September 2002|title=Three Lives of Homage to Catalonia|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/library/3.3.302|journal=The Library|volume=3|issue=3|pages=302–314|doi=10.1093/library/3.3.302|issn=0024-2160|access-date=17 October 2021}}</ref>

The novelist [[Leo Myers|L. H. Myers]] secretly funded a trip to [[French Morocco]] for half a year for Orwell to avoid the English winter and recover his health. The Orwells set out in September 1938 via [[Gibraltar]] and [[Tangier]] to avoid [[Spanish Morocco]] and arrived at [[Marrakech]]. They rented a villa on the road to [[Casablanca]] and during that time Orwell wrote ''[[Coming Up for Air]]''. They arrived back in England on 30 March 1939 and ''Coming Up for Air'' was published in June. Orwell spent time in Wallington and Southwold working on ann essay about [[Charles Dickens]]. In June 1939, Orwell's father died.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Connelly |first1=Mark |title=George Orwell: A Literary Companion |date=2018 |publisher=McFarland |page=17}}</ref>

===Second World War and ''Animal Farm''===
[[File:George Orwell and Sir Stephen Spender (Marchmont Association).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Based in [[Lansdowne Terrace, London|Lansdowne Terrace]], [[Bloomsbury]], London, Orwell wrote for ''[[Horizon (British magazine)|Horizon]]'' magazine (co-founded by [[Stephen Spender]]) from 1940]]
At the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], Orwell's wife Eileen started working in the Censorship Department of the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]] in central London, staying during the week with her family in [[Greenwich]]. Orwell submitted his name to the Central Register for war work, but nothing transpired. He returned to Wallington, and in late 1939 he wrote material for his first collection of essays, ''[[Inside the Whale and Other Essays|Inside the Whale]]''. For the next year he was occupied writing reviews for plays, films and books for ''[[The Listener (magazine)|The Listener]]'', ''[[Time and Tide (magazine)|Time and Tide]]'' and ''New Adelphi''. On 29 March 1940 his long association with ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]'' began<ref>''A Patriot After All, 1940–41'', p. xvii, 1998 Secker & Warburg</ref> with a review of a sergeant's account of [[Napoleon]]'s [[French invasion of Russia|retreat from Moscow]]. At the beginning of 1940, the first edition of Connolly's ''[[Horizon (British magazine)|Horizon]]'' appeared, and this provided a new outlet for Orwell's work and new literary contacts. In May the Orwells took lease of a flat in London at Dorset Chambers, Chagford Street, [[Marylebone]]. It was the time of the [[Dunkirk evacuation]], and the death in [[Flanders]] of Eileen's brother Laurence O'Shaughnessy caused her considerable grief and long-term depression.<ref>[https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:376589/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E004406%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier O'Shaughnessy, Laurence Frederick (1900–1940)].Royal College of Surgeons of England. Obituary</ref>

Orwell was declared "unfit for any kind of military service" by the Medical Board in June, but soon joined the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/newsroom/orwell/story/0,,1048203,00.html|title=About George Orwell |website=theguardian.com|access-date=2 September 2017}}</ref> He shared [[Tom Wintringham]]'s socialist vision for the Home Guard as a revolutionary People's Militia. His lecture notes for instructing platoon members include advice on street fighting, field fortifications, and the use of [[Mortar (weapon)|mortars]]. Sergeant Orwell recruited [[Fredric Warburg]] to his unit. During the [[Battle of Britain]] he spent weekends with Warburg and his new [[Zionist]] friend, [[T. R. Fyvel|Tosco Fyvel]], at Warburg's house at [[Twyford, Berkshire]]. At Wallington he worked on "[[England Your England]]" and in London wrote reviews for periodicals. Visiting Eileen's family in Greenwich brought him face-to-face with the effects of [[the Blitz|the German Blitz]] bombings. In 1940 he first worked for the [[BBC]] as a producer on their Indian Section, while the broadcaster and writer [[Venu Chitale]] was his secretary.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sutaria |first1=Sejal |title=Walking the Line: Venu Chitale |url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/pioneering-women/venu-chitale/ |access-date=28 December 2023 |work=BBC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722190155/https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/pioneering-women/venu-chitale/ |archive-date=22 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref> In mid-1940, Warburg, Fyvel and Orwell planned [[Searchlight Books]]. Eleven volumes eventually appeared, of which Orwell's ''[[The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius]]'', published in February 1941, was the first.<ref>''A Patriot After All'', p. xviii</ref>

Early in 1941 he began to write for the American ''[[Partisan Review]]'' which linked Orwell with the [[New York Intellectuals]] who were also anti-Stalinist,<ref>[[Frances Stonor Saunders]], ''[[Who Paid the Piper?]]'', p. 160</ref> and contributed to the Gollancz anthology ''The Betrayal of the Left'', written in the light of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. He applied unsuccessfully for a job at the [[Air Ministry]]. Meanwhile, he was still writing reviews of books and plays and met the novelist [[Anthony Powell]]. He took part in radio broadcasts for the Eastern Service of the BBC. In March the Orwells moved to a seventh-floor flat at Langford Court, [[St John's Wood]], while at Wallington Orwell was "[[Dig for Victory|digging for victory]]" by planting potatoes.

{{Blockquote|"One could not have a better example of the moral and emotional shallowness of our time, than the fact that we are now all more or less pro Stalin. This disgusting murderer is temporarily on our side, and so the purges, etc., are suddenly forgotten."|George Orwell, in his war-time diary, 3 July 1941<ref>''A Patriot After All 1940–1941'', p. 522</ref>}}

In August 1941, Orwell finally obtained "war work" when he was taken on full-time by the BBC's Eastern Service.<ref name="ind060416">{{cite news |last1=Walsh |first1=John |title=BBC proposes 8 ft tall bronze statue in honour of George Orwell |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/bbc-proposes-8ft-tall-bronze-statue-in-honour-of-george-orwell-a6971961.html |access-date=19 May 2020 |work=The Independent |date=6 April 2016}}</ref> He supervised cultural broadcasts to India, to counter propaganda from [[Nazi Germany]] designed to undermine imperial links.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Orwell|first=George |title=The War Broadcasts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Urb_nQEACAAJ |year=1987 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-018910-0}}</ref>

At the end of August he had a dinner with [[H. G. Wells]] which degenerated into a row because Wells had taken offence at observations Orwell made about him in a ''Horizon'' article. In October Orwell had a bout of bronchitis; the illness recurred frequently. [[David Astor]] was looking for a provocative contributor for ''[[The Observer]]'' Sunday newspaper, and invited Orwell to write for him; the first article appeared in March 1942. In early 1942 Eileen changed jobs to work at the [[Minister of Food (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Food]], and in mid-1942 the Orwells moved to a larger flat, 10a Mortimer Crescent in [[Maida Vale]]/[[Kilburn, London|Kilburn]].<ref>Crick (1982), pp. 432–433</ref>

[[File:George-orwell-BBC.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.8|Orwell spoke on many [[BBC]] and other broadcasts, but no recordings are known to survive.<ref name="Bowker2013">{{cite book|author=Gordon Bowker|title=George Orwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdAzAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT309|year= 2013|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1405528054|pages=309–310}}</ref><ref name="Recordings Capture Writers' Voices Off The Page Listen Queue">{{cite news|title=Recordings Capture Writers' Voices Off The Page Listen Queue|newspaper = NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96030704|publisher=NPR|access-date=5 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="BBC tried to take George Orwell off air because of 'unattractive' voice">{{Cite news|last1=Khan|first1=Urmeen|title=BBC tried to take George Orwell off air because of 'unattractive' voice|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/5445579/BBC-tried-to-take-George-Orwell-off-air-because-of-unattractive-voice.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/5445579/BBC-tried-to-take-George-Orwell-off-air-because-of-unattractive-voice.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website=Daily Telegraph|access-date=5 November 2016|quote=The BBC tried to take the author George Orwell off air because his voice was "unattractive", according to archive documents released by the corporation...no recording of Orwell's voice survives but contemporaries—such as the artist Lucian Freud—have described it as "monotonous" with "no power".|date=4 June 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref>]]
At the BBC, Orwell introduced ''Voice'', a literary programme for his Indian broadcasts, and by now was leading an active social life with literary friends, particularly on the political left. Late in 1942 he started writing regularly for the left-wing weekly ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]''<ref>Rodden (1989)</ref>{{RP|306}}<ref>Crick (1982)</ref>{{RP|441}} directed by [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] MPs [[Aneurin Bevan]] and [[George Strauss]]. In March 1943, Orwell's mother died, and around this time he told Moore he was starting work on a book, which turned out to be ''[[Animal Farm]]''.

In September 1943, Orwell resigned from the BBC<ref name="Crick-LBC">{{cite book|last=Crick|first=Bernard R.|title=George Orwell: A Life|url=https://archive.org/details/georgeorwelllife0000cric|url-access=registration|date=1980|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|location=Boston|isbn=978-0316161121}}</ref>{{RP|352}}  following a report confirming his fears that few Indians listened to the broadcasts,<ref>{{citation|url=http://orwell.ru/library/novels/Burmese_Days/english/e_mm_int|first=Malcolm |last=Muggeridge|title=Burmese Days ''(Introduction)''|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|year=1962}} Muggeridge recalls that he asked Orwell if such broadcasts were useful, "'Perhaps not', he said, somewhat crestfallen. He added, more cheerfully, that anyway, no one could pick up the broadcasts except on short-wave sets which cost about the equivalent of an Indian labourer's earnings over 10 years"</ref> but he was also keen to concentrate on writing ''Animal Farm''. On 24 November 1943, six days before his last day of service, his adaptation of the [[fairy tale]], [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s ''[[The Emperor's New Clothes]]'' was broadcast. It was a genre in which he was greatly interested and which appeared on ''Animal Farm''{{'}}s title page.<ref>''Two Wasted Years'', 1943, p. xxi, Secker & Warburg, 2001</ref> He resigned from the Home Guard on medical grounds.<ref>''I Have Tried to Tell the Truth'', p. xv. Secker & Warburg, 2001</ref>

In November 1943, Orwell was appointed literary editor at ''Tribune'', where his assistant was his friend [[Jon Kimche]]. Orwell was on the staff until early 1945, writing over 80 book reviews,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRHBGAAACAAJ |author1=Orwell, G. |author2=Davison, P. |title=I Have Tried to Tell the Truth |publisher=Secker & Warburg |location=London |year=1999 |isbn=978-0436203701 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and on 3 December 1943 started his regular personal column "[[As I Please]]".<ref>''I Have Tried to Tell the Truth'', p. xxix</ref> He was still writing reviews for other magazines, including ''Partisan Review'', ''Horizon'', and the New York ''[[The Nation|Nation]]''. By April 1944 ''Animal Farm'' was ready for publication. Gollancz refused to publish it, considering it an attack on the [[Politics of the Soviet Union|regime of the Soviet Union]], a crucial ally in the war. A similar fate was met from other publishers, including [[T. S. Eliot]] at [[Faber & Faber]], until [[Jonathan Cape]] agreed to take it.

Orwell and Eileen wanted children, but he was sterile and she may also have been infertile due to uterine cancer.<ref name=son/> In May the Orwells had the opportunity to adopt a child, thanks to the contacts of Eileen's sister-in-law Gwen O'Shaughnessy,<ref name=taylor>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/10/georgeorwell.classics |title=Another piece of the puzzle |newspaper=The Guardian |last=Taylor |first=DJ|authorlink=D. J. Taylor (writer)|date=10 December 2005}}</ref> then a doctor in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]. In June a [[V-1 flying bomb]] struck Mortimer Crescent and the Orwells had to find somewhere else to live. Orwell had to scrabble around in the rubble for his books, which he had finally managed to transfer from Wallington, carting them away in a wheelbarrow. Another blow was Cape's reversal of his plan to publish ''Animal Farm''. The decision followed his visit to [[Peter Smollett]], an official at the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]], who was later identified as a Soviet agent.<ref name="TGA">{{cite news |author=Garton Ash, Timothy |author-link=Timothy Garton Ash |title=Orwell's List |work=[[The New York Review of Books]] |date=25 September 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071504/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/09/25/orwells-list/|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/09/25/orwells-list/|archive-date=5 March 2016|access-date=26 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Caute2009">{{cite book |last=Caute |first=David |author-link=David Caute |title=Politics and the Novel during the Cold War |year=2009 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |location=New Brunswick, NJ |isbn=978-1412811613 |page=79}}</ref>
The Orwells spent time in the North East, near [[Carlton, County Durham]], dealing with the adoption of a boy whom they named [[Richard Blair (patron)|Richard Horatio Blair]].<ref>"He had led a quiet life as Richard Blair, not 'Richard Orwell'": Shelden (1991: 398; 489)</ref> By September 1944 they had set up home in [[Islington]], at 27b [[Canonbury Square]].<ref>Orwell: Collected Works, I Have Tried to Tell the Truth, p. 283</ref> Baby Richard joined them there, and Eileen gave up her work at the Ministry of Food to look after her family. [[Secker & Warburg]] had agreed to publish ''Animal Farm'', planned for the following March, although it did not appear in print until August 1945. By February 1945 David Astor had invited Orwell to become a war correspondent for ''The Observer''. He went to liberated Paris, then to Germany and Austria, to cities including [[Cologne]] and [[Stuttgart]]. He was never in the front line, under fire, but followed the troops closely, "sometimes entering a captured town within a day of its fall while dead bodies lay in the streets."<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 October 2021 |title=Reporting from the Ruins |url=https://orwellsociety.com/reporting-from-the-ruins/ |access-date=1 March 2022 |website=The Orwell Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> Some of his reports were published in the ''[[Manchester Evening News]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vrs-EAAAQBAJ |title=Ruins: Orwell's Reports as War Correspondent in France, Germany and Austria from February until June 1945 |first=George |last=Orwell |date=2021 |publisher=Comino Verlag |via=Google Books |isbn = 978-3945831311 |access-date=19 September 2021}}</ref>

While he was there, Eileen went into hospital for a [[hysterectomy]]. She had not given Orwell much notice about the operation because of worries about the cost, and because she expected to make a speedy recovery; however she died on 29 March 1945 of an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic she was given.<ref name=son>{{cite interview|interviewer=[[Simon Hattenstone]]| first=Richard|last=Blair| title=George Orwell and me: Richard Blair on life with his extraordinary father |newspaper=The Guardian | date=19 March 2025 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/19/george-orwell-me-richard-blair-life-with-extraordinary-father}}</ref> It was expected that he would give up his nine-month-old adopted son, but he did not.<ref name=son/> Orwell returned home and then went back to Europe. He returned to London to cover the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]] at the beginning of July. ''[[Animal Farm|Animal Farm: A Fairy Story]]'' was published in Britain on 17 August 1945, and in America on 26 August 1946.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Harold |title=George Orwell's Animal Farm |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |page=128}}</ref>

===Jura and ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''===
''Animal Farm'' had particular resonance in the post-war climate and its worldwide success made Orwell a sought-after figure. For the next four years, Orwell mixed journalistic work—mainly for ''Tribune'', ''The Observer'' and the ''[[Manchester Evening News]]'', though he also contributed to many small-circulation political and [[literary magazine]]s—with writing his best-known work, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', which was published in 1949. He was a leading figure in the so-called Shanghai Club (named after a restaurant in Soho) of left-leaning and émigré journalists, among them [[E. H. Carr]], [[Sebastian Haffner]], [[Isaac Deutscher]], [[Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth|Barbara Ward]] and [[Jon Kimche]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koutsopanagou|first=Gioula|title=The British Press and the Greek Crisis, 1943–1949: Orchestrating the Cold-War 'Consensus' in Britain|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2020|isbn=978-1137551559|location=London|pages=52–53}}</ref>

[[File:Barnhill (Cnoc an t-Sabhail) - geograph.org.uk - 451643.jpg|thumb|right|[[Barnhill, Jura|Barnhill]] farmhouse on the Isle of [[Jura, Scotland|Jura]], Scotland. Orwell completed ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' while living here.]]

In the year following Eileen's death he published around 130 articles and a selection of his ''[[Critical Essays (Orwell)|Critical Essays]]'', while remaining active in various political lobbying campaigns. He employed a housekeeper, Susan Watson, to look after his adopted son at the [[Islington]] flat, which visitors now described as "bleak". In September he spent a fortnight on the island of [[Jura, Scotland|Jura]] in the [[Inner Hebrides]] and saw it as a place to escape from the hassle of London literary life. David Astor was instrumental in arranging a place for Orwell on Jura.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://theorwellprize.co.uk/news/remembering-jura/ |title=Remembering Jura, Richard Blair |publisher=Theorwellprize.co.uk |date=5 October 2012 |access-date=14 May 2014 |archive-date=31 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131052708/https://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/news/remembering-jura/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Astor's family owned Scottish estates in the area and a fellow Old Etonian, Robin Fletcher, had a property on the island. In late 1945 and early 1946 Orwell made several hopeless and unwelcome marriage proposals to younger women, including [[Celia Kirwan]]; Ann Popham, who happened to live in the same block of flats; and [[Sonia Brownell]], one of Connolly's coterie at the ''Horizon'' office. Orwell suffered a tubercular haemorrhage in February 1946 but disguised his illness. In 1945 or early 1946, while still living at Canonbury Square, Orwell wrote an article on "British Cookery", complete with recipes, commissioned by the [[British Council]]. Given the post-war shortages, both parties agreed not to publish it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/life-and-work.aspx |title=The Orwell Prize {{!}} Life and Work – Exclusive Access to the Orwell Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210180526/http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/life-and-work.aspx |archive-date=10 December 2007}}</ref> His sister Marjorie died in May.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ingle |first1=Stephen |title=George Orwell A Political Life |date=1993 |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=84}}</ref>

On 22 May 1946, Orwell set off with his two-year-old son, who he treated as a mini-adult,<ref name=son/> to live on Jura in [[Barnhill, Jura|Barnhill]], an abandoned farmhouse without outbuildings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orwelltoday.com/jurabarnhillvisit.shtml|title= Barnhill}} is located at {{Coord|56|06|39|N|5|41|30|W|display=inline}} ([[British national grid reference system]] NR705970)</ref> Conditions at the farmhouse were primitive but the natural history and the challenge of improving the place appealed to Orwell. His son found out later that Orwell was terrified of passing on his tuberculosis to him by hugging or kissing him, and concerned that this would interfere with his bonding with the child.<ref name=son/> Orwell returned to London in late 1946 and picked up his literary journalism again. Now a well-known writer, he was swamped with work. Apart from a visit to Jura in the new year he stayed in London for [[Winter of 1946–1947 in the United Kingdom|one of the coldest British winters on record]] and with such a national shortage of fuel that he burnt his furniture and his child's toys. The heavy smog in the days before the [[Clean Air Act 1956]] did little to help his health, about which he was reticent, keeping clear of medical attention. Meanwhile, he had to cope with rival claims of publishers Gollancz and Warburg for publishing rights. About this time he co-edited a collection titled ''British Pamphleteers'' with [[Reginald Reynolds]]. As a result of the success of ''Animal Farm'', Orwell was expecting a large bill from the [[Inland Revenue]] and he contacted a firm of accountants. The firm advised Orwell to establish a company to own his copyright and to receive his royalties and set up a "service agreement" so that he could draw a salary; "George Orwell Productions Ltd" (GOP Ltd) was set up on 12 September 1947.<ref name=Carroll>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-writer-wronged-nc07cw9clc5 |title=Tim Carroll 'A writer wronged' |journal=The Sunday Times |publisher=Timesonline.co.uk |date= 15 August 2014|access-date=14 May 2014}}</ref>
Orwell left London for Jura on 10 April 1947.<ref name=Taylor/> In July he ended the lease on the Wallington cottage.<ref>Crick (1982), p. 530</ref> Back on Jura he worked on ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. During that time his sister's family visited, and Orwell led a disastrous boating expedition, on 19 August,<ref>Orwell: Collected Works, ''It Is What I Think'', p. xx, ''Daily Telegraph'', 2 December 2013, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/10487292/George-Orwell-nearly-drowned-in-a-whirlpool-before-completing-Nighteen-Eighty-Four.html]</ref> which nearly led to loss of life whilst trying to cross the notorious [[Gulf of Corryvreckan]] and gave him a soaking which was not good for his health. In December a chest specialist was summoned from Glasgow who pronounced Orwell seriously ill, and a week before Christmas 1947 he was in [[Hairmyres Hospital]]. [[Tuberculosis]] was diagnosed and the request for permission to import the new medicine [[streptomycin]] to treat Orwell went as far as [[Aneurin Bevan]], then Minister of Health. [[David Astor]] helped with supply and payment and Orwell began his course of streptomycin on 19 or 20 February 1948.<ref>It Is what I Think, p. 274</ref> By the end of July 1948 Orwell was able to return to Jura and by December he had finished the manuscript of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. In January 1949, in a very weak condition, he set off for a sanatorium at [[Cranham, Gloucestershire]]. However, streptomycin could not be continued, as he developed [[toxic epidermal necrolysis]], a rare side effect.<ref name="Ross_2005">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ross JJ| title = Tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, and infertility: what ailed George Orwell? | journal = Clin Infect Dis | volume = 41 | issue = 11 | pages = 1599–1603| date = December 2005 | doi =10.1086/497838 |pmid = 16267732 | pmc= | doi-access = free |issn = 1058-4838}}</ref>

[[File:Animal Farm strip cartoon.jpg|thumb|280px|One of the ''[[Animal Farm]]'' cartoon strips produced for the Cold War anti-communist department of the British Foreign Office, the [[Information Research Department|IRD]]]]

The sanatorium at Cranham consisted of a series of small wooden chalets or huts in a remote part of the [[Cotswolds]] near [[Stroud]]. Visitors were shocked by Orwell's appearance and concerned by the shortcomings and ineffectiveness of the treatment. Friends were worried about his finances, but by now he was comparatively well off. He was writing to many of his friends, including Jacintha Buddicom, who had "rediscovered" him. In March 1949 he was visited by Celia Kirwan, who had just started working for a [[Foreign Office]] unit, the [[Information Research Department]] (IRD), set up by the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government to publish [[anti-communist]] propaganda; Orwell gave her a list of people he considered to be unsuitable as IRD authors because of their pro-communist leanings. [[Orwell's list]], not published until 2003, consisted mainly of writers, and some actors and Labour MPs.<ref name="TGA"/><ref>{{cite news |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jun/21/books.artsandhumanities |first=John |last=Ezard |title=Blair's babe: Did love turn Orwell into a government stooge? |date=21 June 2003}}</ref> To further promote ''Animal Farm'', the IRD commissioned cartoon strips, drawn by [[Norman Pett]], to be placed in newspapers across the globe.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Defty|first=Andrew|title=Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda 1945–1953: The Information Research Department|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|isbn=|location=e-book version|pages=161}}</ref> Orwell received more streptomycin treatment and improved slightly. This repeat dose of streptomycin, especially after the side effect had been noticed, has been called "ill-advised".<ref name="Ross_2005"/> He then received [[penicillin]], presumably to treat his [[bronchiectasis]]; doctors knew it was ineffective against tuberculosis.<ref name="Ross_2005"/> In June 1949 ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' was published to critical acclaim.<ref>{{cite news |title=1950: Acclaimed author George Orwell dies |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_2669000/2669789.stm |access-date=20 September 2021 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

===Final months and death===
[[File:UCL Gower Street.jpg|thumb|[[University College Hospital]] in London, where Orwell died]]

Orwell's health continued to decline. In mid-1949, he courted [[Sonia Brownell]], believed to be the model for [[Julia (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Julia]], the heroine of ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/19/georgeorwell.biography |title= Dedicated follower of passions |website=The Guardian|date=19 May 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/books/the-widow-orwell.html|title= The Widow Orwell |website=The New York Times|date=15 June 2003}}</ref> and they announced their engagement in September. Shortly afterwards he was removed to [[University College Hospital]] in London. Sonia took charge of Orwell's affairs and attended him diligently in the hospital. Friends of Orwell stated that Brownell helped him through the painful last months of his life and, according to [[Anthony Powell]], cheered Orwell up greatly.<ref>Powell, Anthony, 1977. ''Infants of the Spring,'' p.106. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.</ref> However, others have argued that she may have been attracted to him primarily because of his fame.<ref name="Ross_2005"/>

In September 1949, Orwell invited his accountant Jack Harrison to visit him at the hospital, and Harrison claimed that Orwell then asked him to become director of GOP Ltd and to manage the company, but there was no independent witness.<ref name=Carroll/> Orwell's wedding took place in the hospital room on 13 October 1949, with David Astor as best man.<ref name="Ingle1993">{{cite book|last=Ingle|first=Stephen|title=George Orwell: a political life|year=1993|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=978-0719032332|page=90}}</ref> Further meetings were held with his accountant, at which Harrison and the Blairs were confirmed as directors of the company.<ref name=Carroll/> Orwell's health was in decline again by Christmas. Harrison visited later and claimed that Orwell had given him 25% of the company.<ref name=Carroll/> 

At the age of 46, Orwell suffered a [[pulmonary artery]] rupture due to complications of tuberculosis, and died in the early morning of 21 January 1950.<ref name="obit">{{Cite news |title=George Orwell, author, 46, Dead. British Writer, Acclaimed for His '1984' and 'Animal Farm,' is Victim of Tuberculosis. Two Novels Popular Here Distaste for Imperialism |work=The New York Times |date=22 January 1950}}</ref>

[[File:Grave of Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell), All Saints, Sutton Courtenay - geograph.org.uk - 362277.jpg|thumb|upright|Orwell's grave in [[All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay|All Saints']] parish churchyard, [[Sutton Courtenay]], Oxfordshire]]

Orwell had requested to be buried in accordance with the Anglican rite in the graveyard of the closest church to wherever he happened to die. The graveyards in central London had no space, and so in an effort to ensure his last wishes could be fulfilled, his widow appealed to his friends to see whether any of them knew of a church with space in its graveyard. David Astor arranged for Orwell to be interred in the churchyard of [[All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay]].<ref>[[Andrew Anthony]] (11 May 2003). [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/may/11/georgeorwell.classics "Orwell: the Observer years"], ''[[The Observer]]'', Observer Review Pages, p. 1.</ref> The funeral was organised by Anthony Powell and Malcom Muggeridge. Powell chose the hymns: "[[Old 100th|All people that on earth do dwell]]", "[[Cwm Rhondda|Guide me, O thou great Redeemer]]" and "Ten thousand times ten thousand".<ref>Taylor, D.J. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jan/15/georgeorwell.classics Last days of Orwell] ''The Guardian'' (14 January 2000).</ref>

Orwell's adopted son, [[Richard Blair (patron)|Richard Horatio Blair]], was brought up by Orwell's sister Avril, his legal guardian, and her husband, Bill Dunn.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://orwellsociety.com/richard-blair-on-life-with-my-aunt-avril/|title=Richard Blair on Life With My Aunt Avril|date=27 October 2011|website=The Orwell Society}}</ref>

In 1979, Sonia Brownell brought a [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] action against Harrison when he declared an intention to subdivide his 25 per cent share of the company between his three children. For Sonia, the consequence of this manoeuvre would have made getting overall control of the company three times more difficult. She was considered to have a strong case, but was becoming increasingly ill and eventually was persuaded to settle out of court on 2 November 1980. She died on 11 December 1980, aged 62.<ref name=Carroll/>