Editing Arnold Bennett (section)

===Last years===
[[File:Arnold Bennett and H.G. Wells (5026571804).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Exterior of block of luxury flats with brown plaques on either side of the entrance|[[Chiltern Court, Baker Street|Chiltern Court]] – Bennett's last home, with plaques commemorating him and [[H. G. Wells|H.{{space}}G.{{space}}Wells]]]]
[[File:Arnold Bennett, Burslem Cemetery.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Funerary stone monument consisting of a pedestal stack of square blocks, each narrower than the one below it, upon which rests a tall, narrow [[cuboid]] with inscriptions, above which is a square capitol topped with a carved urn|Memorial in [[Burslem#Burslem cemetery|Burslem Cemetery]]{{refn|The inscription gives the date of his death as 29 March 1931, although in fact he died at 8.50 p.m. on 27 March.<ref name=p367/>|group=n}}]]
In 1921 Bennett and his wife [[legally separated]]. They had been drifting apart for some years and Marguerite had taken up with Pierre Legros, a young French lecturer.<ref>Drabble, pp. 252 and 257</ref> Bennett sold Comarques and lived in London for the rest of his life, first in a flat near [[Bond Street]] in the [[West End of London|West End]], on which he had taken a lease during the war.<ref>Drabble, p. 266</ref> For much of the 1920s he was widely known to be the highest-paid literary journalist in England, contributing a weekly column to Beaverbrook's ''[[Evening Standard]]'' under the title 'Books and Persons'; according to [[Frank Swinnerton]], these articles were "extraordinarily successful and influential ... and made a number of new reputations".<ref>Swinnerton (1978), p. 54</ref>{{refn|The columns for ''The Evening Standard'' are collected in ''Arnold Bennett: The Evening Standard Years – "Books and Persons" 1926–1931'', published in 1974.<ref>Bennett (1974), title page</ref>|group=n}} By the end of his career, Bennett had contributed to more than 100 newspapers, magazines and other publications.<ref>Howarth, p. 2</ref> He continued to write novels and plays as assiduously as before the war.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=dnb/>

Swinnerton writes, "Endless social engagements; inexhaustible patronage of musicians, actors, poets, and painters; the maximum of benevolence to friends and strangers alike, marked the last ten years of his life".<ref name=dnb/> [[Hugh Walpole]],<ref>Hart-Davis, pp. 88, 89, 102–103, 149–150, 169 and 211</ref> [[James Agate]]<ref>Agate, p. 166</ref> and [[Osbert Sitwell]] were among those who testified to Bennett's generosity. Sitwell recalled a letter Bennett wrote in the 1920s:
{{blockindent|I find I am richer this year than last; so I enclose a cheque for 500 pounds for you to distribute among young writers and artists and musicians who may need the money. You will know, better than I do, who they are. But I must make one condition, that you do not reveal that the money has come from me, or tell anyone about it.<ref>''Quoted'' in Agate, p. 166</ref>{{refn|Sitwell recorded that Bennett's practice of anonymous philanthropy was continued by the latter's protégé [[Hugh Walpole]].<ref>Hart-Davis, pp. 325–326</ref>|group=n}}|}}
In 1922 Bennett met and fell in love with an actress, Dorothy Cheston (1891–1977). Together they set up home in [[Cadogan Square]], where they stayed until moving in 1930 to [[Chiltern Court, Baker Street]].<ref>Drabble, pp. 276 and 334</ref> As Marguerite would not agree to a divorce,{{refn|Drabble ascribes her obduracy to a combination of the vindictive and the mercenary – no divorce court would award a settlement as advantageous to her as the highly generous terms given to her by Bennett at their separation.<ref>Drabble, p. 310</ref>|group=n}} Bennett was unable to marry Dorothy, and in September 1928, having become pregnant, she changed her name by [[deed poll]] to Dorothy Cheston Bennett.<ref name=d308>Drabble, p. 308</ref>{{refn|Such recourse was familiar at the time, when unmarried couples were expected to make a token pretence of being married: in similar circumstances [[Henry Wood|Sir Henry Wood's]] partner changed her name by deed poll to "Lady Jessie Wood",<ref>Jacobs, p. 324</ref> and as late as the 1950s [[Jane Grigson]] similarly took her undivorced partner's surname.<ref>Kennet, Wayland. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39832 "Grigson (née McIntire), (Heather Mabel) Jane (1928–1990), writer on cookery"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602142334/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39832 |date=2 June 2018 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2020 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> Dorothy was never formally "Mrs Bennett", but after she and Marguerite were both present at the memorial service for Bennett, in [[St Clement Danes]] on 31 March 1931, ''The Times'' addressed the problem by referring to them as "Mrs Dorothy Bennett" and "Mrs Arnold Bennett" respectively.<ref>"Mr Arnold Bennett", ''The Times'', 1 April 1931, p. 17</ref>|group=n}} The following April she gave birth to the couple's only child, Virginia Mary (1929–2003).<ref name=d308/> She continued to appear as an actress, and produced and starred in a revival of ''Milestones'' which was well reviewed, but had only a moderate run.<ref name=d335>Drabble, p. 335</ref> Bennett had mixed feelings about her continuing stage career, but did not seek to stop it.<ref name=d335/>

During a holiday in France with Dorothy in January 1931, Bennett twice drank tap-water – not, at the time, a safe thing to do there.<ref>Drabble, p. 346; and Pound, p. 364</ref> On his return home he was taken ill; [[influenza]] was diagnosed at first, but the illness was [[typhoid fever]]; after several weeks of unsuccessful treatment he died in his flat at Chiltern Court on 27 March 1931, aged 63.<ref name=p367/>{{refn|In his last hours the local authority agreed that straw should be spread in the street outside Bennett's flat to dull the sound of traffic. This is believed to be the last time this traditional practice was carried out in London.<ref name=p367>Pound, p. 367</ref>|group=n}}

Bennett was cremated at [[Golders Green Crematorium]] and his ashes were interred in [[Burslem#Burslem cemetery|Burslem Cemetery]] in his mother's grave.<ref>Drabble, p. 353; and Pound, p. 367</ref> A memorial service was held on 31 March 1931 at [[St Clement Danes]], London, attended by leading figures from journalism, literature, music, politics and theatre, and, in Pound's words, many men and women who at the end of the service "walked out into a London that for them would never be the same again".<ref>Pound, p. 368</ref>