A commemorative blue plaque honouring the South Shields-born writer and wife of George Orwell has been unveiled in Sunderland.
Poet and journalist Eileen O’Shaughnessy was an Oxford scholar who went on to marry the renowned author, whose real name was Eric Blair. Orwell is best known for groundbreaking works such as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. Born in 1905, Eileen met Orwell in 1935 before the couple married a year later in Hertfordshire.
Eileen was a writer in her own right, and is thought to have been a strong influence on Orwell’s writing style, particularly in his book Animal Farm, which Eileen helped him plan. And what people may not be aware of, is that Eileen had been a pupil at Sunderland Church High School.
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To mark Eileen's connection to the city, a blue plaque was recently unveiled at Langham Tower, which formed part of Eileen’s former school. Richard Blair, adopted son of George and Eileen, unveiled the plaque and was joined by Sunderland MP Julie Elliott, University of Sunderland Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Young, Quentin Kopp, who is chair of The Orwell Society, and members of The Orwell Foundation.
The plaque was organised by the University of Sunderland’s SunGen Interdisciplinary Research Network, led by Professor of Language and Culture, Angela Smith.
Professor Smith said: “The blue plaque marking Eileen O'Shaughnessy's connection with Sunderland will allow us to think more about the people who have done remarkable things and yet have not thus far been celebrated. This is one of the aims of the Rebel Women of Sunderland project with Sunderland Culture, which aims to highlight remarkable women who are connected to Sunderland. Few can be seen to be more remarkable - or indeed more hidden - than Eileen O'Shaughnessy.
“In 1934, Eileen wrote her poem End of the Century, 1984 for Sunderland Church High School’s Golden Jubilee, in which she hinted at a dystopian world with a brighter future some 50 years ahead. It is therefore fitting that we have a blue plaque dedicated to Eileen placed on a building that once formed part of that school.”
It is thought that Eileen’s futuristic poem, End of the Century, 1984, influenced Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949, four years after Eileen’s death.
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