George Gissing: A Fan's Commonplace Blog

Commonplace 110 George & His Brother, William. PART TWO.

This is based on a piece that appeared in the July 2014 Gissing Journal. For details on the GJ click

Rose Cottage, Wilmslow, built in 1777, now a listed building.

On May 17^th 1879, five months before her marriage to George, Marianne aka Nell went to stay with her ‘brother-in-law’, William in his lodgings at Rose Cottage, Wilmslow, Cheshire. In William's day, Wilmslow was a medium-sized village with regular transport links to Manchester, a prime place for commuters to live far removed from that city's terrible dirt and industry click. Nowadays, Wilmslow is one of the most prestigious addresses in the north of England, the home of the nouveau riche, footballers and celebrities and is a sort of Northern version of Loughton click minus the Southern charm. (I would say that, as I am a Southerner haha) However, it is also renowned as the place where Alan Turing committed suicide in 1954, following the homophobic harassment he received at the hands of the Establishment.

Alan Turing lived in
Adlington Road, Wilmslow 

This little holiday was meant to improve the state of Marianne's health, but was mainly to give George a break from his role of carer. William, no stranger to illness himself (pulmonary tuberculosis had forced him to abandon working in a bank), demonstrated a marked degree of empathy towards Marianne, providing her with what might have been one of the happiest times of her life, if not in fact, the last happy time.

Marianne suffered from scrofula, the glandular form of tuberculosis. George's letters to Algernon and William explain how this manifested itself - convulsions, rheumatism, abdominal neuralgia, haemoptysis (spitting blood); tonsillitis, congestion; insomnia; tumours on her arm and face; toothache; ‘erysipelas-like’ facial lesions; confusion; weight loss; delirium; headache; and serious eye problems. These are, in themselves, debilitating and disabling - Marianne needed someone to care about the outcome of all this suffering, and George was no doubt demonstrating ambivalence, already wishing he could jump ship and leave her to it - which he eventually did, not long after they were legally married. George had taken on the role of carer reluctantly and resentfully, and his letters demonstrate this.

A cure for 'all diseases of the Breathing Organs'??
Creosote is possibly the worst-tasting medicine there is. 

In Marianne’s time, treatment for scrofula was ineffectual, bordering on the iatrogenic. Toxic substances such as antimony; mercury; baryta (bromide); hemlock; belladonna; and opium were prescribed. Ironically, even in the eighteenth century, these toxic substances were known to produce seizures and neurological damage. There was the option of surgery to remove the disfiguring pustules but this was often ill-advised as surgical intervention was known to carry the risk of spreading the disease to other organs. there was no cure for it until the advent of antibiotics in the middle of the twentieth century, but drug-resistant strains are making TB a formidable foe once more, especially in Africa and China.

Though we will never know exactly how spitefully his resentment manifested itself behind closed doors, the callous way George blamed her for her own, as well as his, predicament, remains one of George's vilest acts towards her, possibly only topped by the character assassination he regularly visited upon her that went on as far as the 1890s and his grovelling relationship with Miss Collet. In order to deflect his own guilt at abandoning his first wife (thereby adding to her great suffering), he destroyed his Diaries up the year 1888, the year that more or less started with her death. This was done to prevent any sympathy going Marianne's way - after all, he couldn't blame his wives for his miserable life if anyone could ever get to know and like them, could he? And, if anyone considered Marianne blameless, then his treatment of her might be taken as monstrous by his friends, family and posterity. Recall his reaction to HG Wells standing up for Edith, the second victim aka wife! If it wasn't for George's replies to William's (and, to a lesser extent, Algernon's) letters, we might believe George's finely crafted version of Nell's life. George writes angrily about how her physical condition affects his mental life - he makes no mention of how it affects hers.

click

At the time of the holiday with Will, it was epilepsy that dominated her health concerns. Epilepsy is a sudden, recurrent episode of sensory disturbance and loss of consciousness generally associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Typical seizures present a range of observable behaviours immediately before unconsciousness sets in. This ‘fugue state’ may bring slurred speech, problems with balance, the appearance of stupefaction, and hallucination-like sensations of touch and sight which may result in bizarre reactions and behaviours. In the classic grand mal fit there is sudden collapse often resulting in injury producing bleeding wounds (particularly to the head), frequently accompanied by disturbing, frightening, sounds. Unconsciousness follows, then a process of bodily rigidity, uncontrolled thrashing movements, possible incontinence, and tongue-biting with bloody frothing saliva. Clothes may have become torn or dishevelled, embarrassing for all when undergarments or intimate body parts are inadvertently displayed. Seizures of the 'grand mal' type are usually single events, but in ‘status epilepticus’ the sufferer does not regain consciousness but returns to the restart the fit process perhaps several times. This is often a life-threatening situation due to problems with getting enough air to the lungs. Anyone with, for example, underlying lung disease is particularly vulnerable.

On regaining consciousness there may be confusion and disorientation and the sufferer might exhibit ‘post- seizure automatism’, a situation sometimes leading to potentially socially inappropriate behaviours, such as removing clothes or interacting in an uncharacteristically sexually provocative way with strangers. Belligerence and aggression with swearing and shouting are also possible, pre- and post-seizure. Today, as in George's, more often than not, the ignorant would assume the victim of these attacks is paralytically drunk and so leave the victim possibly suffocating in the street, unable to regain consciousness. We now know there are many forms of epilepsy that produce a broad range of signs and symptoms. The causes of epilepsy are largely still a mystery, but damage to the brain by injury, infection, genetic abnormality, or environmental factors is often a precursor. It is exacerbated

William, aged about 18

by stress - Marianne certainly had her fair share of that, living with George.

William was more than sympathetic to her plight - he displayed a degree of empathy that was never at any time to be found in George's make-up. To this was matched the practical application of his own personal philosophy of what contributes to a picture of good health: good personal hygiene, tasty and adequate nutrition and diverting mental stimulation. Added to this was his total belief in PMA - Positive Mental Attitude - and there was no more efficacious way for the human body to tackle the adversity of illness. Will may have dabbled with the philosophy of Samuel Smiles and his 'Self Help' here, but he always believed in facing up to life's challenges, and he was not one to make a health mountain out of a molehill. Being the opposite of George in many ways, he played down the parlous state of his own health and never sought out that dratted 'sympathy' George so cravenly needed. In fact, he would have been embarrassed to find others feeling sorry for him or thinking he was in need of special treatment.

St Bartholomew's Wilmslow 

William obviously got on well with Marianne, which, if we were gullible enough to believe all that George's biographers write, would seem to be be a nigh on impossible thing for any decent chap to be capable of. They shared a love of music, not George's snobby stuff, with its emphasis on judging it in terms of good or bad Art, but with simple heartfelt appreciation; William would have found a rapt audience for his violin, and he enjoyed performing and liked social company, so entertaining at home would have come naturally to him. Marianne had a fine speaking voice - as reported by one of George's relatives who knew her (I bet that shocked you!) and so she may have accompanied his playing with singing. As her strength improved, they enjoyed walks together, and reading poetry. One of Marianne's favourites may have been Thomas Hood's The Last Rose of Summer, which was set to a traditional Celtic air (click to hear it). Maybe this was because they were staying at Rose Cottage.

It is worth stopping and thinking about the significance of this short holiday, for what it tells us about William's character, and what it possibly suggests about Marianne's. I do not subscribe to the lie that Marianne aka Nell was ever a prostitute. There is no evidence for it, and, considering the times in which she lived, with its focus on vice and retribution for vice, there would have been evidence of arrests, charges and penalties for soliciting - and there aren't any. There was no evidence in September 1883 when George was duped into hiring a 'detective' to spy on her with the view to making a case for divorce, despite the 'detective' being a police sergeant who was well-paid to follow her, observe her behaviour, and report back all misdemeanours. In spite of his efforts and being in the sort of place where searching through police records was a possibility, and regardless of speaking to her neighbours, local publicans and sundry shop-keepers, the man could not find anything untoward in Marianne's life -  except for dire poverty, loneliness and the effects of neglect by a husband too selfish to live with her.

No doubt they bonded over their shared ill-health, and their joint understanding of the impossibility of expecting George to care. It is my contention that William would not have responded as emotionally freely as he did to Marianne if he had thought she was ever a prostitute. His mother had blamed Marianne for George's fall at Owens - though there is no evidence she either benefited from his crimes or even knew what he was doing - and William was probably bravely going against his mother's wishes in supporting George's choice in his 'marriage', but, sharing a house and helping to nurse a woman who had earned a living from prostitution was a huge commitment to human decency, compassion and unselfishness, and a courageous stand against the stereotypic mores of the times. Although he was a young man who was not in any way officially 'bohemian', he was a person not afraid to think for himself, and follow his own philosophy of life to the extent of following through with his beliefs to challenge the status quo, but in practical ways. If Nell was considered 'unsuitable' because of her class, and because his mother would have strong views on them cohabiting before marriage (whilst at Owens College) perhaps William realised love and the changing times demanded new approaches to relationships - even though he would probably not have been so unconventional with his own love affairs. To a mother - especially the mother of a spoilt rotten brat like George - would see any prospective daughter-in-law as suspect; but if that girl had been indulging in sexual relations with the precious son - well, she would be branded a trollop 'quick as knife'.

Consider this: If Marianne had been a former prostitute, don't you think William's landlady would have sussed? Her lodger, bringing a trollop into her respectable house - and, if she sussed, then wouldn't the neighbours? In such a small world as Wilmslow, that suspicion would be worth passing round the village. A woman reads people much better than a man does - the subtle, little things that give away motives, background, character, morality. And, she would have been outraged if she found William deceiving her. But, we know his landlady thought the world of William and helped wholeheartedly with Nell - would she have demonstrated such compassion to a 'fallen angel'? And, would she have allowed her to stay under the same roof as a single man if she had not taken Marianne aka Nell for his sister-in-law? William later wrote that he assumed George and Marianne were married (he was not invited to the ceremony, and only found out about it later). George didn't seem to consider that he was potentially threatening William's good name by asking him to organise the accommodation in his excellent digs - if she found out, would the landlady have allowed a girl 'living in sin' to live under her roof, especially as she was in such close proximity to her existing lodger? And would she have housed a former prostitute? Whatever Marianne's origins - and these are still a mystery - she must have passed inspection by a woman determined to maintain the good name of her establishment - the seat of her financial security - and been accepted as a believable sister-in-law of posh William. When you read that Marianne was a destitute whore plucked from the mean streets of Manchester by an heroic redeemer - think again!

Tristan and Iseult by Edmund Blair Leighton 1902

William wrote to George detailing four episodes of convulsions on the first night of her stay, which he attends personally with his landlady. Over the next few weeks, he feeds Marianne up – much as the Wells’ do with George in 1900 and 1901 – and makes sure she enjoys herself. The change of environment, tasty food and free and easy occupation work their magic on Marianne. William has to put a good deal of pressure on George to join them for a few days, but Marianne eventually has to go back to London and her man. Not unexpectedly, the fits returned when she goes home. Stress seems to trigger the worst of her convulsions, and we will never know how much she suffered under George's dominion. We know he displayed Sado-masochistic tendencies especially where women were concerned, and it would take a woman in robust physical and mental health to withstand him. That he never married a woman who was his equal in terms of match weight (to borrow a boxing term) intellectually, meant he could decimate them in the field of debate - and recall the way Waldron exults his superior physical strength over Phyllis in the recent posts George & The Honeymoon). He liked tiny women with frail, consumptive aspects - though he was not afraid to wield a big stick, if HG Wells' son, Anthony West is to be believed.

After returning home to George, Marianne maintains her affectionate relationship with William by asking to be remembered to him in George's letters, adding her own notes, and making needlework gifts, including a violin case. In April 1880, when William finally succumbed to pulmonary TB, Marianne must have been distraught. When his effects were being divided amongst the Gissings, Marianne asked for a small poetry book that she was very fond of. It is described erroneously in the Heroic biography Vol 1 as The Junior Book of Poetry, for Schools and Families edited by William Davis - no doubt to insinuate that Marianne was simple-minded and couldn't have appreciated anything else - but it was (see above illustration), The Book of Poetry for Families and Schools - available here for free click. It contains the Thomas Hood poem 'Tis The Last Rose of Summer. William was a few days dead when George wrote this to Algernon:
Kindest regards from Nell. She has had a recurrence of very severe fits lately. By the bye, she says she should extremely like, as a memento if Will, who was so kind to her, that little Davis' Poetry Book he had. Do you think she could have it sent to her some day?

Her champion had gone and Marianne aka Nell was truly alone in the world. I wonder if she realised her days were numbered? William did such extraordinary things with his short and never easy life, and he behaved with decency, generosity and modesty. George's biographers have him down as some sort of priggish, dull Mr Normal, but he really was a very exceptional chap who turned words into actions and made his own way despite his disadvantages. Unlike his older brother, he did not think the World owed him anything. In a multiverse/parallel universe click I hope he is living with Marianne and both are in the pink, in an existence full of music and happiness.   

A Bush Idyll by Frederick McCubbin  1893

When George wrote to Algernon on August 8th 1881 he mentioned the gravestone put up for William: 'I am glad to hear you like the memorial which has been put up at Wilmslow. The very plainest & simplest in such cases is always the best, if there must be one at all. I personally should prefer none at all, but that is a matter of opinion & sentiment.'  We learn from the editors' footnotes that William's gravestone read: 'William Whittington Gissing - Died April 16th 1880 - aged 20 years.' George did not pay for a headstone for Marianne; this has been left to her well-wishers to provide. The cemetery is in Blackshaw Road, Lambeth. Her grave number is 731 3J CONS.