White, William Hale (1831-1919)

Writing under the pen name Mark Rutherford, William Hale White wrote of George Eliot as he knew her when they both boarded at John Chapman's house at 142 Strand in London. White worked with Eliot on the Westminster Review and lost touch with her after moving out of Chapman’s boarding house, something he later regretted. Attempting to reconnect with Eliot years later, White wrote to her, but his letter was answered dismissively by George Henry Lewes. It is possible that White was in love with Eliot; in his partially-fictionalized autobiography, The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford: Dissenting Minister (1881), he depicts a romantic figure named Theresa who is clearly modelled after George Eliot.

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

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