Cross, John Walter (1840-1924)

Title

Cross, John Walter (1840-1924)

Description

John Walter Cross, who was twenty years younger than George Eliot, met her in Rome on a family holiday in 1869. He enjoyed a close relationship with both Eliot and Lewes as their investment banker and later a surrogate 'nephew,' as they called him. After Lewes' death, Cross was one of the first people outside of the family to be received by Eliot. She relied on Cross, along with Charles Lewes, to help her sort out business matters and to gain control of her income, which had always been held in Lewes's name.
Within the year, Cross and Eliot were reading Dante together constantly and she was signing love letters to him as Beatrice. Eighteen months after Lewes's death, in May, 1880, Eliot and Cross married at St. George’s, Hanover Square. This development shocked most of Eliot’s friends, none of whom were invited to the ceremony. Edith Simcox, who had witnessed jealously the closeness developing, was singularly unsurprised. After the wedding, Cross and Eliot left for a honeymoon trip to Italy. However, Cross suffered from bouts of depression and, while in Venice, according to police reports, threw himself from the window of their hotel into the Grand Canal. He was rescued by gondoliers and with the help of his older brother, whom Eliot had summoned to Venice following the crisis, was able to return to England and to the marriage as if nothing of consequence had happened. A mere seven months after they wed, George Eliot died unexpectedly of kidney failure in December 1880. Cross did his duty by completing George Eliot's biography and then went on to write some articles that were decently received. The pages of her journal from just after her father's death in 1849 until shortly before she went to Weimar with Lewes in 1854 were torn out and presumably destroyed, probably by Cross. John Cross never remarried; he died after a long widowerhood at age 84.

Publisher

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

Letters Exchanged

To:
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 11 December 1872
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, 17 January 1873
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [18 April 1873]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [26 May 1873]
GE to John Walter Cross, Blackbrook, [19 October 1873]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 12 January 1874
GE to John Walter Cross, Earlswood Common, 17 June 1874
GE to John Walter Cross, London, [March 1875]
GE to John Walter Cross, Rickmansworth, 14 August 1875
GHL to John Walter Cross, Rickmansworth, [17 September 1875]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 3 June 1876
GE to John Walter Cross, London, [3 February 1877]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [22 February 1877]
GHL to John Walter Cross, Witley, [10 June 1877]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 6 November 1877
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 13 December 1877
GE to John Walter Cross, Witley, 26 August 1878
GE to John Walter Cross, London, [22 January 1879]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, [30 January 1879]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 7 February 1879
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 22 February 1879
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 24 February 1879
GE to John Walter Cross, London, [22 April 1879]
GE to John Walter Cross, Witley, [16 October 1879]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 24-25 December 1879
Frederic Harrison to John Walter Cross, London, 6 May 1880
GHL to John Walter Cross, [London, 27 December 1871]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [19 January 1873]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [4 November 1873]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, 21 February 1874
GHL to John Walter Cross, Earlswood Common, [8? August 1874]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [29 September 1874]
GHL to John Walter Cross, [London, 5 March 1877]
GHL to John Walter Cross, London, [16 March 1877]
GE to John Walter Cross, London, 29 April 1878
E. F. S. Pigott to John W. Cross, London, 7 May 1880
Henry James to John W. Cross, Florence, 14 May 1880

From:
John Walter Cross to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Paris, 11 May 1880
John Walter Cross to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, London, 22 December 1880
John Walter Cross to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 23 December 1880
John W. Cross to Mary F. Cross, Verona, 1 June 1880
John W. Cross to Isaac P. Evans, London, 22 December 1880
J. W. Cross to Mrs. R. Strachey, London, 26 December 1880
J. W. Cross to Mrs. R. Strachey, London, 30 December 1880
John W. Cross to Mme Bodichon, London, 13 January 1881
John W. Cross to Mme Bodichon, London, 9 July 1881

Image

Citation

John Walter Cross (1840-1924), Cross, John Walter (1840-1924), Social Network Gallery, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/97158