Lewes, Gertrude Hill (1837-1923)

Gertrude Hill was the daughter of James Hill, a Wisbech corn merchant, and Caroline Southwood Smith, and the elder sister of the housing reformer Octavia Hill. She married Lewes's eldest son, Charles Lee Lewes, at Hampstead in 1865, becoming Eliot's daughter-in-law in all but law, and their three daughters — Blanche, Maud and Elinor — were small children when Eliot died in 1880. Eliot wrote to her warmly and directly, in December 1865 about a frieze for her study bookcase and about Octavia's challenge, "Have you never known any earnest church people?", and in 1870 about the care she and Charles had taken of "poor Lizzie." Through Gertrude, Eliot came to know Octavia well: she followed her housing work, contributed £200 with Lewes to the fund raised for her in 1874, and wrote to Octavia herself. After Charles's death in 1891 Gertrude succeeded him as literary trustee, presented Eliot's manuscripts to the British Museum, and in 1898 published a memoir of her grandfather, Dr Thomas Southwood Smith.

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

To:
GHL to Mr. Charles Lee Lewes and Gertrude [Mrs. Charles Lee] Lewes, [London, 25 March 1865]
GE to Gertrude [Mrs. Charles Lee]Lewes, London, 21 December [1865]
GE to Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, London, [? March 1866]
GHL to Mrs. John Willim and Mr. And Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, The Hague, 13 June 1866
GHL to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, Schlangenbad, 15 July 1866
GE to Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, London, 5 July [1867]
GHL to Mr. Charles Lee Lewes and Gertrude [Mrs. Charles Lee] Lewes, Ilmenau, 8 August 1867
GE and GHL to Mr. And Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, Petersthal, 27 June 1868
GHL to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, London, 19 May 1869
GE to Gertrude [Mrs. Charles Lee] Lewes, Harrogate, 10 July 1870
GHL to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, Ryde, 25 December 1870
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lee Lewes, Stuttgart, 7 [July] 1880
GHL to Mr. And Mrs. Charles Lewes, London, [19 May 1869]

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Gertrude Hill Lewes (1837-1923), Lewes, Gertrude Hill (1837-1923), Social Network Gallery, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/97205