Eileen O'Shaughnessy

Who was Eileen O'Shaughnessy?

Eileen Maud O'Shaughnessy was the first wife of British writer George Orwell. O'Shaughnessy was born in South Shields, Tyne & Wear, in the north-east of England, the only daughter of Marie O'Shaughnessy and Lawrence O'Shaughnessy, who was a customs collector. Despite being very close to her older brother Lawrence, a distinguished thoracic surgeon, in a letter to a friend she described him as "one of nature's Fascists".