Events Leading Up to the War and the BBC Years

Abstract

In mid-March 1938, when he was living at The Stores in Wallington, Orwell was taken seriously ill. Precisely what happened is unclear (a detailed account of the evidence is given at 432), but he certainly bled profusely and the bleeding could not be stopped. It was suspected that he had pulmonary tuberculosis and he was dashed from Hertfordshire to Preston Hall Sanatorium, Aylesford, Kent, where Eileen’s brother, Laurence (always called ‘Eric’, which can, especially in Eileen’s letters, be confusing), was a consultant. Michael Shelden has unearthed Orwell’s medical records and these show he had coughed up blood when ill in 1929 (possibly at the Hôpital Cochin), 1931 and 1934; had suffered from pneumonia in 1918, 1921, 1933 and 1934 (but not in 1929 as is stated in ‘How the Poor Die’ — see p. 102), and had Dengue Fever in Burma. With that record, he should certainly not have served in the bitterly cold trenches in Spain. In a report dated 7 November 1938 (475 n. 2) it was decided that ‘in all probability’ Orwell was suffering from ‘bronchiectasis of the left lung’, rather than tuberculosis. To add to the confusion, however, the Case Record carries a typed statement ‘T. B. confirmed’. By then Orwell and Eileen were in North Africa, where it was believed (incorrectly) that the climate would aid his recovery. Their stay in Marrakech, from 12 September 1938 to the end of March 1939, was made possible by an anonymous gift of £300 from the novelist, L. H. Myers. Orwell regarded this as a loan and, when he could, repaid what he had received (see below, p. 129). It was arranged that Jack Common would take over the cottage in return for looking after the Orwells’ goats and hens, a task he mis-managed. Despite being so ill, Orwell found time and energy to write a long letter, dated 5 August 1938, in defence of his POUM colleagues who were being tried by the Communists for espionage in Spain. Copies were sent to The Manchester Guardian, the Daily Herald (which supported the Labour Party), and The New Statesman (470). It was only printed by The Manchester Guardian.