George Orwell

English writer known for his critiques of totalitarianism and social injustice.

The adjective "Orwellian" and neologisms like "Big Brother" and "Newspeak" have entered the English language.^[1]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name

Eric Arthur Blair

Born

25 June 1903

Birthplace

Motihari, Bengal Presidency, India (modern-day Bihar)

Died

21 January 1950

Place of death

London, England

Burial place

All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, England

Occupation

Novelist
essayist
journalist
literary critic

Education

Eton College

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Orwell was born on 25 June 1903 in Motihari, Bengal Presidency, British India, into a "lower-upper-middle class" family.^[2] His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked as a sub-deputy opium agent in the Indian Civil Service.^[3] He won a scholarship to St Cyprian's School in Eastbourne, where he boarded for five years.^[4][5] Blair later earned scholarships to Wellington and Eton, and he remained at Eton until December 1921.^[6][7]

He resigned from the police in 1928 to become a writer, drawing on his Burma experiences for the novel Burmese Days.^[8] Orwell's work remains influential in both popular and political culture.^[1] At age one, Eric was brought to England by his mother, along with his sister Marjorie.^[9]

What the cited sources add

The same article states that Orwell's son, Richard Blair, said there was no museum celebrating his father's contribution to literature.^[10] A review of Orwell's diaries describes how, on the island of Jura, he used a small rowing boat for fishing, his great passion.^[11] The review recounts that Orwell miscalculated a tide, his boat was caught in a whirlpool, and he saved his son and niece after they swam ashore.^[11] The review also notes that Orwell left instructions that no biography be written of him.^[11]

A Guardian article about a theatrical event states that a thief who stole Orwell's money in Paris in 1929 did a big favour to political literature.^[12] A three-room house on a property that also contained a large warehouse for opium storage was Orwell's birthplace in Motihari, according to a news article.^[10]

References

Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McCrum, "The masterpiece that killed George Orwell", The Observer, 10 May 2009; "Quotations: G. Orwell", Oxford English Dictionary; "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945", The Times, 5 January 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Crick, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004; Orwell, "The Road to Wigan Pier", Left Book Club, 1937, p. 1; "Legacies of British Slavery", Legacies of British Slavery; Stansky, "The Unknown Orwell and Orwell: The Transformation", Stanford University Press, 1994, p. 5–12; Rahman, "George Orwell's birthplace in India set to become a museum", TheGuardian.com, 30 June 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rahman, "George Orwell's birthplace in India set to become a museum", TheGuardian.com, 30 June 2014; Stansky, "The Unknown Orwell and Orwell: The Transformation", Stanford University Press, 1994, p. 5–12; "Orwell & Bedford" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rahman, "George Orwell's birthplace in India set to become a museum", TheGuardian.com, 30 June 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bowker p. 30; Jacob, "Inside the Myth", Lawrence and Wishart, 1984 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard", 2 October 1914; "Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard", 21 July 1916 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jacintha Buddicom, Eric and Us, p. 58; Rahman, "George Orwell's birthplace in India set to become a museum", TheGuardian.com, 30 June 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The India Office and Burma Office List: 1929", Harrison & Sons, Ltd., 1929, p. 894; "Exploring Burma Through George Orwell" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "George Orwell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Crick (1982), p. 48; "Renovation of British Author George Orwell's house in Motihari begins", IANS (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Rahman, "George Orwell's birthplace in India set to become a museum", TheGuardian.com, 30 June 2014. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Leys, "The Intimate Orwell", 6 May 2011. facts only, no text reused. nybooks.com
"Orwell's take on destitution, live from Paris and London", The Guardian. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article George Orwell (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.