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Next Door to George Eliot
Thomas Hardy lived in The Larches, or 172 Trinity Road, for three years from 1878 where he wrote A Laodicean. He had decided that his profession of novelist required him to live near London. By 1881, Hardy moved to the country because the industrial nature of Wandsworth was uninspiring - tending 'to force mechanical and ordinary productions from this pen'.
The couple's daily routine consisted of writing in the morning, an afternoon walk after lunch at 1:30 and dinner at 6:30 followed by reading aloud and music. In Southfields, George Eliot became more well known and even Dickens visited her at Wimbledon Park Road. Marian had described living in Southfields as 'glorious breezy walks, and wide horizons, well ventilated rooms, and abundant water'. The couple advertised in The Times in order to find a good servant. Marina even considered the possibility of importing maids from her native Warwickshire. Despite expressing their wish to be left alone, social calling did not cease, due to the sensational revelation that Adam Bede was not written by a male George Eliot byt by a woman. The Victorian stigma extended to the fact that the couple were not married. They were hounded by gossipmongers and nosy relatives jealous of their success. Their dream of conventional suburban life was not exactly what they expected. In a few months, Marian became disenchanted with Southfields, apparently because of the lack of privacy and the lack of public transport! (If only she knew how appalling the District Line is today.) The nearest station then was Wandsworth. Southfields' tube station opened in 1889. 'It is a fatiguing ugly walk to Wandsworth Station - we always go to Putney whenever we can.' She also wrote 'I should like to transfer our present house, into which we were driven by haste and economy, to someone who likes houses full of eyes round him. I long for a house with some shade and grass close round it.' In September 1859, they had moved to Regents Park. Presumably property prices did not have as much influence then!
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Wandsworth has been home to some of Britain's world-renowned creative individuals for centuries including H.G.Wells and Boswell. French writer turned philosopher Voltaire at first lived as a retiree ('reading classics and collecting coins') in Garratt Lane from 1726 to 1728 but quickly rose to rub shoulders with the likes of Swift, Pope and Bolingbroke. Southfields experienced a housing boom between 1899 and 1907 when the last of the Grid's one thousand seven hundred and fifty seven houses was completed to tempt families in.
However, no account of Southfields would be complete without the mention of one of its most famous residents, radical journalist George Eliot or Marian Evans, who wrote The Mill on the Floss whilst living at 31, Wimbledon Park Road, which was then known as Holly Lodge. In February 1859, five days after the publication of Adam Bede, Marian moved in with her lover George Henry Lewes. Holly Lodge was 'bigger than anywhere they had lived before'. It was intended as their family home. She had written in her journal that their 'double life is more and more blessed, more and more complete'. 
Earnings from Adam Bede had enabled her to upgrade to the more prosperous suburbs in south west London like Mortlake and Putney. They eventually settled on Wandsworth. They took their time doing DIY and shopping for expensive plates and designer sheets. Very much like Southfields today. It was this sudden acquisition of the paraphernalia of middle class prosperity that alerted the locals to the fact that she was indeed the successful author GeorgeEliot and not a suburban housewife.
Published articles
