Death: 8th October 1896Cause of death: Heart failure
Location: St. John at Hampstead, London, England. Plot: Churchyard extension (I Bay)
Photos taken by: DeadGoodBooks
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French-born British cartoonist and author, best known for his cartoons in Punch and his novel Trilby.
He joined the staff at Punch in 1865, drawing two cartoons a week. His most common targets were the affected manners of Victorian society. Due to his failing eyesight, du Maurier reduced his involvement with Punch in 1891 and settled in Hampstead, where he wrote three novels.
His first novel, Peter Ibbetson, was a modest success at the time and later adapted to stage and screen. His second novel Trilby, was published in 1894. It fitted into the gothic horror genre which was undergoing a revival, and the book was hugely popular. The story of the poor artist's model Trilby O'Ferrall, transformed into a diva under the spell of the evil musical genius Svengali, created a sensation. Soap, songs, dances, and toothpaste, were all named for the heroine, and the variety of soft felt hat with an indented crown that was worn in the London stage dramatization of the novel, is known to this day as a trilby. The plot inspired Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel Phantom of the Opera. The third novel was a long, largely autobiographical work entitled The Martian, which was only published posthumously.
George du Maurier was the father of actor Gerald du Maurier and grandfather of the writers Angela du Maurier and Dame Daphne du Maurier. He was also the father of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and thus grandfather of the five boys who inspired J. M. Barrie to write Peter Pan. George du Maurier was a close friend of the novelist Henry James; their relationship was fictionalised in David Lodge's Author, Author.
Inscribed on his grave are the last two lines of Trilby:
A little trust that when we die,
We reap our sowing, And so — good bye!
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