George du Maurier

A carte-de-visite portrait of the British author George du Maurier (1834-1896).

Born George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier in Paris, he studied art before moving to Antwerp, where he lost the sight in his left eye. He became a member of the satirical magazine Punch in 1865, contributing two cartoons a week. His most famous cartoon, True Humility, was the origin of the phrases 'good in parts' and 'a Curate’s egg'. Owing to his deteriorating eyesight, du Maurier retired from Punch in 1891 and settled in Hampstead, where he wrote three novels (the last was published posthumously). The second of these was the enormously successful Trilby (1894), the story of a natural singer able to perform only under the hypnosis of her tutor, Svengali. A sensation at the time, the novel was adapted many times for the stage.

He was the father of Gerald du Maurier and the grandfather of Daphne du Maurier. He was also the grandfather of the Llewelyn-Davies boys who inspired Peter Pan.

George du Maurier died on 8 October 1896 and was buried in St. John’s churchyard, Hampstead.

Photographed by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.