Senior, Jane Elizabeth (1828-1877)

Jane Elizabeth Senior was the first female inspector of workhouses and pauper schools in Britain and worked for the Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian War. She met George Eliot in 1866 and is believed by some scholars to be a source of inspiration for the character of Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch. These critics point to Dorothea and Senior’s shared attraction to public service and the correspondence between Senior and Eliot during the time the novel was written, which includes reference to clothing and angels, symbols used in Middlemarch as well.

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

To:
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, 11 December 1866
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [22 May 1867]
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, 14 March 1868
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, 9 September 1869
GE to [Mrs. Nassau John Senior], London, 4 October 1869
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, 13 March 1870
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, Redhill, 1 July 1872
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, 24 January 1873
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [May 1874]
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, Ragatz, 12 July 1876
Charles Lee Lewes to Mrs. Nassau Senior, London, 3 May 1875

From:
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Jane Elizabeth Senior (1828-1877), Senior, Jane Elizabeth (1828-1877), Social Network Gallery, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed November 11, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/97144