page_title: Jane Welsh Carlyle
section_title: Relationship with Geraldine Jewsbury
hierarchical_section_title: Jane Welsh Carlyle / Life / Relationship with Geraldine Jewsbury
caption_attribution_description: English: National Trust, Carlyle's House; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation, Jane Welsh Carlyle, ca. 1856
context_page_description: Jane Welsh Carlyle was a Scottish writer. She did not publish any work in her lifetime, but she was widely seen as an extraordinary letter writer. Virginia Woolf called her one of the "great letter writers," and Elizabeth Hardwick described her work as a "private writing career."
context_section_description: Jane had a long and close friendship (1841-1866) with fellow writer Geraldine Jewsbury. The two women first met when Thomas invited Geraldine to Cheyne Row, where Thomas and Jane lived. Geraldine had written to Thomas before the invitation admiring his work, and also expressing her religious doubt. Geraldine was going through a depressive time, but she also contacted Thomas in the hopes of entering the literary realm in England. When Geraldine and Jane met, their friendship turned out to be more of a romantic relationship. It is evident both women had feelings for each other, but there is no evidence of them being lovers. Jane always remained dutiful to her husband and neither had acted upon any romantic feelings. This caused a lot of jealousy between the two women as Jane always remained married to Thomas and Geraldine had lovers of her own. However, they both had passionate feelings towards one another and that passion is expressed in their many letters to one another: as Geraldine wrote, “I feel towards you much more like a lover than a female friend”.
  They often had disagreements about common social issues of the era such as the place of men in women's lives and the purpose of women in general.  Geraldine wasn't opposed to marriage, but she thought man and woman should be equal in marriage; she didn't witness that with Jane and Thomas, and criticised the great man for it.  Jane often tried to set up Geraldine with suitable bachelors in London. However, none of them stuck (Geraldine never married).
  When they were on good terms, Jane helped Geraldine with many of her literary works, including two of Geraldine's most popular novels, Zoe: the History of Two Lives, and The Half Sisters, which Geraldine wanted to dedicate to her. 
  In 1857, Geraldine became romantically involved with Walter Mantell. The two women became distant.  But near the end of her life, when Jane was very ill,  the two reconnected.  When Jane died, Geraldine spoke of Jane as  “the friend of my heart”.
  These two women had a very interesting relationship from a romantic, literary, and friendly perspective. Virginia Woolf based a 1929 article in the Times Literary Supplement on Geraldine's letters to Jane Carlyle, later published in ‘’The Second Common Reader’’. Their passionate relationship was recognized among their literary peers despite the ups and downs of their friendship.
caption: National Trust, Carlyle's House; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation, Jane Welsh Carlyle, ca. 1856, by Mrs. Paulet
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