"Mr and Miss Rossetti" : Elizabeth and Rossetti's Mysterious Holiday Jaunt During Their "Estrangement"

 

By the end of summer 1858 Elizabeth and Rossetti's fraught seven year romance and quasi engagement had run its course. Leaving picturesque Lime Tree View,  in Matlock*, where they had lodged together on and off for the previous eight or so months, as Lizzie convalesced , they parted to go their own ways,  with their relationship seemingly over. Rossetti's clear reluctance to marry, his infidelities, and attraction for other women had finally taken its toll on the relationship alongside Elizabeth's consequent  unhappiness, bitterness and struggles with  poor health.

 Rossetti returned  permanently to London, and Elizabeth vanished from his life.  Resuming his life and work  in London, Rossetti embarked on a carefree relationship with Fanny Cornforth  while no records exist of Elizabeth’s whereabouts or activities, nor is she mentioned in any of Rossetti’s letters until nearly two years later when she was ill in Hastings. Possibly she had returned to her parents'  home in Southwark.

 Apparently estranged,  they next rekindled their relationship in   Hastings in April 1860 when  Rossetti was informed by John Ruskin, in turn alerted by her parents, that Elizabeth was gravely ill, possibly at the point of death. Conscience- stricken, a distraught Rossetti  rushed to see her in Hastings and proposed, hoping to make good his earlier promises of marriage. They married on 23 May 1860 in St Clement's Church, Hastings when she was fit enough to walk down the aisle.

* https://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/pix/e_matlockhydro_limetreeview1863.htm

 This timeline , until recently, was the accepted narrative, but it now appears that they were not completely estranged from each other during the above  period as previously believed. According to Dr Jan Marsh remarkable new documentary evidence has surfaced which shows they reunited,  at least briefly,  four months earlier to enjoy a travelling holiday together in  Warwickshire around Christmas 1859 , staying at an hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon where they signed the register as “Mr and Miss Rossetti”, presumably posing as  relatives to ensure respectability. During their holiday they also visited The Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick on 23 December 1859 and signed  the visitors' book on that date. Nearly three weeks later, they then visited  Shakespeare’s birthplace  in Stratford-upon-Avon on 9 January 1860 and signed the visitors' book there.The excerpt below , from Norma Hampson on the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust,  notes their signatures in the visitors' records: .https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/dante-gabriel-rossetti-1828-1882-poet-illustrator-painter 

Lord Leycester Hospital
Wikimedia Commons
 Visited by Elizabeth Siddal and D G Rossetti 23rd Dec, 1859 
 

"On 9 January 1860 Rossetti accompanied by his muse and lover Eleanor Elizabeth (Lizzie) Siddal visited the Birthplace and signed the Visitors’ Book. Having, some years ago, entered the names of visitors at the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick on to a data base (now at Warwick County Record Office) I was aware that they had visited there on 23 December 1859 and signed the book in similar fashion. It is thought that they were enjoying a walking holiday in the county."

This unknown holiday jaunt during their separation is yet  another twist in the saga of their troubled  on-off relationship.  At the very least it changes the time line and traditional narrative of their estrangement  but  tantalisingly  it also adds to its mystery. Was it a one-off, a truce  or were their other unknown reunions between them during this time? It raises many questions, not least what, if any,  interaction they had after this holiday before their dramatic reunion and unexpected marriage in Hastings four months later.