Outrage at plans to turn vacant home of famed English author George Eliot into an ARABIC school - as blue plaque on the Grade II listed house is removed

Plans submitted to turn George Eliot's Coventry home into Arabic school
Author, real name Mary Anne Evans, wrote first major work at property in 1846
It outraged George Eliot Fellowship who fear building will be 'radically changed'
House was previously a Bangladeshi community centre for more than a decade

Published: 16:54 GMT, 7 December 2017 | Updated: 18:23 GMT, 7 December 2017

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Fans of English novelist George Eliot are outraged at plans to convert the home where she penned many of her classics into an Arabic school.

George Eliot, the pen name for author Mary Anne Evans, lived at Bird Grove house in Coventry in the mid to late 1800s, where she wrote her first major work, an English translation of Strauss' 'The Life of Jesus'.

However, there are now plans to convert the Grade II listed white-washed house - which is in a road named after the author - into the Al Amal Arabic School.

Signs outside the home, which is part-owned by four different people, explain its future use.

The former home, pictured, of English novelist George Eliot is set to become a Arabic school under new plans

The author, real name Mary Anne Evans, pictured in a portrait, wrote her first major work at the property, a translation of Strauss' 'The Life of Jesus'

The plan comes despite strong campaigning by the George Eliot Fellowship to do more to recognise the author and turn her former home into a museum.

According to Land Registry documents, the home has four current owners, including Labour councillor for Coventry City Council Rois Ali and three members of the Coventry Bangladesh Centre.

Chairman of the George Eliot Fellowship John Burton, 74, said: 'When I heard about the plans to convert the house into an Arabic school, I was absolutely outraged.

'This is certainly not the way that we should be recognising one of this nation's great authors, and I have to say that it's a real shame.

'My fear is that it is going to become just any old building, and that any remnants of George Eliot will be completely removed.

'The Bangladeshi Community Centre had been based at the property since 2003, but in the last 18 months it's been unused and has fallen into disrepair.

'A plaque outside the home paying tribute to George Eliot has been removed, and my concern is that the building is going to be radically changed.

'Bird Grove should be a hugely significant cultural centre for Coventry, it should be something that we celebrate and embrace.

'It has the potential, if run properly, to be a centre for literary tourism, and to celebrate her life.

'If you look at the way the former homes of other novelists like William Shakespeare and Jane Austen have been preserved and celebrate, it beggars belief that the same hasn't been done here.

The George Eliot Fellowship, which promotes the author's work, left, said the plans were 'an outrage' and they fear the building will be 'radically changed'

The Fellowship also said the plans to turn it into the Al Amal Arabic School were 'a kick in the teeth'

'I think it's incredibly ironic that Coventry is running to be City of Culture for 2021, and yet nothing is being done to remember one of our cultural icons.

'The opportunity to make it something special and culturally significant is there, and yet we are wasting it.

'There are plenty of other buildings that could be home to an Arabic school, and yet such a historically relevant building seems to have been chosen.

'I would be extremely interested to hear what Mary Anne thinks of these plans.

'We need to make sure that the building is protected, and the owners need to be very careful about how they run it.

'We're having to fight hard to preserve Griff House in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, which was her childhood home, and these plans to come as another kick in the teeth.'

Earlier this year, Professor Rosemary Ashton, a George Eliot biographer, wrote an open letter to Labour councillor for Coventry City Council supporting the fellowship campaign.

It said: 'As a biographer and critic of both George Eliot and her life partner George Henry Lewes, and as a Vice-President of the George Eliot Fellowship, based in Nuneaton and Coventry and responsible for many enriching cultural events over the years, I am writing to you to ask for your support.

'It is surely the right time to ensure that one of Mary Anne Evans's homes, Bird Grove, is renovated and made available for George Eliot-related events and activities, if possible in time for the very important George Eliot bicentenary year 2019.

'George Eliot is the greatest writer to have emerged from Nuneaton and Coventry.

The Grade II listed Bird Grove, pictured, has been empty for 18 months after previously spending a decade as a Bangladeshi community centre

'She is recognised as one of the greatest novelists in English, indeed Middlemarch is named again and again by modern novelists and critics as the greatest English novel of all.

'Her achievements will be celebrated throughout 2019 in both the Midlands and London, with conferences, exhibitions, talks, and debates devoted to her life and work.

'Some colleagues are in active conversation with the British Library, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Royal Society of Literature about organising events in London.

'As Coventry is also bidding to become City of Culture in 2021, it would make great sense for the city to take the initiative over Bird Grove and embrace the celebrations in 2019, in order to demonstrate its commitment to culture, both local and national, and also - in George Eliot's case, due to her worldwide reputation - international.'