Valerie Eliot

Valerie Eliot
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Name	Valerie Eliot
Birth name	Valerie Fletcher
Birth date	17 August 1926
Birth place	Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Death date	9 November 2012 (aged 86)
Death place	London, England
Occupation	Secretary, literary executor, editor
Spouse	T. S. Eliot (m. 1957; died 1965)
Known for	Literary executor of T. S. Eliot, founding The Valerie Eliot Foundation

Valerie Eliot. She was the second wife and devoted literary executor of the Nobel Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot, safeguarding and promoting his legacy for nearly five decades. As a former secretary at the publishing house Faber and Faber, she played a crucial role in editing and releasing significant posthumous works, including his early poems and letters. Her stewardship extended beyond publication through the establishment of The Valerie Eliot Foundation, which provides substantial support to literary and charitable causes.

Early life and education

Born Valerie Fletcher in the city of Leeds, she was the daughter of a former British Army officer and spent much of her youth in the Yorkshire Dales. She attended the Queen Anne's School in Caversham before pursuing secretarial training in London. Her ambition to work in literature led her to a position at the prestigious publishing firm Faber and Faber, where she began as a secretary to the chairman, Geoffrey Faber. This role placed her at the heart of the London literary scene and in close proximity to many of the firm's celebrated authors, including W. H. Auden and Ted Hughes.

Marriage to T. S. Eliot

In 1949, she became the personal secretary to T. S. Eliot, who was then a director at Faber and Faber and a towering figure in Modernist literature. Their professional relationship, conducted amidst the milieu of Bloomsbury Group associates and the post-war London literary scene, deepened over nearly eight years. They were married in a private ceremony at St. Barnabas' Church, Kensington in 1957, an event that surprised many, including his close friend and fellow poet Ezra Pound. Their marriage, though lasting only until his death in 1965, was described by Eliot as the happiest period of his life, providing stability following his earlier, troubled marriage to Vivienne Haigh-Wood.

Literary executor and editor

Following the death of T. S. Eliot in 1965, she was appointed his sole literary executor, a role she undertook with immense dedication. She meticulously edited and oversaw the publication of seminal works, including *The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts* (1971), which featured annotations by Ezra Pound. She later authorized and contributed to major biographical projects, such as Peter Ackroyd's acclaimed biography, and curated volumes of his letters published by Faber and Faber and Yale University Press. Her guardianship ensured the careful management of copyrights for major works like *Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats*, the basis for the musical *Cats*.

The Valerie Eliot Foundation

In 1988, she used royalties from the global success of Andrew Lloyd Webber's *Cats* to establish The Valerie Eliot Foundation. The foundation has made significant philanthropic contributions, with major beneficiaries including the Royal Society of Literature, the Poetry Book Society, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. It has also provided substantial funding to institutions like University College, Oxford and Merton College, Oxford, supporting literary scholarships and archival work related to Modernist literature.

Later life and death

She maintained a private life in London, residing for decades in the Kensington home she had shared with T. S. Eliot. She continued her editorial work, notably on the multi-volume *The Letters of T. S. Eliot*, a project in collaboration with Faber and Faber and scholar John Haffenden. She died at her home in 2012 at the age of 86. Her funeral service was held at St. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road, and her ashes were interred at St. Michael's Church, East Coker, the Somerset village celebrated in Eliot's *Four Quartets* and the resting place of the poet.

Category:English editors Category:Literary executors Category:1926 births Category:2012 deaths