Arthur Hallam - Death

Death

In July 1833, Hallam visited Emily. On 3 August, he left with his father for Europe. On 13 September, they went to Vienna, with Arthur complaining of fever and chill. It was apparently a recurrence of the "ague" he had suffered earlier that year, and, although it would delay their departure to Prague, there seemed to be little cause for alarm. Quinine and a few days rest were prescribed. By Sunday 15th, Arthur felt sufficiently better to take a short walk with his father in the evening. When he returned to the hotel he ordered some sack and lay down on the sofa, talking cheerfully all the time. Leaving his son reading in front of the fire, his father went out for a further stroll. He returned to find Arthur still on the sofa, apparently asleep. Only after a short time did Henry Hallam notice the odd position of his head. He called to his son. There was no response. All efforts to rouse him were in vain. Arthur Hallam was dead at the age of twenty-two.

The medical report on the death certificate listed 'Schlagfluss' – that is, a stroke. A blood-vessel near the brain had suddenly burst. The autopsy declared 'a weakness of the cerebral vessels, and a want of sufficient energy in the heart.' The coffin was quickly sealed and sent to the nearest seaport, to be returned to England for burial.

In the first week of October, came a letter from Arthur Hallam’s uncle, Henry Elton:

Addressed to Alfred Tennyson Esqre: if Absent, to be opened by Mrs Tennyson
Somersby Rectory
Spilsby
Lincolnshire

Clifton. 1 October. 1833

My Dear Sir —

At the desire of a most afflicted family, I write to you because they are unequal from the grief into which they have fallen to it themselves.
Your friend, Sir, and my much-loved Nephew, Arthur Hallam, is no more — it has pleased God to remove him from this his first scene of Existence, to that better world for which he was Created.
He died at Vienna, on his return from Buda, by Apoplexy, and I believe his Remains come by Sea from Trieste.
Mr Hallam arrived this morning in 3 Princes Buildings.
May that Being in whose hands are all the Destinies of Man — and who has promised to comfort all that Mourn - pour the Balm of Consolation on all the Families who are bowed down by this unexpected dispensation!
I have just seen Mr Hallam, who begs I will tell you that he will write himself as soon as his Heart will let him. Poor Arthur had a slight attack of Ague — which he had often had — Order’d his fire to be lighted — and talked with as much cheerfulness as usual — He suddenly became insensible, and his Spirit departed without Pain — The Physician endeavour’d to get any Blood from him — and on Examination it was the General Opinion that he could not have lived long — This was also Dr Holland’s opinion — The account I have endeavour’d to give you, is merely what I have been able to gather, but the family of course are in too great distress to enter into details —

I am, dear Sir —
your very Obt. Servt.

Henry Elton.

There was a long pause as Tennyson read the letter. He then left the dining-room and asked to speak to Emily, to whom he told the contents of the letter. He caught her as she fainted. Gladstone received the news on 6 October: 'When shall I see his like?' he wrote. 'I walked upon the hills to muse upon this very mournful event, which cuts me to the heart. Alas for his family and his intended bride!'

To his friends, Arthur’s death came as 'a loud and terrible stroke from the reality of things upon the faery building of our youth' They remembered him in vivid elegy: he had been 'the most charming and the most promising' of his contemporaries; 'his mind was more original & powerful than the minds of us his contemporaries'; 'he had a genius for metaphysical analysis', 'a peculiar clearness of perception', and an 'always active mind'; an 'angelic spirit', 'he seemed to tread the earth as a spirit from some better world; 'his mighty spirit (beautiful and powerful as it had already grown), yet bore all the marks of youth, and growth, and ripening promise.'

Tennyson said: "He would have been known, if he had lived, as a great man but not as a great poet; he was as near perfection as mortal man could be.".

Gladstone hoped 'that some part of what Hallam has written may be put into a more durable form his letters I think are worthy of permanent preservation.' Hallam’s father collected together many of his son’s writings - excluding his letters and poems he thought unsuitable - and published them privately: Remains in Verse and Prose of Arthur Henry Hallam (1834). On being asked by Henry Hallam to contribute to an introduction, Tennyson replied: 'I attempted to draw a memoir of his life and character, but I failed to do him justice. I failed even to please myself. I could scarcely have pleased you.'

Hallam is buried at St. Andrew's Church in Clevedon, Somerset.