Chapter 7

On December 24, 1863, Thackeray was found dead in his bed, most likely the result of a stroke following several weeks of illness. He was buried in Kensal Green cemetery near the grave of his daughter Jane on December 30; between 1,500 and 2,000 mourners attended his funeral.

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- For weeks following his death, newspapers in countries around the world published tributes to him, and those who had known him wrote poems and essays celebrating the genius of their friend. Annie wrote in her journal, “a certain part of me is shut up for ever, nobody else can I talk to as I talked to him.”
  
  After her father’s death, Annie took over the financial care of her mother, Isabella, and visited her regularly. Isabella died in 1894. In 1867, Minny married writer and critic Leslie Stephen, who had known her father. Minny died in 1875 from complications with a pregnancy. Annie remained close with Stephen for the rest of their lives, and was an unofficial aunt to the children of his second marriage, who included Virginia Stephen.
  
  Annie continued to write stories, essays, and a number of novels. She married her cousin Sir Richmond Ritchie in 1877, and together they had two children. The keeper of her father’s legacy, she often wrote about her father’s life and works, and when necessity arose, sold manuscripts or drawings. She died in 1919.
  
  Of her father, Annie wrote, “He never never was anything but himself.” Thackeray biographer Gordon Ray noted that Thackeray achieved his popularity by “redefining the gentlemanly ideal to fit a middle-class rather than an aristocratic context.” He saw life as a struggle and admired people for having flaws that made them more interesting, and ultimately, more human.
  
  “The night is falling: we have talked enough over wine: and it is time to go home. Good night. Good night, friends, old and young! The night will fall: the stories must end: and the best friends must part.” - Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip

In this section

	Charles Dickens, “In Memoriam,” in The Cornhill Magazine, February 1864.	Thackeray’s unfinished novel, Denis Duval (New York: Harper, 1864).

	Catalogue of the contents of the house of the late W. Makepeace Thackeray, esq. (London: Christie, Manson, & Woods, 1864).	Diary of Shirley Brooks, 1864.

	Thackerayana (London: Chatto & Windus, 1875).	Anne Thackeray Ritchie’s introductions to the Centenary Biographical Editions (London: John Murray, 1911).

	Anne Thackeray Ritchie, undated.	Ticket to Titmarsh Club exhibition, 1911.

	“Mrs. Fiske revives ‘Becky Sharp’”	Fifth Avenue Theatre playbill for “Becky Sharp.”