George Orwell is English.
Barnhill, Jura . The house was the home of the English essayist and novelist George Orwell , who lived there intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1950 , and who completed his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four while living there . Eric Arthur Blair ( 25 June 1903 -- 21 January 1950 ) , better known by his pen name George Orwell , was an English novelist , essayist , journalist , and critic . In 2008 , The Times ranked him second on a list of `` The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 '' .