In 1898, Eleanor discovered that the ailing Edward Aveling had secretly married a young actress, to whom he remained committed.
Aveling's illness seemed to her to be terminal, and Eleanor was deeply depressed by the faithlessness of the man she loved.

On 31 March 1898, Eleanor sent her maid to the local chemist with a note to which she signed the initials of the man the chemist knew as "Dr. Aveling," asking for chloroform (some sources say "padiorium") and a small quantity of hydrogen cyanide (then called "prussic acid") for her dog.
On receiving the package, Eleanor signed a receipt for the poisons, sending the maid back to the chemists to return the receipt book.
 Eleanor then retired to her room, wrote two brief suicide notes, undressed, got into bed, and swallowed the poison.

The maid discovered Eleanor in bed, scarcely breathing, when she returned.
A doctor was called for but Eleanor had died by the time he arrived.
She was 43.
A post mortem examination determined the cause of death to have been poison.
A subsequent coroner's inquest delivered a verdict of "suicide while in a state of temporary insanity," clearing Aveling of criminal wrongdoing, but he was widely reviled throughout the socialist community as having caused Eleanor to take her life.

A funeral service was held in a room at the London Necropolis railway station at Waterloo on 5 April 1898, attended by a large throng of mourners.
Speeches were made by Aveling, Robert Banner, Eduard Bernstein, Pete Curran, Henry Hyndman and Will Thorne.
Following the memorial, Eleanor Marx's body was taken by rail to Woking and cremated.
An urn containing her ashes was subsequently kept safe by a succession of left wing organisations, including the Social Democratic Federation, the British Socialist Party, and the Communist Party of Great Britain, before finally being buried alongside the remains of Karl Marx and other family members in the tomb of Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery in London in 1956.

On 9 September 2008 an English Heritage blue plaque was placed on the house at 7 Jews Walk, Sydenham, south-east London, where Eleanor spent the last few years of her life.
In 1898, Eleanor discovered that the ailing Edward Aveling had secretly married a young actress, to whom he remained committed. Aveling's illness seemed to her to be terminal, and Eleanor was deeply depressed by the faithlessness of the man she loved.
On 31 March 1898, Eleanor sent her maid to the local chemist with a note to which she signed the initials of the man the chemist knew as "Dr. Aveling," asking for chloroform (some sources say "padiorium") and a small quantity of hydrogen cyanide (then called "prussic acid") for her dog. On receiving the package, Eleanor signed a receipt for the poisons, sending the maid back to the chemists to return the receipt book.  Eleanor then retired to her room, wrote two brief suicide notes, undressed, got into bed, and swallowed the poison.
The maid discovered Eleanor in bed, scarcely breathing, when she returned. A doctor was called for but Eleanor had died by the time he arrived. She was 43. A post mortem examination determined the cause of death to have been poison. A subsequent coroner's inquest delivered a verdict of "suicide while in a state of temporary insanity," clearing Aveling of criminal wrongdoing, but he was widely reviled throughout the socialist community as having caused Eleanor to take her life.
A funeral service was held in a room at the London Necropolis railway station at Waterloo on 5 April 1898, attended by a large throng of mourners. Speeches were made by Aveling, Robert Banner, Eduard Bernstein, Pete Curran, Henry Hyndman and Will Thorne. Following the memorial, Eleanor Marx's body was taken by rail to Woking and cremated. An urn containing her ashes was subsequently kept safe by a succession of left wing organisations, including the Social Democratic Federation, the British Socialist Party, and the Communist Party of Great Britain, before finally being buried alongside the remains of Karl Marx and other family members in the tomb of Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery in London in 1956.
On 9 September 2008 an English Heritage blue plaque was placed on the house at 7 Jews Walk, Sydenham, south-east London, where Eleanor spent the last few years of her life.
Eleanor Marx