Most leading biographers maintain that Sarah died at Twickenham of
a stroke. This information seems erroneous. From what is read in
the letters on this site, Sarah was in London (see
1 and
1 note) during the late stages
of her illness. Also, surviving
legal documents
explicitly state her place of death as Ralph's London home: "Sarah
Disraeli, formerly of Ailsu Park Villas Twickenham in the County of
Middlesex and late of No 73 Gloucester Place Hyde Park in the same
County Spinster deceased who died on or about the
Nineteenth day of December 1859, at No 73 Gloucester Place". Both
Weintraub and
Bradford agree that Sarah died in
Twickenham of a stroke. They offer no evidence for the claim of her
stroke. From the symptoms described in the letters
(loss of appetite, distention and
pain in the bowels, delirium
and mention of surgery as an
option), a stroke seems an unlikely cause of death.