George Merrill (16 August 1867 – 16 January 1928) was the life partner of Edward Carpenter, an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher and early activist for gay rights.

[3] Merrill was a working-class man who was born and grew up in the slums of Sheffield; he had no formal education.

He was always officially Carpenter's servant, and he undertook the cooking and cleaning in the home, decorating and placing flowers in every room.

[8] Carpenter died the following year and was buried beside Merrill at the Mount Cemetery in Guildford, Surrey.

[9][10] The novelist D. H. Lawrence read the manuscript of Maurice, which was not published until after Forster's death.