Edith Maud Olivier MBE (31 December 1872 – 10 May 1948) was an English writer, also noted for acting as hostess to a circle of well-known writers, artists, and composers in her native

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

Family and childhood

Olivier was born in Wilton, of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

stock, her father being

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of Wilton, and her mother the daughter of a bishop. She was one of ten children.Entry for OLIVIER, Edith, in Stringer, Jenny: Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Literature, p 510
/ref> After receiving schooling at home, Olivier went up to

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

, in 1895, but completed only four terms before leaving because of

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

. She was related to the actor

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

through her paternal grandfather, Henry Stephen Olivier, who, through one of his other sons, was the actor's great grandfather.

Political and social activity

Until his death in 1919 her life was dominated by her father, who was both autocratic and conservative. She was an adherent of the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

and served on the Women's Diocesan Council. Olivier also undertook activities in the Conservative Party, and

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

. In 1916, at the behest of the Wiltshire county agricultural committee, Olivier helped form the

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the ...

in Wiltshire, for which she was rewarded in 1920 with an MBE. When she was elected to Wilton Town Council in 1934, she became the first woman to serve on the council, and was later mayor from 1938 to 1941. As mayoress it was her responsibility to house the children and mothers of babies evacuated from London. Southern Command was based at Wilton and every bedroom in her house was occupied by a lodger. She describes this in ''Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady'', humorously illustrated by her close friend, the artist

Rex Whistler Reginald John "Rex" Whistler (24 June 190518 July 1944) was a British artist, who painted murals and society portraits, and designed theatrical costumes. He was killed in action in Normandy in World War II. Whistler was the brother of poet and ...

. Her public service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

included the presidency of the local

St John Ambulance Brigade St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primarily staffed by volunteer ...

Wilton and Wiltshire

Born at Wilton Rectory, Edith grew up playing in and worshipping the neighbouring house and gardens of

Wilton House Wilton House is an English country house at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. It was built on the site of the medieval Wilton Abbey. Following the dissolution ...

. George Lord Pembroke and his wife Gety were childless and encouraged the young Olivier children to spend time with them and to play with their nephews and nieces. When Edith's widower father, Canon Dacres Olivier, retired before the First World War, she and her sister Mildred moved with him to No.20 in Salisbury's Cathedral Close. Her father died the year the war ended, and after a short spell renting at Fitz House, Teffont Magna, the two 40-year-old Olivier sisters moved into the old dairy house (Daye House) on the Wilton estate in 1920. This was at the request of childhood friend Reginald, Lord Pembroke, who had inherited Wilton from his uncle in 1913. Wilton and Wiltshire were her lifelong passions.

“Of all the neighbours on whom I grew to rely more and more, Edith Olivier was perhaps always the most cherished. So many of the young writers, painters and poets came to her with problems about their work and their lives and they knew that after she had listened intently to their outpourings, her advice would be unprejudiced, wise and Christian.” –
Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...

In her nightly journal – missed only three times: when her brother Harold was killed fighting in 1914, her sister Mildred died from breast cancer in 1923, and her closest friend Rex Whistler was killed jumping from his tank in 1944 – Edith recorded a way of life and a generation that vanished with the outbreak of the Second World War. She describes the '

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in London during the Roaring Twenties. The name was given to them by the tabloid press. They threw flamboyant fancy dress part ...

' on the Earl of Pembroke's estate at Wilton and at nearby

Ashcombe Ashcombe is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England, about eight miles south of the city of Exeter. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Kenton, Mamhead, Dawlish, Bishopsteignto ...

, Cecil Beaton's house, first discovered by Edith. She writes of her close friendships with neighbours

Stephen Tennant Stephen James Napier Tennant (21 April 1906 – 28 February 1987) was a British socialite known for his decadent, eccentric lifestyle. He was a central member of the socialite group referred to as " Bright Young Things" by the tabloid press of t ...

and his mother, Pamela, wife of

Sir Edward Grey Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (25 April 1862 – 7 September 1933), better known as Sir Edward Grey, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who was the main force behind British foreign policy in the era of the Fir ...

; the poet Sir

Henry Newbolt Sir Henry John Newbolt, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (6 June 1862 – 19 April 1938) was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps ...

; and painters

Henry Lamb Henry Taylor Lamb (21 June 1883 – 8 October 1960) was an Australian-born British painter. A follower of Augustus John, Lamb was a founder member of the Camden Town Group in 1911 and of the London Group in 1913. Early life Henry Lamb was bo ...

and

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

. Her book on her beloved Wiltshire in the

County Books series The County Books series, by Robert Hale and Company of London, covered counties and regions in the British Isles. It was launched in March 1947, and began with Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The series was announced as completed in 1954, in 60 volumes, ...

was published posthumously by her niece Miss Rosemary Olivier who continued to live at Daye House at the request of the Pembrokes, and became Mayor of Wilton also.

Writing and artistic circle

It was after Mildred died in 1923 that she started to engage a broader social circle. It was then that she formed a profound friendship with

and acted as a frequent hostess to an elite, artistic, and social set which included

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World ...

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

, and

Osbert Sitwell Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and l ...

. She describes them vividly in her journals: Cecil Beaton: ‘a marble face and voice’

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

: ‘''cleaner'' than I expected… loves Georgian churches’

Lady Diana Cooper Diana Cooper, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English silent film actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she ...

: ‘I have never seen anyone else really look what I think Helen of Troy must have looked’

: ‘such fun to tell things to. Laughs so ''utterly''’

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

: ‘bitter against the world in general, and very comprehending towards individuals ''when she knows about them''’ Stephen Tennant: ‘dazzling in his inspired wit and vision’

: ‘a very domestic man, ready to help in all household emergencies’ Rex Whistler: ‘a reincarnation of Breughel’ Her first novel, ''The Love Child'', was published in 1927, and was followed by further novels, biographies including one of

Alexander Cruden Alexander Cruden (31 May 16991 November 1770) was the Scottish author of an early Bible concordance, a proofreader and publisher, and self-styled Corrector of the nation's morals. Early life and career Alexander Cruden was born in Aberdeen in ...

, and the autobiographical ''Without Knowing Mr Walkley''.

Things Past Explaining

In her autobiography ''Without Knowing Mr Walkley'' (Walkley was the theatre critic of ''The Times'', and Edith had dreamed of becoming an actress not a writer), she has a chapter called ''Things Past Explaining''. As she says, "Inexplicable things do happen to me, although I do not call myself 'psychic' as people say".

Mystery Tennis Racket

One midsummer's night at the Daye House she woke to hear something thud onto the floor by her bed. It was an old-fashioned tennis racket. She never solved the mystery of its arrival. The windows and door to her room were closed. There was no-one in the house. ‘If it was an ''apport'' left by a passing spirit, I can only say that the sense of humour of those in another world is very different from ours.′

Lost City of Lyonesse

Twice, whilst visiting

Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

, she saw a fortified city some miles out in the Atlantic. ‘It was a jumble of towers, domes, spires and battlements.’ On the first occasion she thought it must be the

Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the souther ...

but a passing coastguardsman corrected her and dismissed her as an ‘imbecile.’ She saw the city again when ‘the atmospheric conditions were completely different.’ That day her driving companion Miss Macpherson also saw it and identified it as the lost city of

Lyonesse Lyonesse ( /liːɒˈnɛs/ ''lee-uh-NESS'') is a kingdom which, according to legend, consisted of a long strand of land stretching from Land's End at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, to what is now the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic ...

which she had heard about and always hoped to see. Miss Macpherson felt herself lucky enough to see the city again some years later, but her sister who was with her saw nothing.

Avebury's Beckhampton Avenue

In October 1916, whilst working for the

, Edith stopped at

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in ...

to watch a fair in the rain. Many years later she discovered that the last fair had been held there sixty-six years earlier. This prompted her to explore exactly where she had seen the primitive swing boats, coconut shys, and shooting range. She learned that the avenue down which she believed she had driven (from the direction of Beckhampton) had disappeared long before the year 1800. When the excavator Alexander Keiller began searching for this avenue she did not have the courage to tell him where to start digging.

Misses Moberly and Jourdain

Edith was a published author when she was asked to write the preface to the 1931 fourth edition of the popular ''An Adventure'' by

Charlotte Anne Moberly Charlotte Anne Elizabeth Moberly (1846–1937) was an English academic, and first Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Her claimed time-travel book ''An Adventure'', written in 1911 with fellow academic Eleanor Jourdain, became a bestselle ...

(principal of

from its foundation in 1886 until 1915) and her successor Eleanor Jourdain. In it, the Oxford academics detail with considerable rigour how on a visit to

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

in 1901 they believed they had found themselves walking in the Trianon of 1789 and seen

Marie-Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the wife of Louis XVI. Born Archd ...

. Their account was initially published in 1911 under the pseudonyms Miss Morison and Miss Lamont, in a vain attempt to protect their reputations. Jourdain died in 1924 whilst principal, her demise possibly brought on by the criticism she and Moberly received for daring to involve Oxford University in something so unscientific. For the 1931 edition, and to support Moberly, Edith invited the scientist J.W. Dunne to introduce the account with a note concerning his interest in

Serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...

(and its fourth dimension) and how this might explain what Moberly and Jourdain had seen. And perhaps what occasionally happened to her.

The Bishop's Birds

Edith was familiar with the legend that two white birds would be seen flying over

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English architecture, ...

upon the death of a

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...

. Moberly's father had been Bishop of Salisbury and she had seen two such birds an hour after his death in 1885. She told Edith this when she first arrived at St Hugh's College, having won a scholarship organized by the current bishop of Salisbury. Edith's friends would have been familiar with these stories of the unexplained and suitably infected by her enthusiasm.

David Herbert The Honourable David Alexander Reginald Herbert (3 October 1908 – 3 April 1995) was a British socialite and writer. Early life and education He was the second son of Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke. He spent his first few years in C ...

, second son of Reginald, Earl of Pembroke, recalling her funeral, wrote: ‘As they lowered her coffin into the grave, with swish of wings a pigeon flew up into the sky. Cecil eatonand I gasped and in one breath said: “Edith soaring through tracks unknown!”.

Bibliography

Novels

*''The Love Child'' (1927) *''As Far As Jane's Grandmother's'' (1928) *''The Triumphant Footman'' (1930) *''Dwarf's Blood'' (1930) *''The Seraphim Room'' (1932; published in the U.S. as ''Mr. Chilvester's Daughters'')

Non-fiction

*''The Eccentric Life of Alexander Cruden'' (1934) *''Mary Magdalene'' (1934) *''Country Moods and Tenses'' (1941) *''Four Victorian Ladies of Wiltshire'' (1945) *''Wiltshire'' (posthumously published 1951)

Autobiographical writings and diaries

*''Without Knowing Mr Walkley'' (1938) *''Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady'' (1943) *''Journals'' from 1 March 1894 to 22 April 1948

Death

Olivier died in 1948, after suffering three strokes, and was interred in Wilton churchyard.

References

External links

Edith Olivier as the Mayor of Wilton with three council officials
– 1942 portrait of Olivier by Cecil Beaton on the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Olivier, Edith Maud 1872 births 1948 deaths 20th-century English biographers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford English women biographers English people of French descent English women non-fiction writers English women novelists Members of the Order of the British Empire

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...

People from Wilton, Wiltshire Writers from Wiltshire