Noël Olivier

Noël Olivier
Portrait of Noël Olivier in 1923
Noël Olivier 1923
Born 25 December 1892
Died April 1969
Other names
  • Noël Olivier Richards
Occupation Physician
Spouse(s) William Arthur Richards
Children

5

  • Benedict, Angela, Virginia, Tazza, Julia
Parent(s)
Relatives

Hon. Noël Olivier (1892–1969) who trained and practised as a medical doctor, is now best known for her relationship with Rupert Brooke.

She was the daughter of Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier and Margaret Cox.[1] A cousin was the actor Laurence Olivier.[2]

She attended Bedales School in Petersfield, Hampshire.[3]

Relationship with Rupert Brooke

Noël Olivier; Maitland Radford; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen); Rupert Brooke

She met the poet Rupert Brooke at a supper party in May 1907, prior to a meeting of the Cambridge Fabians which her father had been invited to address.[4] She was fifteen and he was twenty. He was captivated by the shy intelligent schoolgirl and began to bombard her with letters, initiating a correspondence which was to last until his death in 1915.[5]

Some of Brooke's early poems, such as "The Hill", were written about and for his first love, Noël Olivier. Up to the time of her death in April 1969, she steadfastly refused publication of the letters which Brooke had written to her.[4]

Medical career

She graduated with the degrees of Bachelor of Surgery (BS) and Doctor of Medicine (MD). She was registered as a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, (MRCP) and the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS).[1]

On 29 April 1927, at a clinical meeting held at the Victoria Hospital for Children, in a section for the study of disease in children, she presented a paper entitled "A Case of Acute Lymphatic Leukæmia".[6]

Family life

She married William Arthur Richards, son of Robert Richards, on 21 December 1920.[1] Between 1924 and 1940 they had five children: Benedict, Angela (later Harris), Virginia, Tazza and Julia. Angela Harris' daughter Pippa Harris, edited Noël Olivier's correspondence with Brooke.[7]

Her husband graduated with the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS). He was invested as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). He was also registered as a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians.[1]

She lived in Ickenham, Middlesex, England.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hon. Noël Olivier. The Peerage.com
  2. ↑ See Wikipedia article her father Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier, Sir Laurence's uncle
  3. ↑ The Naturist Society website
  4. 1 2 Brooke, Rupert (1971). Rogers, Timothy, ed. Rupert Brooke: a reappraisal and selection from his writings, some hitherto unpublished. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 231. ISBN 9780710070562.
  5. ↑ Rupert Brooke & Noël Olivier: The Letters of – Song of Love. biography-clarebooks.co.uk
  6. ↑ Richards, Noel Olivier (Jul 1927). "Cases A Case of Acute Lymphatic Leukæmia". Proc R Soc Med. 20 (9): 1317–1318. doi:10.1177/003591572702000910. PMC 2101400.
  7. ↑ Harris 1991.

Bibliography

  • Brooke, Rupert; Strachey, James (1998). Hale, Keith, ed. Friends and Apostles: The Correspondence of Rupert Brooke and James Strachey, 1905-1914. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07004-0.
  • Brooke, Rupert; Olivier, Noel (1991). Harris, Pippa, ed. Song of love: the letters of Rupert Brooke and Noel Olivier. Crown Publishing. ISBN 978-0-517-59090-4. Full text on Internet Archive
  • George Mariz, George (2004). "Olivier, Sydney Haldane, Baron Olivier". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35309. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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