Name Noel Olivier Role Medical doctor | Died April 1969 Children Angela Richards | |
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Parents Margaret Cox, Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier Siblings Brynhild Olivier, Daphne Olivier, Margery Olivier Cousins Laurence Olivier, Sybille Olivier, Gerard Dacres Olivier Similar People Sydney Olivier - 1st Baron Oli, Laurence Olivier, Rupert Brooke, James Strachey, Harold Cox | ||
Hon. Noël Olivier (1893–1969) who trained and practiced as a medical doctor, is now best known for her relationship with Rupert Brooke.
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She was the daughter of Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier and Margaret Cox. A cousin was the actor Laurence Olivier.
She attended Bedales School in Petersfield, Hampshire.
Relationship with 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. 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.
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.
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).
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.
Family life
She married William Arthur Richards, son of Robert Richards, on 21 December 1920. Between 1924 and 1940 they had five children: Benedict, Angela (later Harris), Virginia, Tazza and Julia.
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.
She lived in Ickenham, Middlesex, England.