Dorothea Elizabeth Irving, Lady Brunner, OBE, JP (14 April 1904 – 9 January 2003), was a British actress, the daughter of actors

H. B. Irving Harry Brodribb Irving (5 August 1870 – 17 October 1919), was a British stage actor and actor-manager; the eldest son of Sir Henry Irving and his wife Florence ( née O'Callaghan), and father of designer Laurence Irving and actress Elizabeth ...

and

Dorothea Baird Dorothea Baird (20 May 1875 – 24 September 1933) was an English stage and film actress. Career Her first stage appearance was with the Oxford University Dramatic Society in February 1894, when she played Iris in '' The Tempest''. She was ...

, and the granddaughter of

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

stage star

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

. Her older brother was the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

set designer Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

and

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Laurence Irving. Elizabeth Irving was the Chairman of the National Federation of

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation 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 th ...

s (W.I.) and in 1955 founded the ''

Keep Britain Tidy Keep Britain Tidy is a UK-based independent environmental charity. The organisation campaigns to reduce litter, improve local places and prevent waste. It has offices in Wigan and London. History Keep Britain Tidy was originally set up by a conf ...

'' Group, acting as President of the Group for 19 years from 1966.

Life

Born at 1

Upper Woburn Place The A4200 is a major thoroughfare in central London. It runs between the A4 at Aldwych, to the A400 Hampstead Road/Camden High Street, at Mornington Crescent tube station. Kingsway Kingsway is a major road in central London, designat ...

, London, in 1904, Dorothea Elizabeth Irving usually went by her middle name of Elizabeth. She was educated at home, at

South Hampstead High School ) , established = as St. Johns Wood School , closed = , type = Independent day school , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head ...

and, when the family moved to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1916, at Oxford High School, before moving to

Wycombe Abbey School , motto_translation = Go in faith , established = 1896 , type = Independent boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmistress , head = J. Duncan , chair_label = Chair ...

. Irving left school at 16 to study acting in Oxford and London, making her stage debut aged 12 in '' The Bells'', in which her father had a leading role. Her early roles as an adult actress were as Titania in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', in

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's ''

The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...

'' and in

George du Maurier George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch'' and a Gothic novel ''Trilby'', featuring the character Svengali. His son was the actor Sir Gerald d ...

's ''

Trilby A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...

''. She also had a role in

A. V. Bramble Albert Victor Bramble (1884–1963) was an English actor and film director. He began his acting career on the stage. He started acting in films in 1913 and subsequently turned to directing and producing films. He died on 17 May 1963. Filmogra ...

's silent film version of

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

's ''

Shirley Shirley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë * ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film * ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American film * ''Shirley'' (album), a 1961 album by Shirley Bas ...

'' (1922).Obituary
in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' 28 January 2003 She married Sir

Felix Brunner Sir Felix John Morgan Brunner, 3rd Baronet (13 October 1897 – 2 November 1982) was a British Liberal Party politician and business owner. He was the maternal uncle of Katharine, Duchess of Kent. Biography The son of Sir John Brunner, 2nd Baro ...

, Baronet, (1897–1982), a businessman and the son of Sir John Fowler Brunner, 2nd Bt. and Lucy Marianne Vaughan Morgan, on 8 July 1926. They had five sons. After her marriage Irving gave up acting, and became Lady Brunner in 1929 on the death of her husband's father, the 2nd

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

. She held the office of

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

(J.P.) for Oxfordshire in 1946. In 1937 they bought

Greys Court Greys Court is a Tudor country house and gardens in the southern Chiltern Hills at Rotherfield Greys, near Henley-on-Thames in the county of Oxfordshire, England. Now owned by the National Trust, it is located at , and is open to the public. ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, and donated the house to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 1969 but continued to live there. From 1951 to 1956 she was the Chairman of the National Federation of

s (W.I.) and in 1955 founded the

Group. She was President of the group for 19 years from 1966, after which she was its senior vice-president. She was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(O.B.E.) in 1964 for her work with the

Campaign. She was the Chairman of the Women's Group on Public Welfare for ten years from 1960, and Chairman of the Henley and District Housing Trust.Shirley Anglesey, 'Brunner , (Dorothea) Elizabeth, Lady Brunner (1904–2003)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Jan 2007; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 3 March 2010
/ref> From 1968 to 1971 she was a member of the General Advisory Council of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. The Brunner Buildings at

Denman College Denman, formally Denman College, was a residential adult education college centred on what was Marcham Park at Marcham in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire). Founded by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) i ...

, the

's own Residential Adult Education College near Oxford, are named after her. Elizabeth Lady Brunner died of heart failure at her home,

, in

Rotherfield Greys Rotherfield Greys is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is west of Henley-on-Thames and just over east of Rotherfield Peppard (locally known as Peppard). It is linked by a ne ...

on 9 January 2003 aged 98. One of her three surviving sons is Sir

Hugo Brunner Sir Hugo Laurence Joseph Brunner (born 17 August 1935) was Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, England, between 1996 and 2008. He was succeeded by Tim Stevenson. He was also a Liberal Party politician. Hugo Brunner is the son of Sir Felix Brunner, ...

KCVO JP,

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, between 1996 and 2008. He edited her posthumous account of her childhood to the point when she made her stage debut and published it, with a summary of the rest of her life, in 2010 as ''Child of the Theatre'' (Perpetua Press, Oxford).

References

External links

Irving on the Peerage.com
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' 15 January 2003
Obituary
in ''

'' 28 January 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Elizabeth 1904 births 2003 deaths Actresses from London People educated at Wycombe Abbey English stage actresses Officers of the Order of the British Empire English people of Cornish descent People educated at South Hampstead High School People educated at Oxford High School, England Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Wives of baronets

Life

See also

References

External links