Olivia Melian Durdin-Robertson (13 April 1917 – 14 November 2013) was an author, artist, co-founder and high priestess of the

Fellowship of Isis The Fellowship of Isis (FOI) is an international spiritual organisation devoted to promoting awareness of the Goddess. It is dedicated specifically to the Egyptian goddess Isis because the FOI co-founders believed Isis best represented the en ...

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 f ...

'', 27 June 1998

Early life and education

Born at St Mary's Hospital in London, Olivia Robertson was descended from the theologian

Richard Graves Richard Graves (4 May 1715 – 23 November 1804) was an English cleric, poet, and novelist. He is remembered especially for his picaresque novel ''The Spiritual Quixote'' (1773). Early life Graves was born at Mickleton Manor, Mickleton, Glouce ...

, a cousin of the author Robert Graves, and was a grandchild of Thomas Herbert Robertson. Her family roots descended from wealthy English Protestant rulers. She was the second of four children born to Nora and Manning Durdin-Robertson, an architect and town planner and a friend of the poet

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

. Her family lived in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

in Surrey before moving back to their ancestral home

Huntington Castle Huntington Castle was situated in the village of Huntington in Herefordshire, England, 2½ miles south-west of Kington (). Natural Site The castle is sited on a commanding position on the modern day England Wales border in what was the ...

in Ireland, which had been inherited in 1925 on the death of her grandmother. From 1938, Robertson was educated at

Heathfield School, Ascot Heathfield School is a girls' independent boarding and day school in Ascot, Berkshire, England. In 2006, the school absorbed St Mary's School, Wantage and was briefly named Heathfield St Mary's School but reverted to Heathfield School in 2009 to ...

and the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. Her liking of the arts led her to have two art exhibits in the years 1939 and 1956 and even illustrated her own books. Following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, although a pacifist she served as a V.A.D. nurse in Bedfordshire in 1940. She studied at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

in 1942, and then worked at

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

until 1946. In 1946 she published her first book, ''St. Malachy's Court''. Further books followed, including ''Field of the Stranger'' (1948), which was awarded the London Book Society's Choice award; ''The Golden Eye'' (1949), ''Miranda Speaks'' (1950), and ''It's an Old Irish Custom'' (1954). Her book ''The Dublin Phoenix'' (1956) sold out on its first day."Olivia Robertson"
Fellowship of Isis

Move to Huntington Castle

In 1960, Robertson moved back to Huntington Castle, the family home, with her brother, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, and his wife Pamela. Huntington castle had been previously seized by the Irish Republican Army to use as their headquarters around the year 1916 when the

Anglo-Irish War The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mi ...

was in its early beginnings. In 1963, she formed the Huntington Castle Centre for Meditation and Study with them. In 1976 the

(FOI) was founded. She wrote her spiritual autobiography ''The Call of Isis'' in 1975, and also ''Isis of Fellowship'', concerned with how the Fellowship of Isis was founded. On 30 April 1988 she appeared as a guest on '' After Dark'', a British late night live discussion programme broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. In August 1993 Robertson was invited to attend the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. The FOI was chosen to represent the Goddess movement. Breakfasting there with the Dalai Lama remained one of the high points of her life. A film of her life, ''Olivia: Priestess of Isis'', was released on DVD in 2011.

Death

Robertson died in

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

on 14 November 2013. Her funeral was a private ceremony held in the temple, organised by the Fellowship of Isis, followed by a public

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

service at St Fiacc’s in

Clonegal Clonegal, officially Clonegall ( ; ), is a village in the southeast of County Carlow, Ireland. It is in a rural setting, close to the border between counties Wexford and Carlow, 5 km from Bunclody, County Wexford and 22 km from Carl ...

. An obituary was written in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''.

Publications

*''Field of the Stranger'', 1948. *''St. Malachy's Court'', 1947. *''The Call of Isis'', 1975. *''Isis of Fellowship: How the Fellowship of Isis was Founded'', 2002. *''Ordination of Priestesses and Priests: of the Fellowship of Isis'', 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Olivia 1917 births 2013 deaths People from Paddington Writers from London Feminist spirituality British pacifists 20th-century British writers British non-fiction writers British spiritual writers People educated at Heathfield School, Ascot Alumni of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art People from Clonegal