Erica O'Donnell MBE (11 March 1920 - 12 March 1999) was an Irish art historian and SOE officer. She founded and was the first director of the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

's Study Centre for the History of the Fine and Decorative Arts.

Early life and education

Erica Marie-Josèphe O'Donnell was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

on 11 March 1920. Her parents were Eric Hugh and Mary Mabel Elizabeth O'Donnell (née Dunbar), she was their only child. Her father was a British army officer of Dublin and Ballingaddy,

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

, and served with distinction in France and the Balkans during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Her maternal grandfather was Joseph Charles Dunbar of

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and Ceylon. O'Donnell attended St. Mary's Convent in Ascot, Berkshire from 1929 to 1935, going on to study the history of art, entering the

in 1937. She travelled during her studies, living in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, and travelling to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She returned to England after the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

. As she was fluent in German and French, she was hired as part of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's overseas service in Evesham.

Work during World War II

O'Donnell was recruited by

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

due to her multilingualism and knowledge of Europe. She was appointed to the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

(SOE) in September 1940 to work in the headquarters of the Czech section, and given the rank of officer. Here she was in charge of training Czech agents, as well as liaising with officials in the

Ministry of Economic Warfare The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. The minister was in charge of the Special Operations Executive and the Ministry of Economic Warfare. Ministers of Economic Warfare, 1939 ...

and the

Political Warfare Executive During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of countries occupied ...

. She was transferred to the French section in March 1944, going on to work with the headquarters of the

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (FFI; ) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as F ...

. Her obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' claimed she parachuted into German-occupied territory, but this is not corroborated by her official SOE file. She left the SOE in December 1944 to work with the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, caring for survivors of concentration camps.

Later career

She went on to work in the British embassy in Paris after the war. She then returned to England in 1948 to resume her studies with the Courtauld Institute. O'Donnell became a member of the Special Forces Club in London, counting among her friends numerous prominent immigrants including,

Rudolf Wittkower Rudolf Wittkower (22 June 1901 – 11 October 1971) was a British art historian specializing in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture, who spent much of his career in London, but was educated in Germany, and later moved to the Unit ...

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Ki ...

, and

Johannes Wilde Johannes Wilde Order of the British Empire, CBE (2 July 1891 – 13 September 1970) was a Hungarian art historian and teacher of art history. He later became an Austrian, and then a British, citizen. He was a noted expert on the drawings of Mic ...

. She helped

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), (formerly styled Sir Anthony Blunt from 1956 until November 1979), was a leading British art historian and a Soviet spy. Blunt was a professor of art history at the University ...

with cataloguing the

Stefano Della Bella Stefano della Bella (18 May 1610 – 12 July 1664) was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes. He left 1052 prints, and sev ...

drawings in the Royal Collection. O'Donnell noticed that no university or other institution ran a course that covered all elements of the fine and decorative arts. With the support of Sir

Trenchard Cox Sir George Trenchard Cox (1905–1995) was a British museum director. Early years Cox was born on 31 July 1905 in London to barrister William Pallett Cox and Marion. He was educated at Eton College and then at King's College, Cambridge, where h ...

of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, O'Donnell established and designed a course for those wishing to work in museums, as

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

eers, art students, or those who owned or ran country houses. The course was convened in the V&A's galleries and lecture hall, and O'Donnell recruited from the Courtauld Institute and the museum to lecture. It was colloquially known as the "V. & A. course". From these informal roots, O'Donnell founded the Study Centre for the History of the Fine and Decorative Arts in 1964. The course received far more applications than places, and the demand led to other universities establishing their own, similar courses. Helena Hayward later ran the course with her, and with Hayward and Harriet Bridgeman she published books on fine art. Some of the graduates from the course during O'Donnell's tenure included Giles Waterfield and Timothy Schroder. In 1990, O'Donnell was awarded an MBE for her services to the Centre, and retired as its director the same year. She had married an exiled Polish historian and author,

Józef Kisielewski Józef Kisielewski (26 January 1905 – 20 July 1966) was a Polish writer, journalist and right-wing politician of the National Party. Kisielewski was born in Mostyska. He studied Polish Language at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Afte ...

in 1958, with whom she had two sons. O'Donnell died in London on 12 March 1999.

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

at Kew hold papers relating to O'Donnell and the Centre from 1955 to 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Donnell, Erica 1920 births 1999 deaths Writers from Dublin (city) Irish art historians Irish people of World War II Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire