O

Oakley, Annie – (1860 – 1926)
American frontierswoman
Born Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses to a Quaker family in Ohio, she learned to shoot at a young age as a matter of necessity, after the death of her father. Annie was married (1880) to Frank Butler, whom she had bested in a shooting match. The couple worked together in a rodeo and trick-shooting travelling act, and from 1885 they toured throughout America as part of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
Oakley’s aim was remarkable, and her ability to shoot through the pips of a playing card which was tossed into the air, coined the popular term ‘Annie Oakley’ for a punched free ticket. She retired in 1922. Her life was fictionalized in the musical comedy written by Irving Berlin, and starring Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun (1946).

Oatley, Gwen – (1918 – 2000)
Australian film producer
Oatley was born in Coonamble, New South Wales, and was educated in Burwood in Sydney. Gwen became a successful radio and stage actress under the direction of Doris Fitton at the Independent Theatre. During WW II she became the property manager at Supreme Sound Systems, and for forty years, in association with her partner Mervyn Murphy, was a widely respected colleague in the Australian film industry, due to her particular expertise in film projection and sound recording.
Involved in the production of The Overlanders with Ealing Studios in London, Gwen was appointed casting director. In Sydney Gwen assisted in the production of such films as Journey of a Nation and Eureka Stockade, as well as the documentary The Back of Beyond, through Film Australia. In 1950, now known as the Supreme Company, the couple assisted in the processing of Stanley Cramer’s On the Beach. Mervyn died in 1977, and Gwen was awarded the OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia) (1978). One of her students was the acclaimed director Bruce Beresford (born 1940). Gwen Oatley retired in 1981 died in Hornsby, Sydney.

Obasanjo, Stella – (1945 – 2005)
Nigerian First Lady (1999 – 2005)
The wife of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Stella Abebe was born (Nov 14, 1945) in Iruepken in Esan West, Edo State, the daughter of Christopher Abebe, the chairman of UAC (United African Company) Nigeria. She studied English at the University of Ife (1967 – 1969) and then went to England to finish her education, studying insurance in London and in Edinburgh (1970 – 1974). She returned to Nigeria where she became the wife of General Olusegun Obasanjo (1976) who became the head of state following the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed. When her husband was arrested and imprisoned for his involvement in an abortive plot against the government (1995) Stella campaigned for his release, and was the recipient of the Indira Gandhi Award and the Award for Peace which was presented by Liberal International in Oxford, England.
When Obasanjo was elected president (1999) Stella became the First Lady of Nigeria. She established the Child Care Trust to care for orphans and mentally retarded children, but despite this she was a politically controversial figure and was popularly known as ‘Greedy Stella’ because of suspicions of financial corruption. Stella Obasanjo died (Oct 23, 2005) aged fifty-nine, from complications in a clinic at Puerto Banus, near Marbella, on the Costa del Sol, in Spain, where she had gone to undergo cosmetic liposuction to reduce her weight. Her body was flown back to Nigeria, where the mysterious circumstances of her death caused further intense speculations.

Obdulia    see   Odilia of Alsace

Obee, Lois    see     Dresdel, Sonia

Obenchain, Eliza Caroline Calvert Hall – (1856 – 1935)
American suffragist and author
Eliza Hall was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Eliza was the author of novels such as Sally Ann’s Experience (1907), Aunt Jane of Kentucky (1908) and The Land of Long Ago (1909) amongst other publications, all produced under her maiden name of Eliza Calvert Hall. She also wrote extensively for the suffrage movement, producing pamphlets for the cause under her married name of Mrs Lida Calvert Obenchain.

Oberholtzer, Sara Louisa Vickers – (1841 – 1930)  
American poet
Oberholtzer was born in Uwchlan, Pennsylvania, and was related by marriage to the Pennsylvanian historian, Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer (1868 – 1936). Sara produced several popular collections of verse such as Violet Lee, and Other Poems (1873), Daisies of Verse (1886), Hope’s Heart Bells (1884) and Souvenirs of Occasions (1892). She was best remembered for the poem ‘Come for Arbutus’ (1882). Sara Vickers Oberholtzer died (Feb 2, 1930) aged eighty-eight.

Oberkirche, Henriette Louise de Waldner-Freundstein, Baronne d’ – (1754 – 1803)
German traveller and memoirist
Countess Henriette de Waldner-Freundstein was born (July 5, 1754) at Schweighausen Castle, Alsace, the daughter of Francois Louis, Comte de Waldner-Freundstein and his wife, Wilhelmina Augusta de Berckheim de Ribeauville. Henriette was married to Charles Sigismond, Baron d’Oberkirche. Madame d’Oberkirche travelled the German and French courts before the Revolution (1789). In her youth she became the friend of the future Russian tsarina Maria Feodorovna (Sophia Dorothea of Wurttemburg) and the two women remained friends all their lives. Their correspondence survives. The baroness divorced her husband (1797) and died six years later. Her daughter, Marie d’Oberkirche married Louis de Bernard, Comte de Montbrison, and left descendants. Madame d’ Oberkirche died died (June 10, 1803) aged forty-eight. Henriette’s grandson, Comte Paul de Montbrison organized her papers and published the Memoires de la baronne d’Oberkirch in Paris (1853). They were dedicated to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, the son of Madame d’Oberkirche’s old friend, the Dowager empress.

Obermeier, Gerlinde – (1942 – 1984)
German feminist and writer
Obermeier was the author of I Will Not and Positively San Francisco. She was a close friend of the noted Irish journalist and writer Malachi O’Doherty (born 1951). Gerlinde Obermeier committed suicide in Vienna, Austria.

Oberon, Merle – (1911 – 1979) 
British actress
Oberon was born in Bombay, India. Always anxious concerning her Anglo-Indian past, she fostered the legend that she had been born in Tasmania, in Australia. Merle Oberon appeared in Private Life of Henry VIII (1932) as Anne Boleyn and in Wuthering Heights (1939) with Laurence Olivier, David Niven, and Flora Robson. She was married to film producer Alexander Korda, and became prominent in British society as Lady Korda. Merle Oberon died (Nov 23, 1979) aged sixty-eight, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Obhukova, Evgenia Konstantinovna – (1874 – 1948)
Russian ballerina
Evgenia Obhukova was born in St Petersburg, the daughter of Konstantin Obhukov. She studied dance at the Petersburg Theatre School, and was associated with the Mariinskii Theatre for nearly twenty yeas (1892 – 1910). When she retired from the stage Evgenia became a well respected dance teacher, firstly at the Russian Ballet School in Leningrad (1917 – 1924), and later at the Tamara Khanum Ballet School in the Uzbek Republic (1935 – 1941). Evgenia also held leading positions at the Navoi Theatre (1944 – 1948) and at the Sverdlov Theatre in Tashkent.

Obolenskaya, Alexandra Alexieva Dyakova, Princess – (1831 – 1890)
Russian philanthropist
Alexandra Dyakova was born at Tcheremoschina, the daughter of Alexei Dyakov, and was married (1853) to Prince Andrei Vasilievitch Obolensky (1825 – 1875) to whom she bore three children. A highly respected member of Russian society, the princess was acquainted with the writer Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sonia. Deeply interested in the the new ideas regarding female education, Alexandra founded the first private school in St Petersburg, which provided secondary education for Russian girls. Princess Obolenskaya died (Dec 8, 1890) aged fifty-nine, in St Petersburg.

O’Brien, Clare – (1913 – 2008)
Australian Catholic nun and educator
Clare O’Brien was born in Quirindi, New South Wales, and was educated by nuns in Singleton and Tamworth. She joined the Dominican order in Maitland (1931) and was professed as Sister Mary Virgilius (1933) taking her name from St Virgilius, an eighth century Irish missionary who became the Bishop of Salzburg in Germany. She moved to the convent of Santa Sabina in Strathfield, Sydney, where she became a teacher and then served as the principal of St Mary Star of the Sea College in Newcastle. Her last post was with the library of the Elm Court College in Moss Vale. In retirement she was a member of the Berrima Historical Society and later moved back to Maitland though she remained active in church affairs. Sister Mary Virgilius died aged ninety-five.

O’Brien, Kate – (1897 – 1974)
Irish dramatist and novelist
Kate O’Brien was born in Limerick, and was educated there and at the University College in Dublin. She began her career as a dramatist in the late 1920’s and her work Without My Cloak (1931) won her the Hawthornden Prize. Kate O’Brien was married, though very unhappily, to the Dutch historian Gustaaf Johannes Renier, and her novels reflect her own observations of life. An authority of the culture and history of Spain and Ireland, O’Brien was the author of Farewell Spain (1937) and My Ireland (1962). Her other works included Pray for the Wanderer (1938), The Last of Summer (1943), That Lady (1946) and As Music and Splendour (1958).

O’Brien, Mary    see    Springfield, Dusty

O’Brien, Mary Jane    see   Abbott, Gertrude

Ocampo, Silvina – (1903 – 1993)
Argentinian writer and painter
Ocampo was born into a wealthy family in Buenos Aires, and was the much younger sister to Victoria Ocampo. She was married to Adolfo Bioy Casares, and they formed part of the coterie which surrounded such literary figures as Maria Luisa Bombal, Ezekiel Martinez Estrada, and Jorge Luis Borges. Silvina Ocampo shared with her sister the reputation of being amongst the most important of Latin American female authors of the twentieth century. She was the author of the collection of verse entitled Sonetos del jardin (Garden Sonnets) (1948) and the collection of short stories published as Informe del cielo y del infierno (Report on Heaven and Earth).

Ocampo, Victoria – (1890 – 1979) 
Argentinian author
Victoria Ocampo was born in Buenos Aires to a wealthy family, and was sister to author Silvina Ocampo. In childhood she resided in London and Paris, and learnt to speak French, English and Italian fluently. Highly regarded as a writer, Victoria was respected as the motivational editor of Sur, the major Latin American literary journal of the day, which published the works of new writers, and translated those of European and American authors. Apart from novels and translations, Victoria was the author of a biography of the poet T.S. Eliot 338171 T.E. (1942) and of a ten volume collection of essays and literary criticism entitled Testimonios.

Ocellina, Livia – (c20 BC – after 14 AD)
Roman Imperial patrician
Livia Ocellina was probably the daughter of L. Livius Ocellus, who served as quaestor, and was a connection of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus. This made Ocellina a relative of Livia Drusilla, the wife of the emperor Augustus. A woman of great wealth and considerable beauty, Ocellina became the wife of (c3 AD) of Gaius Sulpicius Galba, consul suffect (5 BC), after the death of his first wife Mummia Achaica. Ocellina had facilitated the marriage being impressed by his consular rank. According to the historian Suetonius, Sulpicius stripped to the waist in private to reveal his hump, in order to prove that he wished to hide nothing from her.
Ocellina appears to have felt a close affection for her young stepson, Servius Galba (the future emperor, whom she adopted as her own son and heir. According to Suetonius, the young Galba adopted the name Lucius Livius Ocella, as a compliment to the family of his adoptive mother, and kept this name until his accession to the Imperial throne (68 AD).

Occia – (c52 BC – 19 AD)
Roman priestess
Occia was appointed to serve the goddess Vesta from childhood (38 BC) and later succeeded as chief Vestal (Virgo Vestalis Maxima). She died during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, having served as a priestess for almost six decades. The historian Tacitus records her death and length of service and the election of her the daughter of Cornelius Pollio as her successor in his Annales.

Occulata Maior, Aelia – (c55 – 83 AD)
Roman priestess
Aelia Occulata Maior and her younger sister, Aelia Occulata Minor, were the daughters of Lucius Aelius Occulatus, consul suffect (c73 AD) during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian. Both sisters were dedicated from childhood to the service of Vesta. Occulata and her sister, together with the chief Vestals Cornelia and Varonilla, were all accused of having broken their vows of chastity by the emperor Domitian (83 AD). Cornelia was acquitted, but Occulata and the others were found guilty, and condemned to the traditional punishment of being buried alive.

‘Ocean Born Mary’ – (1720 – 1814)
American figure of folk-lore
Mary Wilson was the daughter of James Wilson, a sea captain, and whose ship The Wolf had embarked from Londonderry with emigrants bound for Londonderry, in New Hampshire. The ship was boarded by pirates, led by a ‘captain’ named Pedro, as it approached Boston Harbor, and he and his gang intended to put the crew and passengers to death. At that moment the cry of the new-born child stopped proceedings, and Pedro agreed to spare every-one if Mrs Wilson agreed to name her daughter Mary, after his own late mother. She agreed of course, and before they left the ship, with all unharmed, Pedro presented Mrs Wilson with a bolt of greenish-blue brocaded silk, to provide for her wedding gown when the time should come.
Tall and red-haired, Mary was married (1742) to Thomas Wallace, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, and her wedding dress was indeed made from Captain Pedro’s gift. She bore four sons but left a youthful widow. The now retired Captain Pedro returned to her life, built a Georgian mansion near Henniker in New Hampshire, and took Mary and her children to reside with him, providing for them financially, whilst in return, Mary ran the household for him. Some years later Pedro was murdered in the garden of the house, with a sailor’s cutlass in his back. Mary and her sons interred him beneath the hearthstone in the kitchen. Mary outlived all her sons, and resided in the house alone until her death, when she was ninety-four.
The house at Henniker remained in Mary’s family for the next century due to the colourful history of her own life, and the reputation for wealth that the legend of Captain Pedro exerted, the house became the target of treasure hunters and vandals. From 1916, when the house was purchased by the Roy family, the legends began concerning the ghost of ‘Ocean Born Mary’ which supposedly guarded the house from harm. The supposed treasure has defied all efforts to locate it. A piece of silk from Mary’s wedding dress was in possession of the Roy family (1958).

Ockelman, Constance   see   Lake, Veronica

O’Connor, Flannery – (1925 – 1964) 
American writer
Mary Flannery O’Connor was born (March 25, 1925) in Savannah, Georgia, and was educated in Milledgeville, at the Georgia State College for Women and at the University of Iowa. Flannery O’Connor is best remembered for her highly popular A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Other Stories (1955). Other published works included Artificial Nigger, and Other Tales (1957), The Violent Bear It Away (1960) and Everything Must Converge (1965). She also wrote a collection of dramas entitled Five Plays (1961) and A Memoir of Mary Ann (1961). Flannery O’Connor died (Aug 3, 1964) aged thirty-nine.

O’Connor, Julia     see     Parker, Julia O’Connor

O' Connor, Kathleen Laetitia – (1876 – 1968)
New Zealand painter
Kathleen O’Connor was born (Sept 14, 1876) in Hokitia. She attended school in Wellington and was taught art by James Linton at the Perth technical School in Western Australia. Her work was exhibited with the Western Australian Society of the Arts and Kathleen worked in Sydney as a decorator prior to accompanying her family to England (1905). There she studied further under Marmaduke Flower and others at the Bushey School of Art. She then settled in Paris where her work was exhibited for several decades though she later returned to England for several years (1914 – 1916) during which time she exhibited with the International Society of Sculptors and Engravers and with the National Portrait Society. Examples of her forays into fabric painting using vibrant colours are preserved at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra.
Best known for her still-lifes and portraits O’Connor remained in Paris until the arrival of the Germans in Paris and spent the war years in England (1940 – 1946). After the war she returned to Australia though she always pined for the life she had enjoyed in Paris prior to the war. She was awarded the Western Australian section of the Perth Prize Competition (1958) and a retrospective of work was held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (1967). Examples of her work are preserved in the National Library of Australia. Kathleen O’Connor died (Aug 24, 1968) aged ninety-one, in Perth. Her ashes were scattered at sea.

Ocrisia – (fl. c600 BC)
Roman Latin princess
Ocrisia was a foreign captive, taken during war, who became a member of the household to Queen Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome. Livy in his Early History of Rome states that Ocrisia was the wife of Servius Tullius, prince of Corniculum, who was pregnant when the Romans stormed the town, at which time her husband was killed. Ocrisia was recognized amongst the other prisoners by Tanaquil, who, as a tribute to her noble birth, spared her the squalor and humilation of slavery by taking her into her won household in the palace, where her son Servius Tullius (c605 – 535 BC), the future king of Rome (c578 – 535 BC) was born.
The two women became friends and Ocrisia’s son was later groomed by Tanaquil, who married him to her daughter Tarquinia, and arranged for him to succeed her own husband on the throne (c578 BC). Livy recorded that the rumour which stated that King Servius had really been the child of a slave woman sprang merely from the fact that Ocrisia had been a prisoner of war.

Octavia – (d. c303 AD)
Graeco-Roman Christian martyr and saint
Octavia was a native of Antioch in Syria. She was arrested there during the persecutions initiated by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Daia. She refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods and was executed. Her feast (April 15) was recorded in the Acta Sanctorum.

Octavia, Claudia – (40 – 62 AD)
Roman Augusta (54 – 60 AD)
Claudia Octavia was born in Rome, the only daughter of the Emperor Claudius I and his third wife Valeria Messallina. She was the sister of Britannicus Caesar and became the first wife of her adopted brother, the emperor Nero (54 – 68 AD). Her nurse was the freed slave Valeria Hilaria. Octavia was betrothed in infancy (41 AD) to Lucius Junius Silanus, but he later fell foul of the emperor and committed suicide (48 AD). In the same year her mother was executed for bigamy and treason, and Claudius remarried to his fourth and last wife, Julia Agrippina, the mother of Nero. Agrippina persuaded Claudius to marry Octavia to her stepbrother (52 AD). With Nero’s accession to the throne Octavia was accorded the Imperial style and titles.
Nero murdered her brother Britannicus (55 AD), and forsook Octavia for the freedwoman Acte, and then for Poppaea Sabina. Their marriage remained childless and Nero wished to divorce Octavia so that he could marry his mistress Poppaea, but Agrippina refused to permit this. With Agrippina’s death Nero divorced Octavia (60 AD), on the spurious grounds that she was involved in an affair with an Alexandrian flute player. The empress was stripped of her Imperial titles and was granted the mansion of Burrus and received some of the estates which had formerly belonged to Rubellius Plautus, and Nero quickly married Poppaea. However the people protested against the divorce and threw down Poppaea’s statues whilst garlanding those of Octavia with flowers. The emperor then caused Octavia to be detained under military guard in Campania. Nero’s henchman Anicetus then compliantly confessed adultery with Octavia, and implicated her in a plot to overthrow Nero. Anicetus was banished to comfortable exile in Sardinia, whilst Octavia was banished to the island of Pandateria, where Augustus’ daughter Julia Maior had spent so many years. A few days after her arrival Imperial agents arrived and murdered her (June 9, 62 AD). Despite her desperate pleas of innocence they opened her veins and caused her to be suffocated in a hot bath, before cutting off her head and bringing it to Poppaea on a platter for their reward.
Octavia was the heroine of the Latin tragedy Octavia, which was found amongst the papers of Seneca, but was probably written by Curiatius Maternus. The empress was commemorated on a tetradrachm which was minted in Alexandria (56 – 58 AD), the obverse of which shows a bust of Nero laureate, and the legend NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS IMPERATOR, whilst the reverse has a bust of the empress with the legend OCTAVIA, WIFE OF AUGUSTUS, YEAR 3.

Octavia Maior – (c79 – before 27 BC)
Roman Imperial patrician
Octavia Maior was the elder daughter of consul Gaius Octavius, and his first wife Ancharia. She was the elder half-sister to Octavia Minor and the future emperor Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). She was married to Sextus Appuleius (c90 – c10 BC), and left descendants who were senators under the Imperial regime. The Greek historian Plutarch stated that she was a beautiful woman possessed of admirable qualities. Octavia Maior was honoured by a surviving inscription from Pergamum in Asia Minor, and her son, the proconsul Sextus Appuleius (c63 – c7 BC), consul (29 BC), was honoured by an inscription set up by the people of Aphrodisias in Caria. She was living in 40 BC but had died prior to the election of Augustus to the principate (27 BC). Octavia Maior was ancestress to the empress Valeria Messallina, the infamous third wife of Claudius I (41 – 54 AD). A statue of her survives.

Octavia Minor – (65 – 11 BC)
Roman Imperial princess
Octavia Minor was the daughter of consul Gaius Octavius and his second wife Atia Balba. Her elder half-sister Octavia Maior was the daughter of Ancharia, Octavius’s first wife. Octavia Minor was the full sister to Octavia, later the first emperor Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). Octavia was married firstly (54 AD) to Gaius Claudius Marcellus, consul (50 BC), by whom she was the mother of Marcus Claudius Marcellus (42 – 23 BC), and three daughters.
Her son was long regarded as his uncle’s heir and was married to his first cousin Julia Maior (25 BC) in preperation for this. With the death of her husband (40 BC), her brother arranged for Octavia to marry the triumvir Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), as a move to strengthen the Second Triumvirate. Antonius struck a coin to commemorate their wedding, with Octavia’s head being portrayed on the reverse side of a gold aureus (40 BC), this being the first time a woman’s ahead had appeared on the Roman coinage.  When the posthumous daughter of her first husband was born (Sept, 39 BC), Antonius gave the child the name of Antonia. Devoted to her brother and a woman of exceptional merit, Octavia’s sole concern was to keep peace between her brother and her husband, to whom, in spite of his many infidelities, she always remained attached. Her prescence at the meeting of Antonius and Octavian at Tarentum (37 BC) is said to have been influential in the decision to make a five year renewal of the Triumvirate. Soon afterwards she parted from Antonius and never saw him again.
Antonius then married Cleopatra of Egypt and Octavia retired to Rome, where she maintained her position as his legal wife. When she attempted to helpm him with gold and military aid in Athens for his war in Armenia (35 BC), he ordered her to return to Rome. He finally divorced her (32 BC) which caused much scandal in Rome. With the subsequent deaths of Antonius and Queen Cleopatra (30 BC), Octavia raised their children in Rome including the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, later the wife of Juba of Mauretania. Octavia received Imperial honours from her brother, Augustus, but with the childless death of her only son, Marcellus (43 – 23 BC), her importance to the dynasty declined in favour of her sister-in-law, Livia Drusilla, the mother of Tiberius. Octavia built the public library, the curia Octaviae, in memory of her late son, and retained full mourning for the rest of her life, refusing all consolation. According to Plutarch she refused to hear his name mentioned or have a portrait of Marcellus, and resented being relegated in the dynasty, in favour of Livia and Tiberius.
Octavia’s daughters by Claudius Marcellus were Marcella Maior, Marcella Minor, and Antonia Maior, the paternal grandmother of the Emperor Nero (54 – 68 AD). Her only child by Antonius was Antonia Minor (36 BC – 37 AD), the wife of Drusus the Elder, brother of Tiberius, and mother of the Emperor Claudius I (41 – 54 AD), and grandmother of the Emperor Gaius Caligula (37 – 41 AD). She was portrayed by Angela Morant in the famous BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) series I Claudius (1976) with Brian Blessed as Augustus and Sian Phillips as Livia.

Octavilla, Septimia – (c140 – after 197 AD)
Roman Imperial princess
Septimia Octavilla was the elder sister to the Emperor Septimius Severus (193 – 211 AD), she was the daughter of Marcus Fulvius Septimius Geta and his wife Fulvia Pia, the daughter of Fulvius Pius. She was probably the wife (c155 AD) of Lucius Flavius Aper, perhaps a procurator in the East, to whom she bore a son, senator Lucius Flavius Septimius afer Octavianus (c160 – after 207 AD), and was grandmother of an attested Flavia Neratia Septimia Octavilla.
Octavilla resided with her family in Lepcis in Tripolitana in northern Africa. The Historia Augusta recorded that she made a visit to her brother in Rome (197 AD), where her lack of Latin is said to have caused the emperor some embarrassment. Septimius Severus is said to have granted her many rich gifts, given her son senatorial rank, and sent her back home, but this source remains extremely suspect.

Octomon, Janette – (1879 – 1971)
Australian social activist
Born Janette Provis in Tumby Bay, South Australia, she was the daughter of a farmer. Educated at home, she was married (1903) to a farmer, Charles Machon Octoman, to whom she bore four sons. During WW I she worked tirelessly for the Red Cross and the Fighting forces Comforts Fund. Her personal interest in politics began with her appointment as a justice of the peace (1927) and became driving force in the committee which organized the Liberal election win the same year. She was then elected to the state executive of the merged Liberal and Country League (1932). She was a founder member of Tumby Bay branch of the Country Women’s Association (CWA) (1933) and represented the state CWA on the executive committee of the Associated Country Women of the World and at the Jubilee conference of the International Council of Women in Edinburgh (1938).
Janette Octomon stood for the state senate (1943) but proved unsuccessful, as did a second attempt as an unendorsed candidate (1944). Widowed in 1949, Octomon served as the state president of the CWA from (1949 – 1952) and (1955 – 1956) and was made an honorary life member. She was awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire) (1954) by Queen Elizabeth II, for her work with the CWA and many other social causes.  Janette Octomon died (Oct 23, 1971) aged ninety-one, in Adelaide, South Australia.

Octreda (Ethreda) – (c1071 – 1094)
Queen consort of Scotland (1093 – 1094)
Octreda was the fourth daughter of Gospatric, earl of Northumberland and Dunbar. Her maternal grandmother, Aldgyth of Allerdale, was herself the granddaughter of the Anglo-Saxon king, Aethelred II the Redeless. Octreda, whose original name was probably Aetheldryth, became the wife (1090) of Prince Duncan (1059 – 1094), the eldest son and heir of Malcom III, whom he succeeded as king (Nov, 1093).
Queen Octreda died several months afterwards, after giving birth to a son, William (1094 – 1154), who never became king, but was created earl of Moray, and left many descendants. Soon afterwards, at Durham in England, Duncan made a grant of land to the church of St Cuthbert, for the souls of King Malcolm, his father, his wife Octreda, their son William, and his brothers. Octreda and Duncan were interred together at Dunfermline Abbey.

Oda of Alemannia – (c563 – 634)
Merovingian religious founder
Oda was the daughter of Leutfrid I, Duke of Alemannia and the sister of Duke Gunzo of Swabia. She was married (c579) to Bodesgesil II, Duke of Austrasia. Duke Boggo founded the abbey of St Martin-aux-Chenes, and was later murdered whilst returning from an ambassadorial journey to the Imperial court at Constantinople (588). Oda never remarried and established the abbey of Hamage, near Douai, where she died a nun over forty-five years later. She was revered as a saint.

Oda of Lahgau (Ota, Uota) – (c875 – 903)
Carolingian empress (896 – 899)
Oda was the daughter of Berengar I of Lahngau, Margrave of Neustria and his wife Gunhilde of Vermandois, the daughter of Pepin I, Count of Vermandois and Seigneur of Senlis, Peronne and Saint-Quentin. Her stepfather was Count Guy of Senlis. Oda was married (c888) to Arnulf of Lorraine, who became emperor in 896, though she was not crowned as empress. She was the mother of the last of the Carolingian ruler, Louis the Child (893 – 911), who ruled as king (900 – 911). She interceded with Arnulf in order to obtain certain privileges for the bishoprics of Worms and Freising.
During Arnulf’s last illness the empress was accused of adultery by Adalberon of Augsburg and Bishop Hatto of Mainz. This accusation was an attempt to screen the plot concocted by several prominent nobles to exclude Oda’s son from the throne, in favour of her older, illegitimate, stepsons. The accusation of adultery would then discredit any claims Oda’s family would have towards the regency for her son. Eventually however, the plotters changed tactics, and decided to support the legitimate heir. They therefore acquitted the empress of guilt, but removed the child king into their own power. The empress never remarried, and was a patron of the Abbey of Kremsmunster and the monastery of Altotting. She died aged barely thirty, leaving her possessions to the church.

Oda of Meissen – (c1000 – 1025)
Queen consort of Poland (1018 – 1025)
Princess Oda was the daughter of Ekkehard I of Brunswick, Margrave of Meissen, and his wife Swanhilda, the daughter of Hermann I Billung, Duke of Saxony. Oda was married to King Boleslav I Chrobry (967 – 1025), as his fourth and last wife, and bore him an only daughter, Matylda of Poland (died after 1047), who became the second wife of her German cousin, Duke Otto of Swabia.

Oda of Thuringia – (806 – 913)
Duchess consort of Saxony
Oda was the daughter of Billung, Count of Thuringia by his wife Aeda of Neustria, who was the daughter of Pepin the Hunchback and Bertha of Toulouse, and the granddaughter of the Emperor Charlemagne (800 – 814). She became the wife (before 825) of Duke Luidolf I of Saxony (c803 – 866) to whom she bore thirteen children.
Oda went on a pilgrimage to Rome with her husband, where they found the relics of the holy popes Innocent and Anastasius, and returned with these to Saxony. These relics were enshrined at the the royal abbey of Gandersheim, six miles from Goslar which the duke and duchess had jointly founded (852). They later separated for religious reasons and the duchess founded the smaller monastery of Bruneshausen where at least three of her daughters were veiled as nun.  When this place had grown too small for the needs of the community there the duchess removed these nuns to Gandersheim (857).
Duchess Oda had laid down several conditions when founding the abbey, namely that the abbess should always be a member of the foundress’s family, when one of suitable piety could be foundd.  Accordingly the first three abbesses were her daughters. Gandersheim remained one of the four largest German abbeys where none but the daughters of princes were veiled as nuns. Oda survived her husband for almost fifty years as the Dowager Duchess of Saxony (866 – 913).
Oda died (May, 913) at Gandersheim aged one hundred and seven years. She had been born in the reign of Charlemagne and died after the birth of her great-grandson Otto I the Great (912 – 973), the first Holy Roman emperor of the Saxon dynasty (962 – 973). Four of her children died in infancy. The remaining nine were,

• Bruno (c827 – 880). He succeeded his father as Duke of Saxony (866 – 880).
• Otto I (936 – 912). He succeeded his brother Bruno as Duke of Saxony (880 – 912) and left issue the Emperor Henry I the Fowler.
• Prince Thankmar of Saxony (born c838). He remained unmarried and became a monk at the Abbey of Corvey.
• Prince Ekbert of Saxony (born c839).
• Princess Hadamunda of Saxony (840 – 874). She never married and became Abbess of Gandersheim.
• Princess Gerberga of Saxony (841 – 886). She never married and succeeded Hadamunda as Abbess of Gandersheim.
• Princess Christina of Saxony (c845 – 919). She never married and succeeded Gerberga as Abbess of Gandersheim.
• Princess Oda of Saxony (Enda) – (c846 – c875). She was married to Lothair I (c830 – 880), Count of Stade and left issue.
• Princess Luitgarde of Saxony (c849 – 885). She married the Carolingian king Louis III (830 – 882) and left issue.

Odaldi, Annalena – (1572 – 1638)
Italian dramatist
Born Lessandra Odaldi (April 28, 1572) in Pistoia, she was the third daughter of a prosperous merchant. She became a Franciscan nun (1585) at the convent of Santa Chiara (St Clara) in Pistoia, where she took the religious name of Sister Annalena. Odaldi served in several capacities within Santa Chiara, where she served as bookkeeper, sacristan and mistress of the novices. Annalena was the author of five short comic and satiric plays which were especially written for religious festivals within the nuns’ community. These included Nannuccio e quindici figliastre (Nannuccio and the fifteen stepdaughters) (1600) and Di tre malandrini (The Three Rogues (1604). Annalena Odaldi died (Dec 1, 1638) aged sixty-six.

Odescalchi, Julia – (1849 – 1935)
Hungarian courtier and memoirist
Born Countess Julia Zichy (Sept 23, 1849), she became the third wife (1876) of Prince Arturo Odescalchi (1836 – 1918). Her marriage ended in divorce and Julia resided with her daughter in reduced circumstances. To provide for herself financially, she published somewhat sensational memoirs of the Imperial court entitled Kronprinz Rudolf und das Verbrechen der Baronesse Vetsera. Dargestellt nach den Veroffentlichungen der Prinzessin Odescalchi (1911) at Leipzig in Saxony. Julia Odescalchi died (Aug 8, 1935) aged eighty-five. Her children were,

• Prince Eugen Odescalchi (1876 – 1917). He was killed in action during WW I, and his son, Prince Nicolaus Balthasar, was later murdered by the Gestapo in Hungary (Jan, 1945).
• Princess Aydua Odescalchi (1879 – 1966). She was married firstly to the British aristocrat, Lewis Scott-Ellis (1858 – 1916), and secondly to Francis Liddell (1852 – 1929).
• Princess Alinka Odescalchi (1882 – 1965). She was married firstly to Gustav Korer, from whom she was divorced, and secondly to Pius Lazzari.
• Prince Balthasar Odescalchi (1884 – 1957). He was married twice and left children.

Odilia of Alsace – (c665 – 723)
Merovingian abbess and saint
Odilia was the daughter of Adalric, Duke of Alsace of the Etichonid dynasty. Her mother was Berswinda the daughter of Sigebert III, the Merovingian King of Austrasia (639 – 654). She was born blind and son was given up to the Abbey of Hohenburg as a child for a religious career. She was the patron saint (Dec 13) of the territories of Alsace and Strasbourg and was invoked against blindness and diseases of the eye. She was worshipped in Toledo, Spain under the name of Obdulia.

O’Donnell, Dawn – (1928 – 2007)
Australian nightclub owner
O’Donnell was born into a poor family in Paddington, Sydney, in New South Wales, and attended St Vincent’s College in Potts Point. She became a champion speed skater and went to London and Paris where she appeared with Puss in Boots on ice. After a varied career as a butcher and a parking station attendant O’Donnell opened the Trolley Bar off Broadway. She then ran Capriccio’s, the famous club in Oxford Street where the drag revue was world famous.
This led to her taking over Jools nightclub in Crown Street (1973 – 1977) which was opened by the New South Wales premier Robert Askin and which attracted world famous performers such as Eartha Kitt, Danny La Rue, the Supremes, and the Village People. This venue became famous as a lesbian nightclub. O’Donnell then opened Patches’ gay nightclub in Oxford Street which was later sold and renamed DCM’s. Dawn O’Donnell died aged seventy-nine.

O’Donnell, Helen – (1920 – 1993)
American vocalist
Helen O’Donnell was born (May 23, 1920) and was one of the best known performers during the height of the big band swing era. Her recordings of songs like ‘Green Eyes’ made her one of the most popular of female vocalists in the 1940’s. For nine years she was the hostess at the Miss Universe Pageant. Helen O’Donnell died (Sept 10, 1993) aged seventy-three.

O’Donnell, Mietta – (1950 – 2001)
Australian chef and food critic
Mietta O’Donnell was born in Melbourne, Victoria, granddaughter of the proprietors of the famous ‘Mario’s’ restaurant. Forsaking an early journalistic career, Mietta and her partner Tony Knox opened the original ‘Mietta’s restaurant in Fitzroy, Melbourne in the late 1970’s. O’Donnell employed renowned French chefs, such as Jacques Raymond and Pierre Stinzy, and French wines, in a successful attempt to both savour and improve the palate of serious diners, but her own charismatic personality also helped with the particular distinction accorded her restaurant, which was popular in theatre circles.
When the restaurant closed (1995) Mietta and Tony created their own guide to fine dining and drinking throughout Australia, which was published annually, and also produced Mietta’s Italian Family Recipes. Mietta O’Donnell died as the result of a car accident.

O’Driscoll, Martha – (1922 – 1998) 
American actress
Martha O’Driscoll was born (March 4, 1922) in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was performing in public from earliest childhood (1925) making her first stage debut (1932) at the age of ten years. She lied about her age in order to become an actress, and when she made her first film, Collegiate (1935) she was actually only thirteen years old. O’Driscoll rose to become a leading lady of B-grade movies throughout the 1940’s, and retired (1947) after her second marriage with a Chicago businessman.
Other films included Champagne Waltz (1937), The Secret of Dr Kildare (1939), Li’l Abner (1940), Pacific Blackout (1941), My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1942), Crazy House (1943), Follow the Boys (1944), The Daltons Ride Again and House of Dracula (1945) and Down Missouri Way (1946). Her last film was Carnegie Hall (1947). Martha O’Driscoll died (Nov 3, 1998) aged seventy-six, in Ocala, Florida.

Oelfken, Tami – (1888 – 1957)
German novelist, poet, translator and dramatist
Oelfken was born (June 25, 1888) at Blumenthal, near Bremen, and was trained as a schoolteacher. She joined the colony of artists at Worpswede and became involved with the socialist Spartakus League. Oelfken was then appointed as the first official delegate to the first Reich school conference held in Berlin (1921). Tami Oelfken later founded her won socialist school in Berlin, but it was later closed by order of the Nazis (1934). She then emigrated to England (1936) but with the outbreak of WW I she returned and remained hidden with friends throughout the war, because of the Gestapo. She settled in Munich, Bavaria after the war. Oelfken’s works included the novels Peter kann zaubern (Peter Is a Magician) (1932), Die Persianermutze (The Cap out of Persian Lam Skin (1942), Traum am Morgen (Dream in the Morning) (1950). Her collections of short stories included Die Sonnenuhr (The Sun Dial) (1946), Die Penaten (The Penates) (1954) and Italienische Novellen (Italian Short Stories) (1956). Tami Oelfken died (April 7, 1957) aged sixty-eight, in Munich.

Oeillets, Claude de Vin des – (c1637 – 1687)
French courtier
Claude de Vin des Oeillets was born in Provence, the daughter of Nicolas de Vin and his wife Louis Faviot. Madamoiselle des Oeillets came to the court of Versailles where she was appointed to serve as lady-in-waiting to Madame de Montespan, the famous mistress of Louis XIV. Claude also became the king’s mistress briefly and bore him a daughter that he recognized.
This connection protected her during the investigations of the ‘Affair of the Diamond Necklace’ (1679 – 1681). Madamoiselle des Oeillets died (May 18, 1687) in Paris. Her daughter by the king was known as Louise de Maison-Blanche (c1676 – 1718) and became the wife of Bernard de Pres (died 1740), Seigneur de La Queue-les-Yvelines.

Oemler, Marie Conway – (1879 – 1932)
Southern American novelist
Oemler was born in Savannah, Georgia, and produced several popular novels, some of which had particularly southern themes. Her work included Slippy McGee (1917), The Purple Heights (1920), Two Shall Be Born (1922), Johnny Reb (1929) and Flower of Thorn (1931). Marie Oemler died (June 6, 1932) aged fifty-three.

Oenanthe – (c270 – 203 BC)
Greek concubine
Oenanthe was born in Samos, as a widow with several children when she became the mistress (c245 BC) of Ptolemy III (282 – 221 BC), king of Egypt. The father of her children remains unknown, but he was possibly named Agathokles. Her son Agathokles served as priest of Alexander (216 – 215 BC) and was the lover of the king as well. Her daughter, the priestess Agathokleia was mistress to the king’s son Ptolemy IV, and later wet-nurse to the king’s grandson Ptolemy V. Thus this remarkable woman, together with her son and daughter held governmental control in Egypt for over forty years, by managing to cater to the sexual desires of three successive generations of Ptolemaic royalty.
Oenanthe’s children were later intrumental in arranging the deaths of Ptolemy IV and his sister wife Arsinoe III, though her own involvement in these events remains unknown. Soon afterwards Oenanthe attended the aristocratic women’s religious festival, the Thesmophoria in Alexandria (203 BC), she angrily reviled some powerful ladies who had attempted to befriend her. This set off a revolt in the city. Oenanthe was seized by the mob, stripped, and led naked on horseback through the streets before being publicly executed. Her children and other relatives were likewise stripped naked and murdered.

Offaley, Lettice Fitzgerald, Baroness    see    Digby, Lettice

Offreduccio, Ortolana de Fiumi, Contessa dei – (c1175 – 1253)
Italian nun
Ortolana de Fiumi was the wife (c1190) of Faverone Sciffo, Conte dei Offreduccio, and was the mother of four daughters, of whom the two elder were Clara of Assissi, Abbess of San Damiano, and Agnes of Assissi, abbess of Monticelli. Though originally opposed to the religious vocation of her elder daughters, with the death of her husband, the countess became a nun at San Damiano.

Ofku    see   Kasuga

Ogg, Elizabeth    see   Walters, Elizabeth Ogg

Ogg, Margaret Ann – (1863 – 1953)
Australian feminist and reformer
Margaret Ogg was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of a Scottish Presbyterian minister, who provided her with an excellent education. She never married and became early involved with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), becoming a prominent member of the group of women whose work brought about suffrage for women in Queensland (1902). Ogg was the first organizing secretary of the Queensland Women’s Electoral League, a position she filled for almost three decades (1903 – 1930). Though a firm conservative, Ogg campaigned successfully to raise the age of consent between the sexes and the compulsory allocation of a husband’s estate to his widow. She was later appointed as state secretary of the National Council of Women, and contributed articles to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. Margaret Ogg died (May 19, 1953) aged eighty-nine, at Clayfield in Brisbane.

Oghul Qaimach – (c1210 – 1252) 
Mongol empress
Oghul Qaimach the wife of Guyuk, who was elected Great Kahn in Aug, 1246. With his death (1248), the empress ruled as regent for her sons Quoha, Nagu and Qughu. Oghul received the French amabassador, Andrew of Longjumeau, at her capital at Karakorum (1248) when he attempted to gain Mongol support for Louis IX in fighting the Muslims in Palestine. The empress regarded the king’s gifts as those of a vassal to his overlord, but was distracted by dynastic problems. She sent the ambassador home (1252) with a letter which thanked the king for his attentions, and requested that similar gifts be sent annually. The empress proved an incompetent ruler, and amassed great wealth, though she was rumoured to practice sorcery. Due to the conspiracy led by the Mongol viceroy Batu and Princess Sorghaqtani, the widow of Tului, in favour of her sons, Oghul Qaimach was deposed as regent (1251). After a year of civil war she was convicted of sorcery and drowned, whilst her sons were exiled.

Ogiva of England (Eadgifu, Otgiva, Ottogeba) – (c906 – c953)
Queen consort of France (919 – 923)
Princess Ogiva was the daughter of Edward the Elder, Anglo-Saxon king of England (899 – 924) and his second wife Aelfflaed, the daughter of Aetheling Ethelhelm of Wessex, Earl of Wiltshire. She was the full sister of King Aelfweard (924) and half-sister to kings Aethelstan (924 – 939), Edmund I (939 – 946), and Edred (946 – 955). Ogiva became the second wife (919) of Charles III the Simple of France, and was the mother of Louis IV (921 – 954) nicknamed Outremer, whom she later took to the English court for safety, after his father was deposed by Raoul of Burgundy (923). She returned to France after the death of king Raoul (936) and her son Louis IV eventually succeeded as king of France (939).
The Genealogica Arnulfi Comitis named her ‘Otgiva’ and she was later remarried (c951) to Hubert of Vermandois (died 983), Count of Meaux but there were no children of this union. This marriage with one of his vassals angered her son, and he took the abbey of Notre Dame de Laon from her. The chronicler Flodoard recorded her second marriage, referring to the queen as Ottogeba regina, mater Ludowicis regis. Queen Ogiva at the abbey of Notre Dame, at Soissons. She was buried in the Abbey of St Medard at Soissons.

Ogle, Barbarina    see   Dacre, Lady Barbarina

Ogle, Katherine – (1570 – 1629)
English Stuart peeress
Katherine was the daughter of Cuthbert, seventh Baron Ogle (c1540 – 1597) and his wife Catherine Carnaby, the daughter and coheir of Sir Reynold Carnaby, of Halton, Northumberland. She became the second wife of Sir Charles Cavendish (1554 – 1617), of Stoke, Derby, and Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, the son of Bess of Hardwick and stepson of George Talbot, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury. With her father’s death the barony of Ogle fell into abeyance beween Lady Cavendish and her sister Jane Ogle, the wife of Edward Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.
Lady Shrewsbury had petitioned Parliament to be styled Baroness Ogle but the right of succession of women to baronies by writ was not then established. With the countess’s death Lady Cavendish became suo jure Baroness Ogle (Dec, 1625). By letters patent she was declared to be “ Baroness Ogle, of Ogle, co, Northumberland “ with ‘confirmation of the dignity to her and her heirs forever.’ She was the mother of William Cavendish (1593 – 1676), the first Duke of Newcastle and left descendants. Lady Ogle died (April 18, 1629) at Bothal, and was interred at Bolsover.

Oglethorpe, Anne Eleanor – (c1683 – c1774)
English Stuart courtier and Jacobite agent
Anne Oglethorpe was born in London, the eldest daughter of Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe of Westbrook Place, Godalming, in Surrey, and his wife Eleanor Wall of Ireland, and was sister to General James Edward Oglethorpe. With the Revolution of 1688 she and her sisters were sent to France to be educated at the exiled court in St Germain. Well educated and beautiful, she returned to England without a passport (1704) and was detained by the authorities. The ministers of Queen Anne, Francis Godolphin and Sir Robert Harley managed to glean some information from Anne concerning the various correspondents in England of Jacobites abroad. However, her beauty and charm are said to have caused jealousy and disharmony between the two. Miss Oglethorpe was placed before the courts on a charge of converting young women to the Catholic faith, but by order of Queen Anne she was released (1707) and retired to the Jacobite court at St Germain in France.
Anne Oglethorpe is said to have become a prominent figure at St Germain and became the mistress of the Old Pretender, James Edward Francis, which caused Esmond to refer to her grandly as ‘her Oglethorpian majesty.’ Her lover is said to have created her a countess (1722) ‘as a special mark of his Royal favour’ but she long survived this period of prominence, and remained unmarried. Sometime prior to 1736 Anne Oglethorpe returned to England and resided at a town house in Godalming and became deeply involved in various Jacobite plots and conspiracies until at least 1754. She is said to have concealed Bonnie Prince Charlies at Westbrook for a period in 1752. Anne Oglethorpe died aged about ninety, in Paris.

Oglethorpe, Eleanor – (1662 – 1732)
English Stuart courtier
Eleanor Wall was the daughter of Richard Wall, of Tipperary, Ireland. She had been employed as a laundress in ordinary, and seamstress to King Charles II, and had previously been in the employment of his French mistress, Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. Eleanor was married (1680) to Brigadier-General Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe (1650 – 1702), of Westbrook, Godalming, Surrey, to whom she bore a large family of children, including Lewis Oglethorpe (1681 – 1704), who died unmarried of wounds received in battle in Holland, Theophilus Oglethorpe (1682 – c1720), who served as adie-de-camp to the Duke of Ormonde, and died at the Jacobite court at St Germain, and James Edward Oglethorpe (1696 – 1785), styled Lord Oglethorpe by the Jacobites. Jonathon Swift mentions Eleanor often in his Journal to Stella, and she is said to have introduced him to the Duchess of Hamilton. Her daughter, Frances Charlotte Oglethorpe was Lord Bolingbroke’s ‘Fanny Oglethorpe.’ Lady Oglethorpe survived her husband three decades, and died (June 19, 1732) aged sixty.

O’Hara, Anne    see     Martin, Anne Henrietta

O’Hara, Mary    see    Alsop, Mary O’Hara

Ohlgoda   see   Ultrogotha

Oignies, Marie d’ – (1176 – 1213)
Flemish originator of the Beguine movement
Marie d’Oignies was born at Nivelles, Brabant. She was married in her youth, but Marie remained deeply religious by nature, as was her husband, whom she eventually persuaded to turn their home into a hostel for lepers. Her fame spread, and Marie, in the search for privacy for her religious devotions, she entered the Augustinian abbey at Oignies, where she continued to reside for over thirty years until her death, under the spiritual direction of Jacques de Vitry. The Beguin sisterhood were required to take a vow of chastity, and were committed to physical work and active, useful philanthropy amongst the needy. Their mysticism caused the Beguins to be wrongly suspected of heresy because of their association with an extreme group within the Franciscan Order.

Oilly, Edith d’   see   FitzForne, Edith

O’Keeffe, Georgia – (1887 – 1986)
American painter
Georgia O’Keeffe was born (Nov 15, 1887) in Sun Prairie in Wisconsin, the daughter of a farmer. She studied at the Art institute of Chicago and at the universities of Virginia and Columbia. She worked as a freelance artist in Chicago and became an art instructor in Virginia and Columbia. O’Keeffe achieved wide recognition during the 1920’s for her presentation of vivid abstract paintings which included animal bones, flowers, and landscapes.
Her work was exhibited within the USA and abroad and examples are preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Watercolor Society. O’Keeffe later received the gold medal for painting from the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1970) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977). She was married (1924) to the photographer, Alfred Stieglitz (1864 – 1946), whose own work included two sets of four hundred portraits of her. With his death she retired to live in New Mexico. She produced the illustrated autobiography Georgia O’Keeffe (1976).

O’Kelley, Mattie Lou – (1907 – 1997)
American primitive painter and folk-artist
O’Kelley was born in Maysville, Georgia, the daughter of a cotton farmer. She left school very early in order to help support her family. She remained unmarried and with her father’s death (1943) she worked variously as a cook, a waitress and a seamstress. She retired in 1968 and only then began her career as an artist. O’Kelley achieved fame for her sentimental portrayals of rural life in the South. Her works included Bringing in the Night Water and the self-portrait Mattie in the Morning Glories.
Examples of her work are preserved in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and in the American Museum of Folk Art in Manhattan, New York. After achieving national fame in 1975 she was received the Governor’s Award in Art for the state of Georgia (1976). Mattie Lou then resided briefly in Manhattan where she produced urban landscapes, but later moved back to Georgia permanently (1983) and resided in Decatur for the remainder of her life. Mattie Lou O’Kelley died (July 26, 1997) aged eighty-nine, in Decatur.

Okiko    see   Meisho

Oku, Mumeo – (1895 – 1997)
Japanese consumer advocate and pioneer of female suffrage
Mumeo was born in Fukui Prefecture in western Japan, the eldest daughter of a blacksmith. She attended the Japan Women’s university where she first became involved in the campaign for women’s suffrage and was married and had several children. For over two decades (1923 – 1944) she ran an establishment which provided refuge and care for poor women and their children in Tokyo.
When Japanese women received the right to vote and hold public office (1946) Mumeo entered politics and secured a seat in the upper house of Parliament (1947), serving in office for a total of eighteen years (three six year terms). Mrs Oku founded the Housewives’ Association, the first and most prominent consumer advocate group, and remained a prominent figure within the organization. Mumeo Oku died (July 7, 1997) aged one hundred and one, in Tokyo.

Okubo, Mine – (1912 – 2001)
Japanese-American artist
Mine was the daughter of a scholar who had moved to the USA from Japan in 1904. Her mother was a calligrapher. She studied art at the University of California at Berkeley, and later travelled in Europe. Mine was later employed with the Works Progress Administration in San Francisco working with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. However with the attack on Pearl Harbour (1941) she and other US citizens of Japanese descent were sent to internment camps for the duration of WW II.
During this time Mine Okubo was held in a detention camp outside San Francisco and then at the Topaz relocation centre in the desert of Utah (1942 – 1944). She wrote and illustrated the book Citizen 13660 (1946) which detailed her experiences during internment, and which later received the American Book Award from the American Booksellers Association (1984). Some of her two thousand drawings, done in charcoal, watercolour, and pen and ink appeared in the exhibition entitled ‘The View From Within: Japanese Art from the Internment Camps, 1942 – 1945 ’ (1992) which toured the USA and Tokyo. Mine Okubo died aged eighty-eight, in New York.

Okuhara, Seiko – (1837 – 1915)
Japanese painter
Seiko Okuhara was born in Koga, Shimo-osa province. Seiko was instructed in art and painting by Suiseki Hirata, a connection of the powerful koga family. Her later style of painting changed dramatically when she followed the style of her own personal favourite artist, Cheng Pan-chiao. A woman of exceptional athletic and physical prowess, Seiko Okuhara excelled in the use of the indigenous sickle and chain weapon, the kusari-gama. For a period her style of painting was very popular and acclaimed in Edo. Her later years were spent at Kuma-gaya in Saitama.

Olbreuse, Eleonore Desmier d’ – (1639 – 1722)
French-German courtier and duchess consort
Eleonore Desmier d’Olbreuse was born (Jan 3, 1639) at the Chateau d’Olbreuse at d’Usseau, in Poitiers, the daughter of Alexandre Desmier, Marquis d’ Olbreuse. As a young girl she was taken to visit the court of Louis XIV at Versailles and was quickly acknowledged as a beauty. Possessed of a majestic figure, white teeth with dark eyes and hair her career at Versailles was cut short by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes whereby her father, as a Huguenot, had his estates confiscated.
The family left France and sought refuge in Breda in Holland, where Eleonore obtained a post as lady-in-waiting to Princeee Amelie de Tarente. During the winter of (1663 – 1664) Eleonore captivated the attentions of Prince George Wilhelm of Brunswick (1624 – 1705) but she refused to become his mistress. Eleonore and the prince then married morganatically and she became known as Madame von Harburg.
When she was presented at the Hanoverian court she was subjected to slights from her sister-in-law the Duchess Sophia who resented her inferior marriage as a stain on the family coat of arms. As a result Eleonore persuaded George Wilhelm to establish his own court at Celle. Sophia then corresponded with her niece the Duchesse d’Orleans who spread malicious rumours concerning Eleonore and seriously marred her reputation. Her only surviving child was a daughter Sophia Dorothea (1666). When her husband assisted the Emperor Leopold I during a military campaign the grateful emperor created Eleonore the Countess von Wilhelmsburg. When the duke again assisted the emperor with troops his marriage with Eleonore was legalized, their daughter legitimated and Eleonore accorded the legal right to be the duchess consort of Brunswick.
Eleonore had arranged for the marriage of her daughter with Duke August Wilhelm of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel but to her lasting regret, the Duke and Duchess of Hanover convinced the duke of the advantages of marrying his daughter to their son George Ludwig (1682) later George I of England (1714 – 1727). This caused a breach between Eleonore and her husband which was never healed. Through this marriage Eleonore was the maternal grandmother of George II of England, and great-grandmother of Frederick the Great of Prussia. When her daughter was later imprisoned at the Castle of Ahlden after the discovery of her adulterous affair with Count Philip von Konigsmarck (1694), Duchess Eleonore died all in her power to obtain Sophia Dorothea’s release but obtained permission only to visit her. She survived her husband as the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick-Celle (1705 – 1722) and lived permanently at Celle from 1717. She became blind during the last years of her life.
Duchess Eleonore died (Feb 5, 1722) aged eighty-three, at Celle, where she was buried beside her husband. She was officially mourned at the courts of Prussia, Hanover, and England. She was portrayed by Mercia Swinburne in the film Saraband for Dead Lovers (1951) with Joan Greenwood as her daughter and Stewart Grainger as Count Konigsmarck. She appears in the historical novels The Princess of Celle (1967) and Queen in Waiting (1967) by Jean Plaidy.

Oldfield, Anne – (1683 – 1730)
British actress
Anne Oldfield was born in London. Traditionally her talent for acting was discovered by the Irish dramatist George Farquhar, who fell in love with her, and she with him, though the couple were never married. Oldfield was encouraged to take up acting by John Vanbrugh and made her stage debut in London (1700). She received great public acclaim for her talents after Colley Cibber cast her in the role of Lady Betty Modish in The Careless Husband (1704).
Her reputation continued and she eventually took over roles formerly played by Anne Bracegirdle, such as Mrs Millamant in The Way of the World, Lady Townley in the Provok’d Husband and Calista in Fair Penitent, which was written by Nicholas Rowe. At her death she was given burial within the precints of Westminster Abbey, the first actress to ever be so honoured though she received no monument due to the fact that she was the mother of two illegitimate children.

‘Old Demdike’     see    Southern, Elizabeth

Oldi, Contessa    see    Pergami, Angelica

Oldmixon, Lady    see   George, Georgina

Oldofredi-Hager, Julie Marie Christine von - (1813 - 1879)
German poet
Countess Julie von Oldofredi-Hager was born (Feb 8, 1813) at Derbreczin. Her published works included Bluten des Gefuhls (1839) and Gelbe Blatter, Neueste Vermischte Gedichte (1851). Countess von Oldofredi-Hager died (March 4, 1879) aged sixty-six.

Oleron, Agnes d’ – (fl. c1165 – c1180)
French mediaeval heiress
The heir of the fief of Oleron in Aunis, Agnes was married (c1165) Geoffrey III, Seigneur de Pons (c1140 - 1191) and was the mother of Renaud II, Seigneur de Pons, to whom she bequeathed Oleron. Her descendants included Renaud IV and Renaud V, Seigneurs of Pons, who both fell fighting the English at the Battle of Poitiers (1356), and Marie d’Albert, Comtesse de Marsan (1652 – 1692) sometime duchess of Lorraine, the last of Agnes’ line to hold the seigneurie of Pons.

Olga Alexandrovna – (1882 – 1960)
Russian grand duchess
Grand Duchess Olga was born (June 13, 1882) the younger daughter of Tsar Alexander III and his wife Marie Feodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark). Her first marriage (1901) to Duke Peter Freidrich George of Oldenburg (1868 – 1924) ended in divorce (1916), and she secretly remarried to Colonel Nikolai Koulikovsky (1881 – 1958), to whom she bore two sons, though the marriage was not publicly recognized until after the death of her mother, the empress dowager (1928).
With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution (1917), Olga remained with her mother, husband and children, in the Crimea. They were rescued by a British warship sent by George V (19190 and then resided with her mother in Copenhagen. She met Anna Anderson (1925) who claimed to be her niece Grand Duchess Anastasia but pronounced her false. With her mother’s death Olga and her family lived quietly in Denmark until 1948 when they removed to live on a farm outside Ontario in Canada. There Olga lived in peaceful security, writing her memoirs in exile with the assistance of the Canadian writer Ian Vorres.
During the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (1959) Olga dined with the royal couple aboard the royal yacht Britannia. The following year she became ill and went to reside with Russian friends in Toronto. She died there (Nov 24, 1960) aged seventy-eight.

Olga Feodorovna – (1839 – 1891)
Russian Romanov Grand duchess
HGDH (Her Grand Ducal Highness) Princess Cacilia Augusta of Baden was born (Sept 20, 1839) at Karlsruhe, the second daughter of Grand Duke Leopold II of Baden and his wife Sophia Wilhelmina Vasa, Princess of Sweden, the daughter of Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden (1792 – 1809). She was the sister of Grand Duke Friedrich I (1856 – 1907) who married Princess Louise of Prussia, the sister of Kaiser Friedrich III (1888) and was aunt to Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888 – 1918).
Princess Cacilia Augusta was married (1857) to Grand Duke Mikhail Nicolaievitch Romanov (1832 – 1909), the youngest son of Tsar Nicholas I (1825 – 1855). She converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and became HIH (Her Imperial Highness) Grand Duchess Olga Feodorvna (1857 – 1891). Grand Duchess Olga died (April 12, 1891) at Charkow. Her children were,

• Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch of Russia (1859 – 1919). He achieved recognition as an historian and died unmarried.
• Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (1860 – 1922). She became the wife of Friedrich Franz III (1851 – 1897), Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and left issue.
• Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovitch of Russia (1861 – 1929). He was married morganatically to Sophia von Merenburg, Countess de Torby, and left issue.
• Grand Duke George Mikhailovitch of Russia (1863 – 1919). He was married to Princess Marie of Greece, the daughter of King Giorgis I, and left issue. He was killed during the Revolution.
• Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovitch of Russia (1866 – 1933). He was married to Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, the elder daughter of Tsar Alexander III, and left issue.
• Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovitch of Russia (1869 – 1918). He remained unmarried and was killed during the Revolution.
• Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovitch of Russia (1875 – 1895). He died unmarried.

Olga Konstantinovna – (1851 – 1926)
Queen consort of Greece (1867 – 1913) and Regent (1920)
Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna was born in Pavlovsk (Aug 22, 1851), the daughter of the Grand Duke Konstantine Nikolaievitch and his wife Alexandra, the daughter of Joseph I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Amalia of Wurttemburg. Olga was married (1867) in the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, to King Giorgios I of Greece (1845 – 1913) (formerly Prince William of Denmark) and bore him several children, including King Konstantinos I (1868 – 1923).
The marriage had been arranged by the Russians and originally Giorgios had considered marriage with her elder younger sister Grand Duchess Vera. However after meeting Olga his choice was confirmed by mutual attraction. An affectionate and delightful woman she was much loved by the younger members of the Briitsh royal family and by Queen Victoria who recorded in a letter to her daughter, Crown Princess Fredrick “ How charming Olga of Greece is ! so handsome & so dear & charming. She has none of the bourgeoiserie of the rest of the Russian family, even including our dear excellent Marie (the Duchess of Edinburgh). “
Her husband was assassinated in the street (1913) and she survived him as Queen Dowager (1913 – 1926). During WW I (1914 – 1917) the queen mother established a military hospital near Tsarkoe-Selo in Russia but when the situation became dangerous for member of the imperial family her removal to safety was organized through the intervention of the Danish Embassy in St Petersburg. Suffering from ill-health, after an adventurous journey in a train full of repatriated German prisoners of war, the queen mother retired to Switzerland where other family members had found refuge. When her grandson Alexandros I was dying (1920) his mother Queen Sophia was refused permission to visit him. Eventually, bowing to public criticism, the authorities gave permission for Queen Olga to visit her grandson. Unfortunately her ship was delayed by contrary weather and she arrived in Greece several hours after his death.
Elections forced the Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos into exile and Olga’s son Constantine was recalled from exile as king. Queen Olga ruled Greece as regent (Oct – Nov, 1920) until her son arrived in Greece to take up his former throne. When the family was again forced into exile (1922) the queen mother retired to Rome to reside with her son Prince Christopher at his estate the Villa Anastasia.
Queen Olga died (June 18, 1926) aged seventy-four, at Pau in Navarre. She was interred in the Russian Orthodox Church in Florence, Italy. When the Greek monarchy was later restored (1935) Olga was given a joint state funeral with her son Constantine and his wife Sophia in Athens, and they were reinterred at Tatoi. Her children were,

• Constantine I (1868 – 1923). He ruled twice as King of Greece 91913 – 1917) and (1920 – 1922) and died in exile. He married Princess Sophia of Prussia (1870 – 1932), the sister of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888 – 1918) and the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and left issue.
• Prince Giorgios of Greece (1869 – 1957). He was married to Princess Marie de Bonaparte.
• Princess Alexandra of Greece (1870 – 1891). She became the first wife of the Roman Grand Duke Paul of Russia (1860 – 1919) and left issue.
• Prince Nicholas of Greece (1872 – 1938). He married the Romanov Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia (1882 – 1957) and left issue.
• Princess Marie of Greece (1876 – 1940). She was married to the Romanov Grand Duke George of Russia (1863 – 1919).
• Princess Olga of Greece (born & died 1881). She died an infant.
• Prince Christopher of Greece (1888 – 1940). He married twice.

Olga of Greece – (1903 – 1997)
Princess
Princess Olga was born (June 11, 1903) at the Tatoi Palace, Athens, the eldest daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece, and his wife Helena Vladimirovna, Grand duchess of Russia. She bore the additional title of Princess of Denmark and was the granddaughter of King Giorgios I (1863 – 1913) (formerly Prince William of Denmark) and his Russian wife Olga Konstantinovna Romanovna. Olga was the elder sister of Marina, Duchess of Kent and aunt to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
A famously gorgeous beauty, she was married (1923) in Belgrade, to Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (1893 – 1976) to whom she bore three children. During the period of her husband’s regency in Yugoslavia for his nephew Peter II (1934 – 1941) Princess Olga was the first lady of the court, and performed the duties usually the prerogative of the queen consort. WW II caused the royal family to flee the country and they settled in exile in South Africa. Her younger son Nikola was killed in a car accident at Datchet, near Windsor (1954).
When Greece became a Republic her royal titles were no longer recognized in Greece (1975) but she retained her royal rank in the world as a Princess of Denmark. Widowed in 1976, Olga spent her widowhood in Paris. Bowed with old age and illness she had retired from the public eye long before her death. Her daughter Princess Elisabeth of Yugoslavia (born 1936) married three times, and Olga became the grandmother of American actress Catherine Oxenberg (born 1961). Princess Olga died (Oct 16, 1997) aged ninety-four.

Olga of Izborsk – (896 – 969)
Russian princess, ruler and saint
Olga of Izborsk was born in Pskov and became the wife of Prince Igor of Kiev, of Varangarian origins. Her husband was murdered in 945, and Olga caused his murderes to be scalded to death and hundred of their followers to be killed. Olga then ruled Russia as regent for their son Svyatoslav Igorivich (945 – 964), becoming the first female ruler in Russian history. Olga was also the first member of the Russian ruling house to adopt the Christian religion, receiving baptism during a sojourn at the Byzantine court (956). Her son did not follow the new religion, but her grandson, St Vladimir I would continue with the successful Christianization of Russia. She died (July 11, 969) at Kiev and was later canonized (July 11) becoming the earliest saint of the Russian Orthodox calendar.

Olga Yurieva – (c1134 – 1181)
Russian princess
Princess Olga Yurieva was the daughter of Yuri I Dolgoruky, Prince of Rostov and Suzdal, and his first wife, the daughter of Aepa, Khan of the Kumans. Renowned for her interest in books and scholarly pursuits, she was married (1150) to Jaroslav Omomysl (Jaroslav Vladimirkovich) (c1132 – 1187), Prince of Galicia (1153 – 1187), who later divorced her after a marriage of twenty years (1172). Olga died (July 14, 1181) aged in her late forties.

Oliphant, Carolina      see     Nairne, Carolina Oliphant, Lady

Oliphant, Margaret – (1828 – 1897)
Scottish novelist and writer
She was born Margaret Oliphant Wilson (April 4, 1828) in Wallyford, Midlothian, she was the daughter of a customs house official. She later removed to reside in England with her mother (1838). She was married to her cousin, the artist Francis Oliphant, whose early death (1859) necessitated her need to provide for her family financially. Oliphant’s first published work was Passages in the Life of Mrs Margaret Maitland (1849). She wrote over one hundred novels, and began her five decade association with the publishers of Blackwood’s Magazine in 1851.
Her best remembered works was the group of novels known as The Chronicles of Carlingford, which consisted of The Rector and the Doctor’s Family (1863), Salem Chapel (1863), The Perpetual Curate (1864), Miss Majoribanks (1866) and Phoebe Junior (1876). Margaret Oliphant also wrote popular novels which dealt particularly with Scottish life such as The Minister’s Wife (1869) and Kirsteen (1890). She produced biographies, novels, translations, travel books, and collection of supernatural tales, and was awarded a pension from the Civil List in recognition of her literary work (1868). Margaret Oliphant died (June 25, 1897) aged sixty-nine.

Oliva, Baronne d’  see  Leguay de Signy, Marie Nicole

Olive of Cumberland     see     Serres, Olivia Wilmot

Olive of Palermo – (fl. c850 – c900)
Italian Christian martyr
Olive was a native of Palermo and a member of a noble family. According to her Vitae, now regarded as fictitious, she was captured by Moslem slave traders and taken to Tunis in Africa. She was permitted to reside in a cave for some time as a religious ascetic but when it was found that she had converted some Muslims to Christianity she was arrested and imprisoned. Olive was subjected to various forms of torture and converted the guards sent to burn her to death. She was finally beheaded and revered as a saint. Her feast was observed (June 10).

Oliveira, Sophie Marcondes de Mello – (1897 – 1980)
Brazilian pianist and composer
Oliveira was born at Guaratingueta, and studied piano at the Luigi Chiafarelli School in Sao Paolo with Victoria Pinto Serva Pimenta. She later studied composition and harmony under the guidance of Arthur Pereira, and produced chamber and sacred music, songs, and pieces for the piano. Sophie de Mello Oliveira died (Dec 16, 1980) aged eighty-three, in Sao Paulo.

Oliver, Clare – (1981 – 2007)
Australian anti-solarium campaigner
Clare Oliver was born (Aug 25, 1981) and studied the media at university. Prior to being hired by the SBS television station, a health check revealed that she was suffering from a dangerous melanoma which would take her life. Oliver gained media coverage by announcing her condition in an open letter to the television press, and which condition had been connected by physicians to Oliver’s use of solariums in order to gain a summer tan.
As her condition continued to deteriorate, she continued to campaign publicly for stronger and specific regulations to govern the use of solariums, and that the public be fully apprised of the risks involved. Clare Oliver died (Sept 13, 2007) aged twenty-six, at Kew, Melbourne, Victoria. The Clare Oliver Melanoma Fund was established in her memory (2008), and the Cancer Council Australia instituted strict new rules concerning sunbed and tanning procedures in 2009.

Oliver, Grace Atkinson – (1844 – 1899)
American biographer
Grace Oliver was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Oliver  is remembered for her lives of several British literary figures such as Life and Work of Anna L. Barbauld (1873), A Study of Maria Edgeworth (1882) the famous poet, and of the noted clergyman and writer and Dean of Westminster, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1885) who was highly regarded by Queen Victoria.

Oliver, Maggie – (1844 – 1892)
Australian actress
Oliver was born in Sydney, New South Wales. She became a popular character actress at the Theatre Royal, and played the principal male impersonation roles in pantomimes. Maggie was particularly acclaimed for her presentation of traditional Irish comic roles, her own favourite being that of Paddy Miles in, The Limerick Boy, whilst she was much admired in the role of the male villain in Babes in the Wood (1879). Other stage credits included Aladdin, Hey Diddle Diddle, The Four Knaves, The Woman in Red, and Beauty and the Beast. She retired in 1888. Maggie Oliver died (May 21, 1892) in Sydney.

Oliveria Grebelyanova – (c1375 – after 1443)
Serbian princess
Oliveria was the daughter of Lazar I Grebelyanovic, king of Serbia and his wife Militsa of Vratko. With the defeat of Serbia by the Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire, her father was killed (1389), and Oliveria was taken into the harem of the sultan Bayezit I (1389 – 1402). Her marriage was arranged by her mother Queen Militsa (Jelena) when she accepted suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire after her husband’s death at the battle of Kossovo. Her marriage with ‘Baiaziti’ was recorded by the Historia Byzantina of Michaelis Ducae Nepotis. Princess Oliveria was still living at the sultan’s court over fifty years later (1443).

Olivia of Brescia – (c100 – c130 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
A native of the city of Brescia, Olivia was tortured and put to death during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. For many centuries her relics were kept in the Church of St Afra in Brescia. The church venerated her memory (March 5).

Olivier, Lady      see     Leigh, Vivien

Oljei, Khutugh    see   Qi

Olonne, Catherine Henriette de La Loupe, Comtesse d’ – (1634 – 1715)
French courtier
The younger sister of Madeleine, Duchess de La Ferte (1629 – 1714) she became the wife of Louis de La Tremoille-Royan (1626 – 1686), Comte d’Olonne. As a young woman the comtesse attended the precieuse salon of the Marquise de Rambouillet. The comtesse attended the court of Louis XIV at Versailles and was a member of the coterie which surrounded Madame de Montespan. She remained untouched by involvement on the infamous ‘Affair of the Poisons’ and with the rise of Madame de Maintenon converted to the more dignified and religious mode of life instituted at the court. Like her sister she had led a rather riotous life and as an old woman, worrying that her sins may prove her undoing she decided that her servants should fast for her. She was mentioned in the Memoires of the Duc de Saint-Simon.

Olson, Alice Wicks – (1916 – 1993)
American drug activist
Alice Olson worked tirelessly and successfully to campaign for an official enquiry, which revealed that her husband had committed suicide (1953) as the result of a government test. Alice Wicks Olson died (Aug 19, 1993) at Frederick, Maryland.

Olsson, Hagar – (1893 – 1978)
Swedish novelist, dramatist and poet
Olsson was born (Sept 16, 1893) in Gustavs, the daughter of a minister and attended school in Viborg. She later became a journalist and a friend to the contemporary writer Edith Sodergran. Olssen’s work was possessed of a mystical, ethereal quality, and her first published novel Lars Thorman och doden (Lars Thorman and Death) (1916) dealt with the theme of Buddhism. This was followed by the collection of short stories Sjalarnas ansikten (The Faces of the Souls) (1917).
Her own essays and other works were published in Ny generation (My Generation) (1925). Olsson’s plays were published in the collective work Tidig dramatik (Early Plays) (1962). Her most critical work was the play Lumisota (The Snowball War) (1939) which was written in Finnish, which questioned contemporary foreign policy, which was banned. Hagar Olsson died (Feb 27, 1978) aged eighty-four, in Helsinki, Finland.

Olszewska, Maria - (1892 - 1969)
German soprano
Maria Berchtenbreitner was born (Aug 12, 1892) at Ludwigsschwaige, near Donauworth. Once established as a world rekonowned operatic performer Madame Olszewska was particularly admired in Wagnerian roles. She performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1932 - 1935) and later taught at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1947. Maria Olszewska died (May 17, 1969) aged seventy-six, at Klagenfurt.

Olympia of Larissa – (c285 – 259 BC)
Greek queen consort
Olympia was born in Thessaly, the daughter of a tribal prince. She was married (c269 BC) to Demetrius the Fair (c285 – 255 BC), King of Macedonia and of Kyrene. Queen Olympia was the mother of King Antigonos III Doson (c265 – 221 BC), and died during his early childhood.

Olympias – (fl. c408 – 431 AD)
Byzantine courtier and religious supporter
Olympias was mentioned in the Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum as ‘donna Olympias’ and was a member of the court of the Emperor Theodosius II and his sister Pulcheria. She was possessed of considerable influence in court circles. She was bribed by Bishop Cyril of Alexandria to support his interests at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD).

Olympias of Armenia – (c333 – c359 AD)
Roman-Greek queen consort
Olympias was the daughter of Flavius Ablabius, the powerful Roman praetorian prefect (326 – 337 AD) under the emperor Constantine I. Olympias was originally betrothed to Constans, son of Constantine I, but with the emperor’s death, his successor caused Ablabius to be put to death.Emperor Constans appears to have watched over her affairs until his death (350 AD) but it remains unlikley that he married Olympias. Constantius II caused her to be married (c354 AD) to King Arshak II of Armenia (c325 – 367 AD), to whom she bore several sons including King Arshak III (c355 – 389 AD). Olympias was rumoured to have been poisoned at the behest of an anti-Roman faction at her husband’s court led by Queen Pharandzem and was mentioned by Faustus of Byzantium in his History of Armenia.

Olympias of Epirus (1) – (c375 – 316 BC)
Queen of Macedonia
Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus I, King of Epirus and was niece to King Arrybas. Originally named Myrtale, she had served as a temple priestess before she was married to Philip II, king of Macedonia (382 – 336 BC). Adopting the name of Olympias at her marriage (357 BC), she became the mother of Alexander III the Great and of his sister Kleopatra, the wife of Alexander II of Epirus.
Olympias remained Philip’s principal wife despite his other marriages, and Phili recognized her as such until 337 BC. Her royal status was made more significant that any of Philip’s other wives, but this may have been due to her own determined character Famous for her ruthlessness and cunning, despite her beauty, her husband seems to have feared her. With his marriage with Kleopatra, Olympias and Alexander left the Macedonian court, and her son escorted her to Epirus. When Philip was assasinated at Pella (336 BC), an event that Olympias may have been privy too, she quickly removed his widow, Kleopatra and her infant children, an action which was abhorred by Alexander, in whose interests she had removed them.
With her son’s departure for his invasion of Asia, he appointed Antipater as regent, but he and Olympias quarrelled repeatedly. She then retired to Epirus which she ruled after the death of her brother Alexander I (330 BC). With Alexander’s death (323 BC) Olympias was grief-stricken, but intrigued to secure the throne for her grandson, Alexander IV, the son of the Persian princess, Roxana. She invited back to Macedonia and was officially installed as regent for her grandson (317 BC).
Soon afterwards Kassander, the son of Antipater, established her stepson Philip III as king, and the co-regent Polyperchon called on Olympias to protect her grandson’s tights to the succession. She invaded Macedonia with her cousin Aeacides of Epirus, and the Macedonian soldiers refused to fight against her, so she gained control of the kingdom. She murdered Kassander’s brother Nikanor and many of his friends, and had Philip III and his sister-wife Eurydice killed. Kassander then returned with an army and besieged the queen mother in the fortress of Pydna. Olympias was forced to surrender, but the soldiers sent to kill her refused to carry out the task, and she was eventually killed by relatives of those she had murdered.

Olympias of Epirus (2) – (c295 – 232 BC)
Greek queen, heiress and regent
Olympias was the daughter of King Pyrrhos I, and his first wife Antigone of Thrace, the stepdaughter of Ptolemy I of Egypt. She was married (c279 BC) to her younger half-brother, King Alexander I (291 – c240 BC) and the couple had an only child Phthia, later wife of Demetrius II of Macedonia. When Alexander and Olympias succeeded to the throne (272 BC), their elder brother Ptolemaeus died the same year and left an infant son, Pyrrhos. Alexander took the throne and the responsibility for the government, and he and Olympias then adopted Pyrrhos as their son and heir, making him joint-ruler with Alexander. However Pyrrhus II then died shortly before Alexander himself.
Queen Olympias later ruled Epirus as regent for her adoptive grandson, the infant King Ptolemaeus (c240 – 232 BC), and the Roman poet Ovid recorded that Olympias was reputed to have had the boy poisoned in order to retain the government herself. When the Aeolians tried to acquire Epirote Akarnania, the queen appealed to Demetrius II of Macedonia for help, offerring him her daughter Phthia as a bride. However after a few years the consitution broke down and the Epirote population desired a republic. Civil war broke out between the two factions, and the Aetolians supported the revolution. The child king was killed and the queen mother died soon afterwards, her death narrowly preceeding the end of the dynasty.

Olympias of Judaea – (fl. c30 – c5 BC)
Idumaean princess
Olympias was the daughter of Herod I the Great, and his wife Malthake of Samaria, and was the full sister of Herod II Antipas (died 39 AD), king of Judaea, the husband of Herodias and stepfather of Salome of biblical fame. The princess became an instrument in the many interdynastic marriages engineered by Herod within his large family, when he caused Olympias to be married (c15 BC) to her first cousin, Prince Joseph (died c5 BC). She was the daughter of Mariamne (died c40 AD) who was the first wife of Herod (c15 BC – 48 AD), King of Chalcis. Herod of Chalcis’ second wife was the famous Queen Berenike, who was later the mistress of the Roman emperor Titus (79 – 81 AD).

O’Malley, Grace (Graine Mhaol) – (c1530 – c1600)
Irish clan leader and pirate
Grace O’Malley was the daughter of Dubhdara O’Malley of Western Connaught. She was married firstly to the clan chief O’Flaherty, to whom she bore two children, and secondly to Sir Richard Burke, of Mayo. Grace O’Malley played an important role in the struggle of the Irish clans against the forces of English authority, and achieved a lasting reputation as a female pirate. However, she later surrendered to the English (1580), and many of her supporters were put to death. Her second husband was also forced to submit, after being starved into submission, and her eldest son, Owen O’Flaherty was then killed in an uprising (1586). Grace was only spared execution because of the intervention of her stepson on her behalf, and she was famously interviewed by Queen Elizabeth herself. Though her sons took the bit and remained increasingly loyal to the English, Grace continued to be involved in piracy and raiding parties, and the governor of Connaught considered her to be the main instigator of Irish subversion in the area until her death.

O’Malley, Mary Dolling Sanders, Lady    see   Bridge, Ann

Oman, Carola Mary Anima – (1897 – 1978)
British author
The wife of Sir Gerald Lenanton (1896 – 1952), she produced many biographies of famous persons, such as Queen Henrietta Maria, Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III, Lord Nelson, Sir John Moore, the dramatist and theatrical manager David Garrick, and Queen Mary Beatrice, the wife of James II.

Onassis, Athina     see     Livanos, Tina

Onassis, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (‘Jackie O’) – (1929 – 1994)
American First Lady and socialite
Born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (July 28, 1929) in Southampton, New York, she was employed as a photographer for the Washington Times-Herald before her marriage with politician John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1953). During the period of her husband’s presidency (1961 – 1963), Mrs Kennedy supervised the redecoration of the White House and was viewed as a fashion icon, young women all the world over copying her, she being especially known for making popular white gloves, low-heeled shoes and pillbox hats.
With the assassination of her husband (1963) Mrs Kennedy and her children retired to private life. She remarried the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (1968) though her relations with her stepchildren, Alexander and Christina, were not always friendly. She became a fixture of jet-set society, being popularly known as ‘Jackie O.’ After the death of Onassis (1975) Jackie was employed with Viking Publications (1975 – 1977) and then became an editor with the prestigious Doubleday and Co (1978 – 1982). Jackie Onassis died (May 19, 1994).

O’Neale, Peggy      see     Eaton, Peggy O’Neale

Oneca Rebelle   see   Urraca of Sanguesa

O’Neil, Nance – (1874 – 1965)
American stage and film actress
Born Gertrude Lamson (Oct 8, 1874) in Oakland, California, she was the daughter of an auctioneer. She left her disapproving father and became determined on a stage career. Tall and statuesque she appeared in such plays as Ned McCobb’s Daughter and The Big Fight with Jack Dempsey. She performed the works of William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen in Boston, Massachusetts and appeared with much acclaim in the title role of Leah, the Forsaken (1906) originally performed by soprano Adelaide Ristori.
O’Neil then appeared in several silent films such as The Kreutzer Sonata (1915) and also made appearances in sound films such as Cimarron (1930), Royal Bed (1930), and Transgression (1931). She was famous for her friendship with the former suspected murderess Lizzie Borden in Boston (1904 – 1906) but the exact nature of their relationship remains open to question. Nance O’Neil died (Feb 7, 1965) aged ninety, in Englewood, New Jersey.

O’Neill, Eliza (Lady Wrixon-Becher) – (1791 – 1872)
Irish actress
Eliza O’Neill was the daughter of a minor actor, and made her first stage appearance as a child at the Drogheda Theatre. Eliza performed for several years in Belfast and Dublin, receiving popular acclaim in roles such as Juliet and Jane Shore, and was acclaimed as Ellen in a version of Lady of the Lake. Eliza O’Neill successfully appeared at Covent Garden as Juliet to Conway’s Romeo (Oct, 1814), being favourably compared to Sarah Siddons, and for five years was a reigning favourite at the theatre, performing by tragedy and comic roles such as Lady Teazle, Lady Townley and Widow Cheerly. Eliza retired (1819) and married Sir William Wrixon-Becher, the Irish Member of Parliament for Mallow.

O’Neill, Maire – (1887 – 1952)
Irish actress
Originally named Molly Allgood, she was sister to actress Sara Allgood, andwas born at Drumcondra in Dublin. Molly O’Neill began her acting career at the Abbey Theatre (1905), and performed the role of Pegeen Mike in the play by John Synge The Playboy of the Western World. He wrote Deirdre of the Sorrows especially for her. O’Neill was married firstly to G.H. Mair, the drama critic of the Manchester Guardian newspaper, and secondly (1926), to Arthur Sinclair, with whom she joined in a famous theatrical partnership, the couple touring Ireland and the USA. This marriage ended in divorce. Though she was especially remembered for her performance of the dramatist Sean O’Casey (1884 – 1964), the latter part of her career consisted mainly of small parts.

O’Neill, Margaret Moffett – (1900 – 1975)
American educator
Margaret O’Neill graduated from the Women’s College, University of Delaware (1922), and spent an impressive career over four decades as a teacher at Smyrna High School, Delaware. Margaret O’Neill was appointed principal of Smyrna (1951), the first woman in her state to ever fill such a position, and later served as president of the state board association. Appointed the Delaware delegate to the White House Conference on Children and Youth, an on the National Commission on Human Rights. She was honoured in Delware as ‘Mother of the Year’ (1964).

O' Neill, Rose - (c1636 - c1689)
Irish heiress
Rose O'Neill was the daughter of Sir Henry O'Neill of Shane's Castle, or Edenduffcarrick, and his wife Martha Stafford, the daughter of Sir Francis Stafford, Governor of Ulster. Sir Henry left only five daughters, but four of them being mentally deficient, he entailed his estates (Sept 13, 1637), including that of Shane's Castle in Antrim, upon Rose.
Sometime prior to (March 20, 1656) Rose was married to Randal MacDonell (1609 - 1682), the first Marquess of Antrim. Lady Antrim retained possession of her father's estates and lands all of her life. Only at her death did these properties pass to her cousin and male heir, Colonel Cormac O' Neill.
Left a childless widow (Feb 3, 1682), Lady Antrim was still living (Jan 4, 1689) when a letter of that date, written by Lady Chaworth, recorded that '' Mons Schomberg's marriage to the widow Lady Antrim is great town talk." The Schomberg suitor recorded by Lady Chaworth was Charles (1645 - 1693), later second Duke of Schomberg (1690) who later died from wounds recieved in the battle of Marsaglia, but this proposed marriage never took place, probably because of Lady Rose's death.

O’Neill, Rose Cecil – (1874 – 1944)
American author, illustrator and inventor
Rose O’Neill was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and her married name was Wilson. O’Neill wrote The Loves of Edwy (1904) and The Lady in the White Veil (1909), as well as a collection of poems The Master-Mistress (1922). Rose was the inventor of the world famous ‘kewpie’ dolls. Rose O’Neill died (April 7, 1944) aged sixty-nine.

Ones, Beatriz – (c1549 – 1574)
Spanish nun
Sometimes called Beatrice of the Incarnation, Beatriz Ones was born into a patrician family in Arroyo, near Santa Gadea in Castile. She was professed in the Carmelite convent in Vallodolid (1570), taking the religious name of Teresa. Beatriz prayed for the souls of two vicious killers, who had been burnt alive. When she was afflicted with stomach pains that lasted till her death, she took this as a vindication that her prayers on their behalf had been answered. Beatriz Ones died young and was immediately venerated as a saint (May 5).

Onians, Edith Charlotte – (1866 – 1955)
Australian welfare worker
Edith Onians was born in Lancefield, Victoria and was educated at a boarding school in St Kilda, Melbourne. She taught Sunday school and never married. With the death of her father (1906) she was left provided with an independent income. It was through the participation of several member of the Sunday school class that she was able to establish her City Newsboys’ Clubs, which led to the establishment of workshops and recreational activities for poor boys. The majority of these came to sell papers after school of worked in the city as messenger boys.
Onians was greatly influenced in her outlook by the theories of child development favoured the time. She gained the approval and assistance of Lady Clarke and Onians travelled to London where she explained her success before the Imperial Health Conference (1914). With the enforcement of school attendance, Onians became closer involved with the affairs of the Children’s Court and was appointed a justice of the peace (1927). She was appointed vice-president of the Victorian Council for Mental Hygiene and of the Vocational Guidance Centre. Sir Keith Murdoch, father of newspaper and media entrepeneur Rupert Murdoch proved one of her most generous patrons.
Miss Onians was the author of Men of Tomorrow (1914), a description of her travels in Europe and the USA, and her memoirs Read About It (1953). Edith Onians died (Aug 16, 1955) aged eighty-nine, at Highbury.

Onions, Amy Roberta    see   Ruck, Berta

Ono no Komachi – (c810 – c880)
Japanese poet
Ono no Komachi was born in Kyoto, the daughter of Ono-no-Takamura. A great beauty she was attached to the Imperial court where she served the wives of the emperors Nimmyo and Montoku and had probably retired from court by 867. She was best known as an exponent of the classical poetic form known as the tanka, and wrote her verses in a rare form of Japanese vernacular. She achieved lasting literary fame in her homeland being revered as one of the Six Poetic Geniuses.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal Moongalba    see   Noonuccal Moongalba, Oodgeroo

Oosten, Gertrude van – (c1305 – 1358)
Flemish beguine, mystic and saint
Gertrude was born in Voorbuch, and worked as a domestic servant before enjoining herself to a life of religious contemplation and chastity in Delft. Gertrude suffered from visitations of the stigmata for almost two decades, and attracted enormous crowds of pilgrims, who sought her out on account of her holiness and ascetism. Such was her fame that it interfered with her desire for solitude and prayer. Gertrude van Oosten was venerated as a saint (Jan 6). She was sometimes known as ‘Gertrude of Delft.’

Oosterwyck, Maria van – (1630 – 1693)
Dutch painter
Maria van Oosterwyck was the daughter of a Protestant clergyman and was trained as an artist from childhood. According to tradition she is said to have chosen to remain unmarried so that nothing would interfere with her painting career, and even gave lessons to her servants. Oosterwyck produced mainly flower paintintgs and still-life such as Vanities (1668), but much of her work has not survived.

Openshaw, Mary   see   Binstead, Mary

Opimia – (c240 – 216 BC)
Roman Vestal priestess
Opimia and her fellow Vestal Floronia were made the public scapegoats for the Roman army’s disastrous defeat at Cannae. Both were accused of unchastity, found guilty, and were condemned to the traditional punishment of being buried alive. One of them committed suicide to evade the more awful fate.

Opoea – (fl. c450 BC)
Scythian queen
Opoea was married firstly to King Ariapeithes, who ruled Scythia about the time of the visit of the Greek chronicler Herodotus to Olbia. His agent Tymnes procured information for him concerning the royal house. Queen Opoea was one of the king’s three wives, being a native Scythian. When her husband was killed by Spargapeithes, king of the Agathyrsi, her stepson King Skylas married Opoea, as means of consolidating his position on the throne. She became the mother of his son Oricus.

Opo-olu – (c1780 – before 1845)
Queen mother of Lagos in Nigeria
Opo-olu was the sister of King Eshilokun of Lagos (1821 – 1833), their mother being a native of the province of Ijebu. She was installed in the position of queen mother (Iya Oba) and raised her stepson Kosoko, whose own mother had died young, and backed his scheme to gain the throne of Lagos over a period of several decades. An extremely rich woman who owned over one thousand slaves, Kosoko’s political opponent, the Prime Minister Eletu Odibo, accused the queen mother of encompassing the deaths of several of his children using witchcraft, though she was officially declared innocent of these crimes. Queen Opo-olu financially aided Kosoko’s abortive 1835 rebellion, whilst a second failed coup (1836) saw the queen mother driven into exile. This second conflict was popularly known as ‘Opo-olu’s War.’ She died in exile.

Oppia – (c510 – 483 BC) 
Roman priestess
Livy recorded in his Early History of Rome that the Vestal Oppia was condemned and buried alive after a series of occurrences after the resumption of the Roman war with the Veii and the Voluscians seemed to portend disaster. Soothsayers decried that the Romans had incurred the wrath of the gods because of the improper observance of religious ceremonies.

Opportuna – (c727 – 770)
Carolingian nun and saint
Opportuna was the sister of St Chrodegang, Bishop of Seez, and the niece of Lantilda, abbess of Almeneches. Opportuna became a nun and abbess of Montreuil, near Almeneches. Opportuna was closely attached to her brother, and when he was murdered by a rival whilst travelling to visit her (769), she caused him to be interred within her abbey at Montreuil, not without some opposition from their aunt, who also wished her nephew’s relics to enrich her own establishment. Her Life was written by St Aldhelm in the ninth century and is praised in the Acts of St Chrodegang. The church honoured her as a saint (April 22) and she was the patron saint of Paris and Almeneches.

Orbera i Carrion, Maria – (1829 – after 1882)
Spanish educator and author
Maria Orbera was born in Valencia and trained as a schoolteacher, being appointed to run the Escuela Practica de la Normal de Maestros in Valencia (1866). Her work included La jouen bien educada (The well-mannered girl) (1875) and Nociones de historia de Espana (Notions of the history of Spain (1878), which she later rewrote (1882). Maria also wrote articles for several magazines and periodicals in Madrid such as La estrella and Los ninos. She is said to have composed a sonnet and an ode, which were published in the Album that the poets of Valencia dedicated to St Vincent Ferrer (1855) to celebrate the fourth centenary of his canonization.

Orbiana Augusta      see     Barbia Orbiana, Gnaea Seia Herennia Sallustia

Orbilla – (c702 – 760)
Irish nun and saint
Orbilla was born in Scotland and was a relative of Archbishop abel of Rheims. She became a nun at the abbey of Fochard in Ireland under Abbess Morwenna. For a time Orbilla succeeded Modwenna at Fochard, but eventually her kinsmen, Archbishop abel, summoned her to France, where she was appointed to rule as abbess over a community of nuns at Rheims. Revered as a saint, her feast was observed annually (Jan 2).

Orbinia – (c500 – 472 BC)
Roman priestess
Orbinia was born into the noble Orbinii gens, she was devoted to the service of the goddess Vesta during the Republican period. She was later convicted of unchastity, though the exact details remain unrecorded, and was buried alive.

Orchard, Mary – (1830 – 1906)
British governess
Mrs Orchard served at the court of Darmstadt in Hesse as the governess to the princesses Elisabeth and Alexandra, the daughters of Grand Duke Ludwig IV and his wife Alice, the second daughter of Queen Victoria.

Orcutt, Maureen – (1907 – 2007)
American sportswoman and golfing champion
Orcutt was born (April 1, 1907) in New York, and became a keen amateur golfer. She lost in the finals of the United States Amateur Golf Championships (1927) to Miriam Burns Horn, but was twice awarded the tournament Medal for the lowest score (1928) and (1931). She lost the 1936 US finals to Pamela Barton (1936). Orcutt was a seven times winner of the Women’s Eastern Golf Championship and won the North and South Women’s Amateur Golf Chamionship three times running (1931 – 1933).
Three decades later she again won the NSAGC for three years running (1960 – 1962). Her later career was as a sportswriter for golf with the New York Times, and was inducted into the New York State Hall of Fame (1991). Maureen Orcutt died (Jan 9, 2007) aged ninety-nine, in Durham, North Carolina.

Orczy, Baroness Emma (Emmuska) – (1865 – 1947) 
Hungarian-Anglo novelist
Born Baroness Emma Magdalena Rosalia Marie Josepha Barbara Orczy at Tarna-Ors, Hungary, she was the daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a talented musician, and his wife Countess Emma Wass. Her early life was spent in Budapest, and she attended a convent school in Brussels run by the Order of the Visitation, before finishing her education in Paris. Emma studied art in London and had three paintings hung in the Royal Academy. She was married (1894) to Montague Barstow, a clergyman and artist, to whom she bore a son.
With her husband she wrote and illustrated some volumes of children’s stories, and the novel The Emperor’s Candlesticks (1899), but it was her novel The Scarlet Pimpernel (1902) which became the first success of the Baroness’s long literary career. It was followed by many popular adventure romances including The Elusive Pimpernel (1908) and Mam’zelle Guillotine, which never quite attained the success of her earlier works.
The baroness inherited her family’s estate of Tarna-Ors (1906) but continued to reside in England until the end of the war (1918) when she and her husband settled in Monte Carlo, where they remained throughout WW II. She published her autobiography Links in the Chain of Life (1947). Baroness Orczy died in London.

Orestilla, Aurelia – (fl. 68 – 63 BC)
Roman Republican beauty
Aurelia Orestilla was the daughter of Aurelius Orestes. Famous for her great beauty, Orestilla became the mistress of the rebel leader, Lucius Sergius Catilina. She then became his second wife, after the mysterious death of his first wife Gratidia (68 BC). The poet Catullus referred to her as ‘Ipsitilla.’ Catiline implored the senate to have mercy on her after his death, which wish appears to have been honoured.

Orgeni, Anna Maria Aglaja – (1843 – 1926)
Polish coloratura soprano
Orgeni was born in Tismenice, Galicia. Anna Maria was the pupil of Madame Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and made her debut at the Berlin Opera, Prussia in 1865. After a successful twenty year career she was appointed a vocal educator at the Dresden Conservatory in Saxony. Anna Orgeni died in Vienna, Austria.

Orghana – (fl. c1240 – 1261)
Mongol ruler
Orghana was married firstly to the Mongol khan Kara Hulagu, to whom she bore two sons, Buri and Mubarak Shah. With his death Orghana remarried to her first husband’s first cousin Alghu. Both of her husbands were grandsons of Jagatai, and great-grandsons of Genghiz Khan.
Orghana ruled Turkestan as regent till 1261, when Ariqboga intervened in the affiars of the country, and caused her second husband to be proclaimed regent in her stead. Alghu later defected from Ariqboga politically, and married Orghana. His defection largely contributed to the victory of Kubilai Khan.

Oricula – (c370 – c408 AD)
Roman Christian martyr
Oricula was living as a Christian ascetic when she was killed by marauding Vandals at Syndunum (Senuc) in the Champagne region of Gaul, together with her brother and sister, Oriculus and Basilica. Their remains were uncovered several centuries later (924) and were translated to the monastery of Rheims, near Paris. All three were honoured together as saints (Nov 18).

Origo – (fl. c10 BC – c14 AD)
Roman stage actress
Of uncertain social status, but almost certainly of slave origins, Origo was probably freed. She was mentioned by the poet Horace as a contemporary performer in his Satirae.

Orinda    see     Philips, Katherine

Orleans, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatine, Duchesse d’ – (1652 – 1722)
French letter writer
Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatine-Rhine was born (May 27, 1652) at Heidelburg, in the Rhineland, the daughter of the Elector Palatine Charles I Louis, and his wife Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. During her child it was suggested that she marry William III of Orange (later King William) but instead was married at Metz, Lorraine, to Philippe I, Duc d’Orleans (1640 – 1701), the brother of Louis XIV as his second wife. Her son Philippe II d’Orleans, always her favourite child, though she deplored his scandalous morals, later ruled France as Regent (1715 – 1723) during the minority of Louis XV (1715 – 1723). Her daughter Elisabeth Charlotte married Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, and became the mother of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I, husband of the empress Maria Theresa.
Called ‘Liselotte’ from childhood, she was particularly attached to her paternal aunt Sophia, the duchess of Hanover, mother of George I of England. Her disregard for her appearance and dislike of court amusements made her an incongruous figure at the court of Versailles, but the king remained attached to her, and appreciated her wit. Her voluminous correspondence came to take the place of her social life. Her letters to her aunt provide extremely interesting social and political details for the French court during this period, and the duchesse also corresponded with Caroline of Ansbach, the wife of the future George II of England. Duchess Elisabeth Charlotte died (Dec 18, 1722) aged seventy, at the Palace of St Cloud, and was interred in the Abbey of St Denis, at Rheims.

Orleans, Francoise Marie de Bourbon, Duchesse de – (1677 – 1749)
French princess
Francoise de Bourbon was born (May 14, 1677) at the Chateau de Maintenon, the daughter of King Louis XIV and his mistress, Francoise Athenais de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan. She was legitimized in 1681 and then known officially as Madamoiselle de Blois. Due to the influence of her father Francoise became the wife (1692) of her first cousin, Philippe d’Orleans (1674 – 1723), eldest son of Philippe, Duc d’Orleans. The duchesse d’Orleans, the formidable Liselotte was furious at what she considered a mesalliance with the king’s bastard daughter. Francoise herself stated to the Marquise de Caylus, “ I do not care in the least whether he loves me, so long as her marries me.” King louis provided Francoise with a generous dowry and jewels.
The duchesse de Chartres was intelligent, but very haughty and proud, and considered that she had honoured the Orleans family by marrying into it, which caused her husband to refer to her as ‘Madame Lucifer.’ Her mother-in-law hated her and eventually succeeded in turning her children against her. She became Duchesse d’Orleans when her husband succeeded his father in that title (1701).
Despite being tall, majestic in carriage, and considered something of a beauty, the duchesse and her husband remained on terms of polite indifference. The only court lady with whom she was ever on friendly terms was her maternal relative, the Duchesse Sforza, daughter of her aunt, the Marquise de Thianges. Her inherited the famous ‘Mortemart wit’ of her mother’s family, and a naturally eloquent speaker, she thoroughly understood the art of drawing attention to what she left unsaid. During her husband’s term as Regent of France for Louis XV (1715 – 1723), the duchesse presided over court functions, and was known for exacting the correct respect due to her rank, though her lazy and indolent temperament prevented her from becoming an important political figure.
As a widow the duchesse always retained a certain social predominance. A courtier summed up her character thus (1741), “No-one sees her way more clearly than she does in conversation, but her least word is said with some object in view and she never talks without an ulterior motive.” With the death of Philippe (1723) the duchesse remained on bad terms with their son, a rift which was not healed until 1742. Despite her personal character defects, she was beloved by the poor of Paris because of her charitable dispositions, and she left a considerable bequest to the parish church of St Eustache, where she was buried. The Duchesse d’Orleans died (Feb 1, 1749) aged seventy-one, at the Palace of Versailles. Her seven children were,

• Princesse Marie Louise Elisabeth d’Orleans (1695 – 1719). She became the wife of her cousin, Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Berry.
• Princesse Louise Adelaide d’Orleans (1698 – 1743). She became a nun and was later Abbess of St Marie, Chelles, near Paris.
• Princesse Charlotte Aglae d’Orleans (1700 – 1761). She became the wife of Francesco III d’Este, Duke of Modena, and left descendants.
• Louis I, Duc d’Orleans (1703 – 1752). He succeeded his father as Duc (1723 – 1752) and was married to Princess Augusta of Baden, by whom he left issue.
• Princesse Louise Isabelle d’Orleans (1709 – 1742). She became the wife of Luis I, King of Spain, but died childless.
• Princesse Philippine Elisabeth d’Orleans (1715 – 1734). She was styled Princesse de Beaujolais and died unmarried.
• Princesse Louise Diane d’Orleans (1716 – 1736). She was married to Francois de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, and left issue.

Orleans, Henrietta Anne Stuart, Duchesse d’      see     Henrietta Anne Stuart

Orleans, Louise Adelaide de Bourbon d’ – (1698 – 1743)
French nun and author
Princess Louise Adelaide de Bourbon-Orleans was born (Aug 13, 1698) at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, the daughter of Philippe I d’Orleans, Regent of France (1715 – 1723) and his wife Francoise Marie de Bourbon-Nantes, legitimated daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Originally known as Madamoiselle de Chartres, she never married and became a nun at the abbey of St Marie, Chelles, near Paris as Sister Bathilde.
Louise Adelaide refused to be appointed as abbess of Montmarte (1717), was elected as abbess of Chelles (1719 – 1734) and also served as abbess of Val-de-Grace (1722). Known for her strong Jansenist views, her publication of a theological essay (1725) caused such a storm in Paris that she was exiled to Chelles, whilst it ws officially announced that the work was nothing more than a forgery. Louise Adelaide wrote several doctrinal essays of literary value. She died (Feb 19, 1743) aged forty-four, in Paris.

Orleans, Valentina Visconti, Duchesse d’ – (1370 – 1408)
Italian-French princess
Valentina Visconti was the daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, and his wife Isabelle of Valois, the daughter of Charles V, King of France. Betrothed to Carlo Visconti and Louis II of Anjou, John, Duke of Gorlitz and Ladislas I, King of Naples, Valentina was finally married (1389) to Louis, Duc d’Orleans (1372 – 1407), the brother of Charles VI of France.
Her gentle and compassionate nature won her the affection of the unbalanced king, but the queen and other courtiers became jealous of this attachment. In 1395 Queen Isabeau succeeded in having the duchess banished from court, and she retired to her castle of Asnieres in beaumont with her children. She did not return to Paris till 1407. Despite her husband’s many infidelities he remained attached to his wife, and his political assassination (1407) left her stricken with grief.
The duchess retired to Blois, where she died a few months later. Of her eight children, Charles, Duc d’Orleans (1394 – 1465) the famous poet prince, was the father of King Louis XII (1498 – 1515) whilst her great-grandson became King Francois I (1515 – 1547) the first ruler of the Valois Dynasty (1515 – 1589).

Orleans-Longueville, Antoinette de – (1574 – 1618)
French nun and founder
Princesse Antoinette d’Orleans was the posthumous daughter of Leonor d’Orleans, Duc de Longueville, and his wife Marie d’Estouteville, widow of Jean, Duc d’Estouteville. She was married (1587) to Charles de Gondi (1569 – 1596), marquis de Belle-Isle, the eldest son of Albert de Gondi, Duc de Retz.  The death of the young marquis left Antoinette a young and beautiful widow, but she and her young son returned to the household of her mother, and refused all offers of marriage. She was the mother of Henri de Gondi (1590 – 1659), who succeeded his grandfather as Duc de Retz, and was the grandmother of Catherine de Gondi, Duchesse de Retz, and of Margeurite de Gondi, Duchesse de Brissac.
With the death of her mother Duchesse Marie (1601), Antoinette took the veil as a nun at the Cistercian convent in Toulouse. Two of her sisters, Margeurite and Catherine d’Orleans-Longueville joined her there and were veiled also. Antoinette later founded the convent dedicated to saints Mary and Scholastica at Poitier, where she was the first abbess, and restored that house to the stricter Benedictine rule. The members of this community were known as the Congregation of the Benedictine Nuns of Mount Calvary. The princess died (April 25, 1618), aged forty-four, and was buried in her convent. The church honoured her as a beata (April 22).

Ormani, Maria – (fl. c1440 – c1460)
Italian illuminator
The daughter of Orman, Maria became an Augustinian nun and taught book-binding. She produced the Brevarium cum Calendario (1453), preserved in the Imperial Library in Vienna, which was both richly and stylishly decorated.

Orme, Denise – (1885 – 1960)
British stage actress, vocalist and musician
Born Jessie Smither (Aug 25, 1885) she studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was the winner of the Wessely Violin Exhibition (1899). Her talent was discovered by George Edwardes whilst she was a student at the Royal College of Music, and she made her first stage appearance as a chorus singer in The Little Michus (1906), and adopted the stagename of ‘Denise Orme.’
She then appeared in the title role of See See (1906) at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, and made gramophone recordings of the Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. She later made a brief return after the birth of her first child, and appeared as Lady Elizabeth Thanet in Our Miss Gibbs at the Gaiety Theatre (1908).
Denise retired after her secret marriage (1907) with a peer, John Reginald Lopes Yarde-Buller (1873 – 1930), the third Baron Churston (1910 – 1930). Lady Churston bore her husband six children before their divorce (1928). She remarried secondly to Theodore Wessell, to whom she bore a son, and lastly was married (1946) to Edward Fitzgerald, seventh Duke of Leinster (1946 – 1960). The duchess died the same year as her husband (Oct 20, 1960) aged seventy-five. Her children by Lord Churston were,

• Hon. (Honourable) Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller (1908 – 1997). She was married firstly (1927 – 1936) to Group Captain Thomas Guinness, OBE (Order of the British Empire) from whom she was divorced, and secondly (1936 – 1949) to Prince Aly Khan, who was killed in a motor accident (1960). She was the mother of the Aga Khan IV.
• John Francis Roger Yarde-Buller (born 1910), who succeeded his father (1930) as fourth Baron Churston. He was married twice and left children.
• Hon. John Reginald Henry Yarde-Buller (1915 – 1962). He was married and left two sons.
• Hon. Denise Margaret Yarde-Buller (born 1916). She was married (1941 – 1954) to the ninth Baron Ebury (died 1957), to whom she bore children. They were later divorced.
• Hon. Lydia Yarde-Buller (1917 – 2006). She married firstly to Captain Ian Lyle (killed in action 1942), and secondly (1947 – 1960) to Jojn Robert Russell, thirteenth Duke of Bedford, as his second wife.
• Hon. Primrose Yarde-Buller (1918 – 1970). She was married (1936 – 1960) to Willaim Gerald Charles Cadogan, seventh Earl Cadogan, as his first wife. She bore him several children but they later divorced.

Ormerod, Eleanor Anne – (1828 – 1901)
British entomologist
Eleanor Ormerod was born at Sedbury Park in Gloucestershire, the daughter of George Ormerod. Educated at home, she was appointed Additional Examiner in Agricultural Entomology at the University of Edinburgh. Her work in this field was acknowledged by the French government and the Societe Nationale d’Acclimatation de France awarded her the silver medal, bearing the portrait of Geoffrey Sainte-Hilaire (1899).
Eleanor Ormerod wrote extensively on entomological and meterological subjects, her work including Guide to Methods of Insect Life (1884), Test Book of Agricultural Entomology (1892), Handbook of Insects Injurious to Orchard and Bush Fruits (1898) and Flies commonly Injurious to Stock (1900). Eleanor Ormerod died (July 12, 1901) at Torrington House, St Albans.

Ornacieux, Beatrice d’ – (c1270 – 1305)
Frencha scetic and nun
Beatrice d’Ornacieux joined the Carthusian Order at Parmenie in Grenoble. Her piety and extreme ascetism caused her local worship (Feb 13) to be confirmed by Pope Pius IX (1869). St Beatrice is usually represented in religious art hammering a nail into her left hand, so as to share the sufferings of Christ.

Orodaltis I – (c137 – c62 BC)
Greek queen consort of Bithynia (94 – 74 BC)
Orodaltis I was the wife of Nikomedes III (c160 – 74 BC). Their daughter Nysa became the wife of Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus. After her husband’s death and his kingdom being bequeathed to Rome, Julius Caesar appointed the queen dowager as ruler of the small client sea kingdom of Prusias. The historian Strabo left amusing anecdotes concerning the antics of the queen’s pet dog who she had named Sulla after the Roman dictator.

Orodaltis II – (c75 – after 31 BC)
Greek client queen of Prusias
Orodaltis II was the daughter of Lykomedes of Bithynia, King of Prusias, and his queen Musa Orsobaris, the daughter of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus. She was the granddaughter of Nikomedes III, king of Bithynia, Lykomedes being his illegitimate son. Queen Orodaltis was appointed as client ruler of Prusias by Rome (47 BC), perhaps jointly with her father. She is attested by several surviving bronze coins which bear her name, title, and lineage.

O’Rourke, Ruth Carol    see    Hussey, Ruth

Orozco, Olga – (1920 – 1999)
Argentinian poet
Born Olga Noemi Gugliotta at Toay, La Pampa, she was raised at Bahia Bianca. She later moved to Buenos Aires with her parents (1936), which initiated her literary career, and adopted the literary surname ‘Orozco.’ Orozco produced ten volumes of poetry which were published including Desde lejos (From Far Away) (1946), La oscuridad es otro sol (Darkness Is a Different Sun) (1967), Cantos a Berenice (Songs for Berenice) (1977) and En el reves del cielo (In Heaven’s Back Side) (1987). Her work was heavily influenced by the surrealists and by poets such as Baudelaire and Rimbaud, and she was a member of the ‘Tercera Vanguardia’ generation of South American poets. Olga Orozco died aged seventy-nine, at Buenos Aires.

Orpah – (fl. c1100 BC)
Hebrew biblical figure
Orpah was the daughter-in-law of Naomi, and sister-in-law to Ruth. Her husband’s death left her young and childless and she heeded the advice of Naomi to return to her own people.

Orsini, Laura – (1492 – 1520)
Italian papal aristocrat
Laura was the natural daughter of Pope Alexander VI (1492 – 1503) and his mistress Giulia Farnese. She was thus half-sister to Cesare Borgia and his famous sister Lucrezia. She was married (1505) to Niccolo Franciotti della Rovere (1473 – 1530), the nephew of Pope Julius II (1503 – 1513) and the great-nephew of Pope Sixtus IV (1471 – 1484). Their descendants survive into the twenty-first century.

Orsini-Rosenberg, Countess   see   Wynne, Giustiniana Francesca Antonia

Orsobaris, Musa – (c105 – after 47 BC)
Greek client ruler
Musa Orsobaris was the daughter of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus and the enemy of Roman Empire. She became the wife of Lykomedes, King of Prusias, the natural son of Nikomedes III, King of Bithynia, and was mother to Queen Orodaltis II. Her husband’s legitimate half-sister, Nysa, daughter of Nikomedes and his queen Orodaltis I, had been forcibly married to Mithridates in order to gain the Bithynian throne. A few bronze coins survive which indicate that she was allowed to rule as a client of Rome by Julius Caesar, in recognition of the loyalty of King Nikomedes to Rome.

Ortea, Virginia Elena – (1866 – 1903)
Caribbean novelist, author and dramatist
Virginia Ortea was born (June 17, 1866) at Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Her published works included Mi hermana Carolina (1897) and Risas y lagrimas (1901). She sometimes used the pseudonym ‘Elena Kennedy.’ Virginia Elena Ortea died (Jan 30, 1903) aged thirty-six, at Purto Plata.

Orton, Helen Fuller – (1872 – 1955)
American author
Helen Fuller was born in Pekin, New York and became the wife of Jesse Orton. Helen Orton is best remembered for the highly popular, The Cloverfield Farm series of books which were published in four volumes (1921 – 1926). Other published works included The Gold-Laced Coat: A Story of Niagra (1934), The Secret of the Rosewood Box (1937), The Winding River (1944) and Mystery of Apple Orchard (1954). Helen Fuller Orton died (Feb 16, 1955) aged eighty-two.

Orton, Mary    see   Farren, Mary

Orzelska, Anna Caroline – (1707 – 1769)
Polish courtier
Countess Anna Orzelska was the illegitimate daughter of Augustus II, King of Poland, who recognized her and granted her the title of Countess Orzelska. Anna was later said to have become the mistress of her own father, and also developed an attachment for her half-brother Count Rudorfski, one of her father’s many illegitimate sons. Frederick the Great of Prussia fell passionately in love with her (1728), and his sister the margravine of Bayreuth provided an interesting account of their affair in her memoirs. Eventually Augustus induced Frederick to abandon her in favour of another. Her father arranged her marriage (1730) with Charles Louis, Duke of Holstein-Beck to whom she bore a son Charles Frederick (1732 – 1772) who died unmarried. The marriage was unhappy and ended in divorce (1733) the countess retired to the Saxon court in Dresden. Her lovely features were preserved in the pastel made by Rosalba Carriera. Countess Orzelska died (Sept 27, 1769) aged sixty-one.

Orzeszkowa, Eliza – (1841 – 1910)   
Polish novelist
Orzeszkowa was born in Grodno, Lithuania, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, and was educated at home with the assistance of her father’s copious library. She was married to Piotr Orzesko, with whom she was a prominent figure during the national uprising (1863). Eliza Orzeskowa was a strong advocate of female suffrage, and was early linked to the newly emerging anti-romanticist ‘Positivist’ movement, which is greatly reflected in her writings, which dealt mainly with the lot of ordinary people. She dealt with the social problems faced by women and concerning the Polish Jews, and condemned political censorship. Her works included Meir Ezofowicz (An Obscure Apostle) (1898), Argonauci (The Modern Argonauts) (1899) and Piesn Przerwana (The Interrupted Melody) (1912).

Osanna – (fl. 1147 – 1174)
Anglo-Norman prioress
Osanna was the superior of the convent of Oldbury in Warwickshire. She was recorded by charter evidence as holding that office in 1147. However, some years later Osanna removed to the abbey of Polesworth in Warwickshire, probably the mother house of Oldbury, and is recorded as abbess of that house (1171) and (c1174). This group of nuns was established at Oldbury by Bishop Roger de Clinton before 1147, during the reign of King Stephen. Roger ratified the grant in the prescence of the nuns, including Osanna, who it appears was the first leader of the group, appointed by the bishop himself.

Osanna of Mantua    see   Andreasi, Osanna dei

Osborne, Anne Walmesley, Lady – (c1600 – 1666)
English Stuart courtier
Anne Walmesley was married firstly to William Middleton, of Stockeld, York, and secondly to Sir Edward Osborne (1596 – 1647), first baronet (1620 – 1647), as his second wife. With the death of her stepson Edward (1633), Anne’s own infant son became his father’s heir. She survived Edward two decades as the Dowager Lady Osborne (1647 – 1666) and was the mother of Sir Thomas Osborne (1632 – 1712), later Earl of Danby and first Duke of Leeds. Anne was thus ancestress of that family as well as of the Barons Godolphin.

Osborne, Catherine Rebecca Smith, Lady – (c1794 – 1856)
Anglo-Irish letter writer
Catherine Smith was the eldest daughter of Major Robert Smith. She became the wife (1816) of Sir Thomas Osborne (1757 – 1821), of Ballintaylor, County Tipperary. Lady Catherine bore her husband two children, Sir William Osborne (1817 – 1824), who succeeded his father as tenth baronet (1821 – 1824) but died a child, and Catherine Isabella Bernal-Osborne (1819 – 1880), the heiress of the estate of Newton Anner in Tipperary. Catherine survived her husband for thirty-five years as the Dowager Lady Osborne (1821 – 1856). Her letters were later compiled and edited by her daughter Mrs Bernal-Osborne, and included letters to her friends Mary Stanley and Alicia Hill, and others. They were published in two volumes in Dublin as Memorials of the Life and Character of Lady Osborne and Some of Her Friends (1870). Lady Osborne died (Oct 10, 1856).

Osborne, Dorothy – (1627 – 1693)
English letter writer
Dorothy Osborne was born at Chicksands Priory, Bedford, the daughter of Sir Peter Osborne, the Royalist who held the island of Guernsey for Charles I, and his wife Dorothy, the daughter of Sir John Danvers, of Dauntsey, Wiltshire. Dorothy was originally betrothed to Henry, the son of Oliver Cromwell, but this union never eventuated. She met the diplomat and statesman Sir William Temple (1628 – 1699) in 1648, and married him seven years later (1655).
During their long courtship they maintained a constant correspondence, of which forty-two of her letters survive, and constitute one of the most outstanding contributions to English epistolary historical literature. Osborne was an active helpmeet to Temple in many of his schemes, showed dauntless courage upon their voyage to England (1671), when an affray with a Dutch flagship seemed imminent, and she enjoyed a cordial relationship with Queen Mary II. Her portrait was painted by Sir Peter Lely. Lady Temple died at Moor Park, Farnham, Surrey, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, London.

Osborne, Ethel Elizabeth – (1882 – 1968)
Anglo-Australian physician
Born Ethel Goodson at Armely, in Leeds, Yorkshire, she received her education at Yorkshire College and Leeds University. She was married to the academic William Alexander Osborne (1873 – 1967), whom she accompanied to Australia when he took up his appointment as professor of physicology at Melbourne University, in Victoria (1903). The couple remained in Australia the rest of their lives, and Professor Osborne remained at Melbourne University until his retirement (1938).
During this time, Ethel Osborne became involved in social activities, and became the founding vice-president of the Lyceum Club in Melbourne, as well as being a founding councillor at the Emily McPherson College (formerly the college of Domestic Economy). She served two terms as president of the college, (1915 – 1917) and (1919 – 1929). Ethel Osborne continued her own studies, graduating in medicine from Melbourne University (1923), though she had previously worked as an adviser to the British government on industrial health during WW I. She represented Australia at various international conferences concerning public health. Ethel Elizabeth Osborne died (Dec 3, 1968) aged eighty-six, in East Melbourne.

Osbourne, Isobel    see   Field, Isobel

Osburga – (c965 – 1018)
Anglo-Saxon nun
Little is known of her live except that she was appointed first abbess of Coventry, when that house was founded (1016) by King Knut (Canute) before he was recognized in England as king. The abbess was buried there at her death, and many miracles became associated with her relics there. It eventually became so popular that the clergy and people of Coventry asked for a feast to be established in Osburga’s honour (1410). This request was granted by a synod to the archdeaconry of Coventry and continued until the suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII. Her feast was celebrated (March 30).

Osburh (Osburga) – (c808 – 855) 
Anglo-Saxon queen
Osburh was the daughter of Oslac, Earl of Hampshire, the royal cupbearer and chamberlain (pincerna), and probably the sister of Osric, governor of Dorset and Hampshire, who defeated the Viking army at Winchester (860). She was married (c824) to King Aethelwulf (c800 – 858) as his first wife. The marriage was of political and dynastic importance as she was a descendant of the kings of the Isle of Wight, another branch of the Wessex royal house. The queen and her father jointly held the manor of Arreton on the Isle of Wight though she is not named in any recorded charters from the period.
Queen Osburga was a noble minded and well educated woman and the historian Asser recorded that the queen was “ a religious woman, noble by birth and noble by nature.” Asser also recorded the famous story of how she promised to give her youngest son Prince Alfred a beautifully decorated book of Anglo-Saxon poetry when he should be able to read it. The young prince was then aged six and could not yet read, so he memorized the poems and received the prize from his proud mother. Queen Osburh died shortly before her husband left England to visit the court of the Carolingian emperor Charles II, whose daughter Judith he married as his second wife (Oct, 856). Queen Osburh was the mother of Aethelbald (856 – 860), Aethelbert (860 – 866), Aethelred I (866 – 871) and Alfred the Great (871 – 899), successive kings of Wessex. Her daughter Aethelswyth became the wife (853) of Burhred, King of Mercia but remained childless.

Osburn, Lucy – (1835 – 1891)
British nurse
Lucy Osburn was born in Leeds, England, the daughter of the Egyptologist, William Osburn. Having decided upon her chosen career, and receiving the support of her family, Lucy visited hospitals abroad in Dusseldorf and Jerusalem before going to London, to be trained as a nurse at the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’s Hospital in London (1866 – 1867). Nightingale appointed Osburn lady superintendent for the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary in Sydney, New South Wales, with five trained nurses to work under her (1868). Despite her administrative skills, Osburn’s own personality was not conciliatory, and she had considerable trouble from doctors and board members who interfered with her management. Four of her five nurses had returned to England by 1870.
During a royal commission (1873 – 1874) held by William Windeyer into the running of the Infirmary, Osburn was the only person to emerge with her reputation untarnished, despite the lack of confidence in her management held by her former mentor, Florence Nightingale. From 1875 onwards, Osburn continued to run the Infirmary, but her own ill health, and adminstrative problems eventually led to her resignation (1884). Osburn then travelled abroad to the USA, Prussia, and then London where she became attached to Metropolitan and National Nursing Association (1886 – 1890), which sought to supply district nurses to care for the poor of London. Lucy Osburn died (Dec 22, 1891) aged fifty-five, at Harrogate, London.

Osceola     see    Blixen, Karen Christence

Oscia Modesta Cornelia Patruina Publiana – (fl. c200 – c230 AD)
Roman patron
Oscia Modesta Cornelia Patruina Publiana was married to Gaius Arrius Calpurnius Frontinus Honoratus, who served as consul suffect during the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus (222 – 235 AD). Oscia is attested by an inscription from Avioccalensis, of which city she was patron which styled her clarissima femina, and she and her husband were both patrons of the colony of Antiochae Pisidiae. Oscia was the grandmother of tribune Marcus Flavius Arrius Oscius Honoratus, consul suffect (c238 AD) and Imperial legate to Carthage, whom she appears to have brought up and educated.

Osduktia – (fl. c370 – c400 AD)
Iberian princess
Osduktia was the sister of King Pharasmenes of Iberia. The identity of her husband remains unknown, but through her son Bosmarius, Osduktia was the paternal grandmother of Petrus the Iberian (c412 – 491 AD), who became a Christian monk and was appointed Bishop of Maiuma.

Osgood, Frances Sargent – (1811 – 1850)
American poet
Born Frances Locke in Boston, Massachusetts, Frances Osgood was a close friend to the noted author Edgar Allan Poe, and she composed a requiem for the writer entitled ‘Labor.’ Poe himself included her in his posthumously published work The Literati (1850). Osgood wrote several collections of poetic verse, and used the pseudonyms ‘Florence’ and ‘Kate Fletcher Carol.’ These published works included A Wreath of Wild Flowers from New England (1838), The Poetry of Flowers and the Flowers of Poetry (1841), The Rose: Sketches in Verse (1842) and Poems (1846). Frances Osgood died (May 12, 1850) aged thirty-eight.

Osgood, Kate Putnam – (b. 1841)
American poet
Kate Osgood was born in Fryeburg, Maine, the younger sister of the noted publisher, James Ripley Osgood (1836 – after 1908). Kate is known solely as the author of the popular poem ‘Driving Home the Cows,’ which was published anonymously in Harper’s Magazine (1865). Other details of her life are unknown.

O’Shaughnessy, Edith Coues – (1874 – 1939)
American diplmatic figure and writer
Edith Coues was born in Columbia, South Carolina, the daughter of the ornithologist and writer Elliott Coues (1842 – 1890). Edith was married to the diplomat Nelson O’Shaughnessy, and accompanied him on his postings to Mexico, and Alsace, in France. She kept diaries and wrote memoirs of her travels including A Diplomat’s Wife in Mexico (1916), My Lorraine Journal (1928), Alsace in Rust and Gold (1920) and Intimate Pages of Mexican History (1920). Edith O’Shaughnessy died (Feb 18, 1939) aged sixty-four.

Oslafa – (c625 – before 673)
Anglo-Saxon queen consort of Kent
Princess Oslafa as the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia and his second wife, Hereswyth, the daughter of the Northumbrian aetheling Aethelric, and sister of Abbess Hilda of Whitby. Oslafa became the wife (c640) of King Eormenraed, joint ruler (640 – c656) with his elder brother, Earconbert (640 – 664). It was a double dynastic marriage as her sister Sexburga was married to Earconbert at the same time.
The throne was taken (664) by her adult nephew, King Egbert, the claims of her own sons Aethelwald and Aethelbrith were dismissed becaused of their youth. They were later murdered by a royal councillor, without orders from the king, but Egbert later granted her daughter Eafa, the widow of Merewald extensive lands in recompense for this crime. The queen mother had died prior to this event (673). 

Osland-Hill, Nora    see   Waln, Nora

Osmundsen, Lita Binns – (1926 – 1998)
American anthropologist
Lita Binns was the daughter of Irvin Binns, of the Bronx, New York, and married John Osmundsen. Interested in the scholarly integration and development of anthropological studies at all levels, she held posts at the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (1945 – 1963). Osmundsen was later appointed director of research (1963 – 1978) and then served as the foundation’s president in Manahttan (1978 – 1986). Lita and Margaret Mead received the foundation’s first Distinguished Service Awards (1976). Lita Osmundsen died (Jan 9, 1998) aged seventy-one, in New York.

Ossia       see      Matrona of Perga

Ossington, Charlotte Bentinck-Scott, Viscountess – (1806 – 1889)
British Victorian peeress
Lady Charlotte Bentinck-Scott was the third daughter of William Henry Bentinck-Scott (1768 – 1854), fourth Duke of Portland and his wife Henrietta Scott, the daughter and coheir of General John Scott, of Balcornie, near Crail in Fife. She became the wife (1827) of the first and last Viscount Ossington (1872 – 1873) of Ossington, Nottingham, who was a Speaker in the House of Commons (1857 – 1872) and who she survived as the Dowager Viscountess Ossington (1873 – 1889). There were no children and the Ossington title became extinct. As a widow Lady Charlotte divided her time between her London residence in Upper Brooke Street and Ossington Hall in Newark.
With the death of her brother William John Cavendish-Bentinck-Scott (1800 – 1879), the fifth Duke of Portland, without heirs, Lady Ossington became coheir with her surviving sister of the barony of Ogle in Northumberland. By royal license (1882) she then assumed the surname of Scott in lieu of Denison, and the arms of Scott quartering with those of Bentinck and Cavendish. Lady Ossington died (Sept 30, 1889) aged eighty-three.

Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, Marchesa di    see     Fuller, Margaret

Ossory, Anne Liddell, Countess of – (1736 – 1804)
British society figure
Anne Liddell was the only child and sole heir of Sir Henry Liddell (1708 – 1784), first Baron Ravensworth, and his wife Anne Delme, the daughter of Sir Peter Delme, Alderman and Lord Mayor of London. She was married firstly (1756) to Augustus Henry Fitzroy (1735 – 1811), Earl of Euston, to whom she bore three children. Her husband succeeded as the third Duke of Grafton and as the Duchess of Grafton she sttended the coronation of George III and Queen Charlotte (Sept, 1761).
The duchess was later divorced from her husband by Act of Parliament (1769), after her affair with John Fitzpatrick (1745 – 1818), Earl of Upper Ossory became public knowledge. Three days later she married her lover (March 26, 1769) and became the Countess of Upper Ossory. A famous beauty and prominent in British society, though she was not received at the court of Queen Charlotte, Lady Ossory was well known by the famous antiquarian, Sir Horace Walpole, with whom she corresponded. Lady Ossory died (Feb 24, 1804). Her children by the Duke of Grafton were,

• Lady Georgiana Fitzroy (1758 – 1799). She became the wife of John Smyth (1748 – 1811) of Heath Hall, near Wakefield, York.
• George Henry Fitzroy (1760 – 1844), Earl of Euston. He succeeded his father as the fourth Duke of Grafton (1811 – 1844) and left issue.
• General Lord Charles Fitzroy (1764 – 1829). He was married twice and left issue.

Anne Liddell left issue from her second marriage two daughters

• Lady Mary Fitzpatrick (born 1770). She died in infancy.
• Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick (1774 – 1841). She remained unmarried.

A third daughter, Anne Fitzpatrick (1774 – 1841) is though to have been Lord Ossory’s illegitimate daughter by another lady.

Ossory, Emilia von Nassau, Countess of (Amelia) – (1635 – 1688)
Flemish-Anglo courtier
Emilia von Nassau was born in Holland the daughter of Lodewyck von Nassau, Lord of Beverweerd and governor of Hertogenbosch, and his wife Countess Isabella von Horn. Her elder sister Elisabeth became the wife of the English minister Lord Arlington.  Emilia was married (1659) to an Irish peer, Thomas Butler (1634 – 1680), viscount Thurles, and then earl of Ossory (1662), the heir to the dukedom of Ormonde. By him she was the mother of James Butler (1665 – 1745), who would later succeed his grandfather as second Duke of Ormonde (1688) and his brother Charles (1671 – 1758) who would succeed him as third duke. A famous beauty, Lady Ossory’s portrait was painted by the Dutch master, Wissing, and an engraving of this portrait was included in Mrs Jameson’s famous work Court Beauties.
For over twenty years (1662 – 1685) Lady Ossory served at court as lady-in-waiting to Catharine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II, and attended her at Greenwich Palace (1662) for her first meeting with her mother-in-law, the Queen mother Henrietta Maria. During the ravages of the plague outbreak (1665) the countess accompanied the queen and her household to the safety of Hampton Court Palace, and thence to Oxford. She was present at Dover (1670) when the king and queen farewelled the Duchess d’Orleans, formerly Princess Henrietta Anne, on her return voyage to France. During the drama of the so-called ‘Popish Plots’ (1678), Lady Emilia and other of the queen’s ladies were viewed with suspicion by the queen’s enemies as being secret Catholics. Emilia’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth Butler, wife to the Earl of Derby, served Mary II in the same capacity (1688 – 1694). Another daughter, Lady Anne Butler (1663 – 1723), became the third wife of John Vaughan (1640 – 1713), third Earl of Carberry. Lady Ossory died (Dec 12, 1688) aged fifty-three, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, London.

Ossulston, Mary Grey, Lady – (c1676 – 1710)
British Stuart heiress
Lady Mary Grey was the only daughter and heir of Ford Grey, Baron Grey of Werk, and Earl of Tankerville and his wife Lady Mary, the daughter of George, first earl of Berkeley. She was married (1695) to Charles Bennet, first Baron Ossulston (1674 – 1722) who later became first earl of Tankerville (of the second creation). Lady Ossulston brought to the Tankerville family the impressive estate of Chillingham Castle, famous for its herd of wild cattle. The castle and its environs were placed under the protection of the Zoological Society in the twentieth century.
Lady Ossulton died (May 31, 1710) aged in her mid-thirties, and was interred at Harlington, Middlesex, near London. Her husband was raised to the rank of an earl (1714), receiving the Tankerville title, through the right of his late wife, Lady Mary, as her father’s sole heiress. Her children were,

• Charles Bennet (died 1753). He succeeded his father as second Earl of Tankerville (1722 – 1753) and left issue.
• Lady Bridget Bennet (died 1738). She became the wife of John Wallop, first Earl of Portsmouth, and left issue.
• Lady Annabella Bennet (died 1769). She became the wife of William Paulet, the grandson of Charles, first Duke of Bolton, and left issue.
• Lady Mary Bennet (died 1729). She became the wife of William Willmer, of Sywel in Nottinghamshire, Member of Parliament.

Ossun, Genevieve de Gramont, Comtesse d’ – (1750 – 1794)
French courtier and Royalist heroine
Genevieve de Gramont was born in Paris and became the wife of the Spanish grandee, the Comte Charles d’Ossun. Madame d’Ossun served at the court of Versailles as lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette and remained with her until separated by the order of the Revolutionary Tribunal. She defied the tribunal and refused to leave the side of the royal family, and was arrested and imprisoned on a charge of conspiracy, as her husband was serving with the royalist army. She perished under the guillotine (July 26, 1794) aged forty-four, during the Terror. Her daughter Sophie Pauline d’Ossun (1772 – 1845) became the wife of Louis Joseph Nompar de Caumont (1768 – 1845), the eighth Duc de La Force and left issue.

Ostenso, Martha – (1900 – 1963)
Norwegian-American novelist
Ostenso was born in Bergen and later immigrated to the USA with her family. Martha Ostenso produced several popular novels such as The Dark Dawn (1929), The Mad Carews (1927), Waters under the Earth (1933), The Mandrake Root (1938), Sunset Tree (1949) and Man Had Tall Sons (1958). Ostenso also produced a collection of verse entitled A Far Land (1924). With Australian nurse and medical innovator, Sister Elizabeth Kenny, Ostenso co-wrote And They Shall Walk (1943). Martha Ostenso died (Nov 24, 1963) aged sixty-three.

Osternburg, Countess Marie von    see   Bulazel, Marie

Ostertag, Barna – (1902 – 1993)
American actress
Barna Ostertag was born at Piqua, Ohio. She trained as an actress with the Goodman Repertory Theater in Chicago, and later worked in New York. During WW II she served with the American Red Cross in the south-west Pacific region. Later a theatrical agent, Barna was a member of the National Association of Talent Representatives. Barna Ostertag died in Manhattan, New York.

Osthryth – (657 – 697)  
Anglo-Saxon queen consort
Osthryth was the daughter of Oswy, King of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflaed, the daughter of Edwin of Deira, King of Northumbria. She was married (c672) to Aethelred I, King of Mercia, the marriage designed to act a peace treaty between the two kingdoms. Her death nearly thirty years later was a political assassination, which shows that the ancient enmity between the two kingdoms remained alive and potent. Queen Osthryth was an influential patron of the abbey of Bardney in Lincoln.

Ostoria Chelido – (fl. c250 – c300 AD)
Roman patrician
Ostoria Chelido was daughter to the consul designate Ostorius Euhodianus. She was attested by an inscription on her sarcophagus, which was discovered in the Vatican cemetery, and which described her as clarissima femina.

Ostrander, Isabel – (1885 – 1924)
American novelist
Ostrander was born in New York, her novel Annihilation (1924) was published posthumously under her own name, but three of her earlier works were published under male pseudonyms. These works included The Single Track (1919) as ‘Douglas Grant,’ The Trigger of Conscience (1921), as’ Robert Orr Chipperfield,’ and The Doom Dealer (1923) as ‘David Fox.’ Isabel Ostrander died (April 23, 1924) aged thirty-eight.

Ostriche, Muriel – (1896 – 1989)
American silent film actress
Muriel Ostriche was born in New York. Her career in film began at the early age of fifteen (1911), and she appeared in A Tale of the Wilderness and A Blot on the Escutcheon (1912). Muriel quickly became popular with movie fans, and was rated second to Alice Faye by 1913, when she made Lobster Salad and Milk. Her period as a silent film ‘star’ lasted from 1915 – 1920, when she appeared in such films as The Men She Married (1916), The Volunteers (1917), What Love Forgives (1918) and The Sacred Flame (1920). Muriel Ostriche was one of the earliest examples of a movie star using her fame for promotional advertising, and became famous as the Moxie Girl because of her endorsement of that popular soft drink. Muriel Ostriche made her last film The Shadow (1921), and then retired permanently from the screen to marry and raise a family. She survived her film star fame by nearly seventy years.

Ostrowska, Bronislawa – (1881 – 1928)
Polish poet and translator
Ostrowska was born in Warsaw, where she was educated. She was married (1901) to the sculptor Stanislaw Ostrowski. She was influenced by the works of Stephane Mallarme and Baudelaire, and was a noted translator of French works. Her poems were significant for their directness and stoic theme and included Krysta, poemat dramatyczny (1910) and Perscien zycia (1919). Bronislawa Ostrowska died in Warsaw.

O’Sullivan, Maureen – (1911 – 1998)
American film actress
Maureen O’Siullivan was born (May 17, 1911) in Roscommon, the daughter of an officer, and was taught by nuns in Dublin, London, and Paris. She decided early in life about a career as an actress and made her first movie appearance in Song o’ My Heart (1929) with the Irish tenor John McCormack. She then went under contract with MGM (Metro-Golden-Mayer) and first appeared with Johnny Weissmuller as Jane Parker in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932). She became a leading actress during the 1930’s and 1940’s and appeared in five more Tarzan films, sharing the limelight with Cheetah the chimpanzee, and it is for these films that she is best remembered.
Her other films included Tugboat Annie, as one of the Bennet daughters in Pride and Prejudice with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, The Barretts of Wimpole Street with Norma Shearer, Anna Karenina with Greta Garbo, and as the child-wife Dora in David Copperfield (1935) with W.C. Fields. She married twice and produced seven children from her first marriage with the film director John Farrow (died 1963). She retired from movies in 1942 in order to raise her growing family. With the death of her first husband she returned to Manhattan and began working on stage making her Broadway debut in the play Never Too Late by Sumner Arthur Long (1962).
Her stage roles included appearances in No Sex Please, We’re British, Charley’s Aunt and Morning’s at Seven (1980) whilst Woody Allen directed her brilliantly as the mother in his hit film Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Maureen O’Sullivan died (June 24, 1998) aged eighty-seven, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Oswenda – (fl. c970 – c1000)
Flemish nun
Oswenda was sister to Wulphelm, abbot of Braunvillier, near Cologne. She became a nun at the abbey of Willich, during the rule of abbess Adelaide, the daughter of Count Megengose of Gueldres. Venerated as saint (April 22), Oswenda is mentioned in the Acta Sanctorum and the Lignum Vitae.

Osyth – (c648 – c675)
Anglo-Saxon queen and martyr
Osyth was the daughter of Frithuwald, King of the Hwiccas, in Sussex, and his wife Wilburga, the daughter of Penda, King of Mercia. She was raised at the convent of aylesbury, ruled by her maternal aunt Edith. She wanted to become a nun but was forced into a dynastic marriage with Sighere, King of Essex, to whom she bore a son and successor, Offa, but eventually the couple seperated and Queen Osyth became a nun in the convent she built at Chich, near Aylesbury. Osyth was later beheaded by pirates or marauding Vikings, and was regarded a martyr (Oct 7).

Ota of Hesse see Oda of Lahngau

Otacilia Severa, Marcia – (fl. c235 – 249 AD)
Roman Augusta
Marcia Severa Otacilia was sister to Severianus, and became the wife (c235 AD) of Philip the Arabian, governor of Mesopotamia and Moesia, who later became emperor as Philip I (243 – 249 AD). Empress Otacilia is thought to have been a Christian, and perhaps a member of the circle of ladies who surrounded the Empress Julia Mamaea, the mother of Alexander Severus.
When her husband was raised to the purple, she was accorded the rank of Augusta, and accompanied her husband to Rome after the murder of Gordian III (July, 244 AD) and the couple are said to have attended a Christian church service on Easter eve at Antioch in the Euphrates region. It is said the officiating archbishop refused to admit the couple except as penitents expiating a foul crime. Her son Philip II (b. 237 AD) was raised as co-emperor with his father and appointed as Pontifex Maximus (chief priest) and she herself received the honorific title of Mater Augusti et Castrorum et senches et patriae.
Philip was killed in battle against the Emperor Decius, and the empress fled with her son to the praetorian camp in Rome. However, the guards were disinterested in their cause, and slew the child in her arms. Her titles were removed and granted to Decius’s wife Etruscilla, whilst Otacilia retired to obscurity. The empress Otacilia was represented on surviving coinage, notably a gold aureus struck in Rome (248 AD) which has a bust of the empress on the obverse with the legend, OTACIL SEVERA AVG. The reverse bore the legend SAECVLVM NOVVM above a temple within which was seated a statue of the deity Roma.

Otero, La Belle – (1868 – 1965)
Spanish dancer and courtesan
Born Caroline Puentovalga in Valga, near Cadiz, she was the daughter of a gypsy prostitute. Her father was killed by her mother’s lover in a duel, and Caroline herself ran away from home with her lover at the age of thirteen, and began acting on the stage in Lisbon to support herself. Several years afterwards she married an Italian baritone singer and the couple moved to Paris.
However, gambling debts necessitated her return to the stage at the Folies Bergere by 1890, where her beauty and sensuality succeeding in gaining lucrative offers of work for her from all over Europe. During her heyday, Otero was the mistress of many prominent heads of state such as Edward VII of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Prince Albert of Monaco, the Russian tsar Nicholas II, Alfonso XIII of Spain, the Italian poet, Gabriele D’Annunzio, and the American financier, Cornelius Vanderbilt. She became extremely wealthy and retired (1914), but eventually gambled away both her money and her jewellery. La Belle Otero died in poverty and obscurity at Nice, aged ninety-six.

Otis, Eliza Henderson – (1796 – 1873)
American author
Born Eliza Bordman in Boston, Massachusetts, she became the wife of the famous statesman, public orator, and man of letters, Harrison Gray Otis (1765 – 1848). Mrs Otis wrote the work The Barclays of Boston (1854), and wrote articles for the periodical the Boston Transcript using the pseudonym ‘One of the Barclays.’ It was due to her efforts that the birthday of President George Washington (Feb 11), was officially gazetted as a public holiday. Eliza Henderson Otis died (Jan 21, 1873) aged seventy-seven.

Otomo no Iratsume – (c670 – 728)
Japanese poet
Otomo No Iratsume was the eldest daughter of Sakanoue No Iratsume. She was desired and loved by Prince Hozumi of the Imperial family, but was married instead to Tabito Otomo, her elder half-brother, and was the mother of Otomo no Sakanoue. A revered exponent of traditional waka verses her works were preserved in the Manyoshu anthology.

Otomo no Sakanoue – (fl. c700 – c750)
Japanese poet
She was the daughter of Sukunamaro Otomo and his wife Otomo no Iratsume. She was half-sister to Tamura no Oiratsume and became the wife of Yakamochi Otomo, later appointed as the governor of Etchu Prefecture. She wrote verses in the waka style but was not as talented as her mother, who assisted with some of her poems which are preserved in the Manyoshu anthology.

Otrante, Teresa von Stedingk, Duchesse d’ – (1837 – 1901)
Swedish courtier, traveller and memoirist
Catharina Therese Lovisa Frederika Elisabeth von Stedingk was the only daughter of Ludwig Ernst, Baron von Stedingk, Inspector-General of the Cavalry in Sweden, and his wife Luise von Harthausen. She was married firstly (1858) to a member of the British aristocracy, Hon. William George Grey (1819 – 1865). During this time she served as lady-in-waiting to Alexandra of Denmark, Princess of Wales the daughter-in-law to Queen Victoria.
Mrs Grey accompanied the royal couple and their suite during their trip abroad to the Mediterranean and left recollections of entitled Journal of a Visit to Egypt, Constantinople, the Crimea, Greece, etc., in the suite of the Prince and Princess of Wales (1869) which was published in London and in New York (1870). Her first marriage remained childless and Teresa then became the second wife (1873) of Gustave Armand Fouche (1840 – 1910), Duc d’Otrante. Her son, Charles Louis Fouche (1877 – 1950) later succeeded his father as Duc d’Otrante (1910 – 1950).

Otteson-Jensen, Elise – (1886 – 1973)
Norwegian-Swedish family planning pioneer
Elise Otteson was born (Jan 2, 1886) at Hojland, Norway, the daughter of a clergyman. An accident prevented her from trying a career in medicine, and she turned to journalism instead. Elise was married to the Swedish reformer and pacifist, Albert Jensen, who suffered imprisonment during WW I because of his anti-military activities. She became a specialist concerning the problems faced by women, particularly in rural communities, and founded the Swedish National League for Sex Education (1933). She urged the government set up sex education programs, the right for free contraceptives when required, and advocated changes to the laws regarding homosexuality. Otteson-Jensen chaired the first meeting of the international family planning movement (1946), which led to the foundation of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, of which she served as second president (1959), as successor to Margaret Sanger. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (1972) and published her autobiography. Elise Otteson-Jensen died (Sept 4, 1973) aged eighty-seven, in Stockholm.

Ottinger, Louise Loewenstein - (1899 - 1997)
American philanthropist
Born Louise Lowenstein in Chicago, Illinois, she attended Smith College and became the wife of the wealthy businessman Lawrence Ottinger, who established the Ottinger Foundation (1945). Louise ran and organized the Louise L. Ottinger Trust, which was used to support various wothy causes such as community developement and the arts. Mrs Ottinger served as the chairwoman of the Lexington School for the Deaf and Camp Rainbow which was organized for disadvantaged children.
Mrs Ottinger supported various other organizations such as Planned Parenthood of New York City and the Coalition for the Homeless, and herself gave lessons in Italian and French for children at the United Nations Language Center. Mrs Ottinger died (Dec 12, 1997) aged ninety-eight, in Manhattan.

Ottogeba    see   Ogiva

Otto-Peters, Luise – (1819 – 1895) 
German feminist
Born Luise Otto (March 26, 1819) in Meissen, Saxony, after the early deaths of her parents she managed to complete her education. She then became involved with the feminist movement in Germany, using the pseudonym Otto Stern, of Konigsberg, when writing her novels which highlighted the plight of many ordinary women in her country. Despite being actively involved with the revolution of 1848, she was unable to make any furtherance of the cause for women’s suffrage.
Otto then devoted her energies to journalism and was later married to the revolutionary August Peters (1858).With the death of her husband (1864), Otto-Peters directed her enrgies towards reforms of the divorce laws. Luise Otto-Peters was the founder and then editor of the Neue Bahnen women’s magazine for forty years (1855 – 1895). Her published novels included Ludwig der Kellner (1843), Buchenheim (1851), Die Idealisten (1867). Her collections of verse included Lieder eines deutschen Madchens (1847) and Gedichte (1868), and she also composed two opera librettos Die Niebelungen (1852) and Theodor Korner (1867). Luise Otto-Peters died (March 13, 1895) aged sixty-five, in Leipzig, Saxony.

Ouallada    see   Walladah

Oudinot, Eugenie    see   Reggio, Eugenie de Coussey, Duchesse de

Ouida – (1839 – 1908)
British novelis
Born Marie Louise de la Ramee at Bury St Edmunds, her later literary pseudonym of ‘Ouida’ was taken from a childish mispronunciation of her second name of Louise. Educated in Paris, she settled in London upon her return from France (1857) and began her literary career by contributing stories to popular magazines such as Bentley’s Miscellany (1859 – 1860). Ouida’s first literary success was with highly popular the novels Held in Bondage (1863) and Strathmore (1865). She quickly established herself as the foremost British writer of popular romantic novels, despite their hot-house plots and ridiculous heroes, and she remained a best-seller until her style began to lose popularity in last decade of the century.
Ouida settled permanently in Florence (1874), where her own life was said to mimic, to some extent anyway, the lives of some of the heroines of her own novels. Always remaining a colourful and interesting character, Ouida eventually fell into debt and was forced to move to Lucca. Some of her more famous titles included Under Two Flags (1867), Folle-Farine (1871) which was highly regarded by the poet Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873), Two Little Wooden Shoes (1874) and Maremma (1882). Ouida died in poverty (Jan 25, 1908) at Viareggio.

Ouroussova, Eugenie Sergeievna – (1908 – 1975)
Russian ballerina and school director
Princess Eugenie Ouroussova was born in Rome, Italy, the daughter of Prince Sergei Ouroussov (Ouroussow), an important diplomat. With the outbreak of the Revolution (1917) she immigrated abroad to France with her family (1919). Eugenie attended the Parsons School of Design in Paris, and worked as a department store clerk before joining the new School of American Ballet in New York, when it was founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein (1934) and was employed as a secretary and language interpreter. She was then married to Dimitry Lehovich, to whom she bore a daughter.
Ouroussova rose to become a much respected and admired executive administrator of the American Ballet, administering grants given to the foundation from 1963. She co-wrote several articles concerning Boris Pasternak, and translated her husband’s biography of the White Russian general, Anton Denikin (1974). Eugenie Ouroussova died (Jan 7, 1975) aged sixty-six, in New York.

Oursler, Grace Perkins – (1894 – 1955)
American writer
Grace Perkins was born in Boston, Massachussetts, and became the wife of the editor and novelist Charles Fulton Oursler (1893 – 1952). Her novels included Ex-Mistress (1930), Night Nurse (1930), Boy Crazy (1931) and No More Orchids (1932). Grace Perkins Oursler died (Dec 16, 1955) aged sixty-one.

Ouspenskaya, Maria – (1876 – 1949)
Russian-American actress
Maria Ousepnskaya was born (July 29, 1876) in Tula, the daughter of a lawyer. She studied singing in Warsaw, Poland, and then worked for some time as a member of the Moscow Art Theatre. There she worked under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski, whose methods she supported for the remainder of her life.
Ouspenskaya had appeared in several silent Russian films, but with the end of WW I Ouspenskya travelled with the Moscow Theatre to New York in the USA (1922), and she remained behind. She acted on stage on Braodway, and then founded the School of Dramatic Art there (1929).
Ouspenskaya preferred the theatre, but due to financial problems she was forced to go to Hollywood, and appear in movies to raise money. Maria’s first film role was in Dodsworth (1936), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress. Other credits included Love Affair (1939), The Rains Came (1939) as the old Rani of Ranchipur, Waterloo Bridge (1940) with Vivien Leigh, and Kings Row (1942) with Ronald Reagan.
However, she was best remembered as the old Romanian fortune teller Maleva, in the classic horro film, The Wolf Man (1941). Her last films were forgettable horror flicks. Maria Ouspenskaya died (Dec 3, 1949) aged seventy-three, from a stroke brought on by burns received after falling asleep with a cigarette.

Outhwaite, Ida Sherbourne – (1888 – 1960)
Australian illustrator
Born Ida Rentoul in Melbourne, Victoria, she was educated at Presbyterian Ladies’ College and the Melbourne University, where she graduated with honours. Her talent as an artist was noticed in early childhood, and she achieved literary fame by illustrating her own children’s books, which fairy tales were set in uniquely Australian settings. Under her maiden name she illustrated stories written by her mother and sister including Mollie’s Bunyip (1904) and The Lady of the Blue Beads (1908). After her marriage (1909) she produced Elves and Fairies (1916), beautifully produced using native water colours. During the 1920’s she publicly exhibited her work but the fashion for fairies faded and her popularity declined. Ida Outhwaite died (June 25, 1960) aged seventy-two, in Melbourne. After her death her works were eagerly sought after by collectors and historians of children’s literature.

Ouvry, Matilda – (fl. c1850 – 1892) 
Anglo-Indian diarist
Matilda was the wife of Captain Henry A. Ouvry, of the 9th Lancers, stationed in Delhi during the Indian Mutiny (1857 – 1858). Matilda remained in England but her husband kept diaries whilst on active service in India. Some of his letters to her concern the tumultuous events taking place in India at that time. Her own journal entitled A Lady’s Diary before and during the Indian Mutiny was published in Lymington (1892). Her husband’s memoirs, published simultaneously were entitled Cavalry Experiences and Leaves from My Journal.

Overlach, Helene - (1894 - 1983)
German politician and journalist
Helene Overlach was born (July 19, 1894) at Greiz in Thuringia. She became editor-in-chief of the Niedersachsischte Arbeiter-Zeitung in Hanover, and had a seat on the Reichstag (1928 - 1933). Helene Overlach died (Aug 7, 1983) aged eighty-nine, in Berlin.

Ovesey, Regina - (1921 - 2003)
American advertising executive
Regina Haimo was born (Feb 4, 1921) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was raised in Los Angeles in California and attended Stanford University. She was married to the psychoanalyst Lionel Ovesey.
Mrs Ovesey founded Ovesey & Company of which she became chief executive officer , becoming the first female head of an agency to be officially recognized by American Association of Advertising Agencies. She was the author of The Last Word : Exploring Careers in Contemporary Communication (1980). Regina Ovesey died (Dec 13, 2003) aged eighty-two.

Owen, Alice – (c1540 – 1613) 
English philanthropist
Alice Wilkes was the daughter of a wealthy landowner, Thomas Wilkes, of Islington. She was married three times, and she endowed hospitals, almshouses and a school, for which she herself drew up the rules. She left bequests to Cambridge and Oxford universities.

Owen, Grace – (1873 – 1965)
British educator
Grace Owen was born in London and was educated at Blackheath, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She later attended the Royal Academy of Music and travelled to the USA in order to study at Columbia University in New York.Owen was a prominent supporter of the nursery school movement in the USA, and went on the lecture circuit. With her return to England she became a lecturer in education at Manchester University in Lancashire (1906 – 1910) and at Leeds Training College (1913 – 1916). She organized university courses for nursery school teachers, and was appointed as principal of the Mather Training College for nursery and Junior School Teachers (1917 – 1924).
Grace Owen served for a decade as the honorary secretary of the Nursery School Association of Great Britain (1923 – 1933) and published several articles on the subject of nursery education. She was appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by King George V (1931) in recognition of her contribution to children’s education. She remained unmarried. Grace Owen died (Nov 20, 1965) aged ninety-two, at Appleton-le-Moors, York.

Owen, Marie Bankhead – (1869 – 1958)
American historian and dramatist
Marie Bankhead was born (Sept 1, 1869) in Noxubee County, Mississippi, the daughter of John Hollis Bankhead, and his wife Tallulah Brockman. She received her secondary education in Nashville, Tennessee, and was married (1893) to Thomas McAdory Owen. A prominent civic leader and social organizer, Marie Owen was employed as the editor of the women’s section of the Montgomery Advertisier in Alabama (1910 – 1917).
Several years afterwards she was appointed as director of the Alabama State Department of Archives and History, a position she held for over three decades (1920 – 1955). She survived her retirement less than three years. Marie Owen’s many published works included the dramatic work The Acting Governor: A Play in Four Acts (1913), The Battle of Maubilla: First in a Series of Historical Plays in Commemoration of the Close of a Century of Statehood (1919) and The Extra Plate: A Four Act Comedy (1937).
Her historical works included Alabama: A Social and Economic History of the State (1937) and The Story of Alabama: A History of the State (1949). Marie Bankhead Owen died (March 1, 1958) aged eighty-eight, in Montgomery.

Owen, Ruth Bryan     see    Rohde, Ruth Bryan Owen

Owens, Frances Marion    see    Marion, Frances

Oxford, Agnes de Essex, Countess of    see   Essex, Agnes de

Oxford, Anne Cecil, Countess of – (1556 – 1588) 
English poet
Anne Cecil was the daughter of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, famous adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, and his scholarly wife Mildred, who was the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gidea Hall, Romford, in Essex. Anne Cecil was married (1571) to Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), the seventeenth Earl of Oxford, as his first wife, and left three daughters. Lady Oxford wrote several epitaphs to commemorate the death of her only son, Lord Bolbec. They were published by John Sowthern in his, Pandora, the Musyque of the Beautie of His Mistress Diana (1584). Her marriage was unhappy as her husband quarrelled bitterly with Lord Burghley, and took his resentment out on his wife. Queen Elizabeth tried to mediate between the couple, but Anne remained miserable. Countess Anne died at Queen’s Court, Greenwich Palace, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, London.

Oxford, Elizabeth Howard, Countess of Oxford – (1409 – 1476)
English mediaeval heiress
Elizabeth Howard was the only child of Sir John Howard (c1377 – 1411), of Wiggenhall, and his wife Joan Walton, the sister of Sir Richard Walton. Her stepfather was Sir Thomas Erpingham, of Erpingham, Norfolk. She was married (1425) to John de Vere (1408 – 1462), twelfth Earl of Oxford. Lord Oxford declared that he had married Elizabeth on the advice of his guardian Prince Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester but without permission of King Henry VI, and he paid a fine of two thousand pounds. Elizabeth inherited the ancient feudal baronies of Plaiz and Scales, though she never claimed the titles, and neither did Lord Oxford in her name. From her father she inherited the estate of Wivenhoe, part of Colchester in Essex, and a mansion with an impressive gatehouse on the Colne River. Her husband and eldest son were executed by the Yorkists on Tower Hill (1462) and Elizabeth survived her husband as the Dowager Countess of Oxford (1462 – 1476).
Her husband’s estates had been granted by Edward IV to his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) (1471). The countess possessed one-third interest in these estates, but in 1473 the Duke of Gloucester forced Lady Oxford to surrender her entire estate to him. Her son and his associates later complained that the duke had been able to accomplish this ‘” ... by heinous menace abd loss of life and imprisonment.” The spoke of the “ … duke’s covetisse and ungodly disposition” and stated that the Countess’s deprivation of her property was “ … against all reason and good conscience.” She became a nun at the Abbey of Stratford before her death. The countess was interred within the Church of the Austin Friars in London. Her children were,

• Sir Aubrey de Vere (1426 – 1462). He was married but left no issue.
• Lady Mary de Vere (died after 1462). She remained unmarried and became a nun at the Abbey of Barking.
• Lady Joan de Vere (died after 1462). She became the second wife of Sir William Norreys, of Yattendon.
• Lady Elizabeth de Vere (c1435 – before 1466). She became the first wife of William Bourchier (1428 – 1482), Viscount Bourchier.
• John de Vere (1442 – 1513). He succeeded his father as the thirteenth Earl of Oxford (1462 – 1513) and was married but died childless.
• Sir George de Vere (c1444 – 1503). He married and was the father of John de Vere (1499 – 1526) who succeeded his uncle as the fourteenth Earl of Oxford (1513 – 1526).
• Sir Richard de Vere. He was married but died childless.
• Sir Thomas de Vere (1448 – 1489).

Oxford, Elizabeth le Scrope, Countess of – (c1470 – 1537)
English Tudor courtier
Elizabeth le Scrope was the daughter and coheiress of Sir Richard le Scrope and his wife Eleanor Washbourne, the daughter of Norman Washbourne, and was the granddaughter of Henry le Scrope, fourth Baron Scrope of Bolton. Elizabeth was married firstly (1486) to William de Beaumont (1438 – 1507), second Viscount Beaumont, as his second wife. In 1487 her husband lost his reason and was placed in the care of John de Vere (1442 – 1513), thirteenth Earl of Oxford. Lord Beaumont died, still insane, twenty years later, and Lady Beaumont then became the second wife of the Earl of Oxford (1509). She left no surviving issue from either marriage.
From the year of her marriage the countess attended the court of Henry VIII with her sister Margaret, Duchess of Suffolk, and they served as ladies-in-waiting to his first wife Catharine of Aragon.
With her husband’s death she became the Dowager Countess of Oxford for over two decades (1513 – 1537). She obtained confirmation of her Beaumont dower estates by Act of Parliament in the same year. She attended the king and queen on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in France (1520) and the following year King Henry considered ‘old lady Oxford’ for the position of governess to the Princess Mary (1521) though the position was filled instead by Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. The countess later attended the coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn (1533) and with the Countess of Worcester she attended the new queen at her coronation feast which followed. Lady Oxford died (June 26, 1537) aged in her late sixties, and was interred in the parich church at Wivenhoe beside her first husband Lord Beaumont.

Oxford, Hester Davenport, Countess of   see   Davenport, Hester

Oxford, Jane Elizabeth Scott, Countess of – (1772 – 1824)
British society figure and mistress of Lord Byron
Jane Scott was the daughter of Reverend James Scott, Vicar of Itcher Stoke, and his wife Jane Elizabeth Harmood. She married (1794) Edward Harley, fifth earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1773 – 1859), leaving seven children including Alfred Augustus Harley, sixth earl of Oxford. Beautiful and intelligent, the countess devoted herself to free thought and free love. Her lovers included Sir Francis Burnett, the famous radical leader, Lord Archibald Hamilton, and later Lord Byron, and her name was also coupled with that of the Duke of Cumberland, the son of George III. Lady Oxford’s beautiful children, all of uncertain paternity where nicknamed the ‘Harleian Miscellany.’ The countess died (Nov 20, 1824) aged fifty-two, at Craven Hill, in Bayswater, London.

Oxford, Margaret Neville, Countess of – (1446 – 1506)
English Plantagenet courtier
Lady Margaret Neville was the youngest child of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and his wife Alice de Montacute, and was the youngest sister of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, famous as the Kingmaker. Margaret was married (c1463) to John de Vere (1442 – 1513), thirteenth Earl of Oxford (1462 – 1513) as his first wife. Some of her correspondence with the famous Paston family from this period has survived, and reveal the Vere family was sufferring particular pecuniary worries.
During the Lancastrian rebellion (1469 – 1470), Lord Oxford was arrested for complicity, and the countess was forced to flee to sanctuary at St Martin’s-in-the-Field, London for her safety. Oxford’s lands were then granted by Edward IV to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, and Lady Oxford remained in straitened circumstances for some years. Eventually however, Richard III caused a small annuity was paid to Lady Oxford for her maintenance in consideration of her poverty (1484). The Paston letters reveal that Lady Oxford remained active in matters that affected her husband’s estates. There remains a record of the countess ordering Paston (junior) to catch Lord Lovell, who was hiding in the fens, in the name of the king (Henry VII), and to have all ports watched lest he escape abroad (1486). Lady Oxford and Mary Fitz-Lewis, the Dowager Countess Rivers both attended Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII, at her coronation banquet (Nov, 1487). The countess died (Nov 20, 1506) aged sixty, and was interred at Colne Priory.

Ozbirn, Catherine Freeman – (1900 – 1962) 
American organization official
Catherine Ozbirn was born at Era, Texas, and married (1923) E. Lee Ozbirn. She served as president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1960 – 1962, which was the largest women’s organization of its time in the developed world. Catherine served the government in an advisory capacity concerning issues of child welfare and ageing in the community.

Ozilia of Namur – (c1203 – c1250)
Flemish nun and saint
Ozilia of Namur became a Cistercian nun and was companion to St Juliana at the convent of Mount Cornillon in Leige. Ozilia predeceased Juliana, having resided with the Beguins at Namur for some years prior to this event. The church venerated her as a sint (Jan 3). Her name appears first in the calendar of the Cistercian saints compiled by Henriquez the Lilia Cisterci.

Ozy, Alice – (1820 – 1893)
French courtesan
Born Julie Justine Pilloy, she was the daughter of a jeweller. She was placed with a foster mother at a young age who used the girl to draw customers in a shop. She was soon seduced by admirers, and decided that she would make her own living from that profession. An early liasion with an actor introduced her to theatre life, and Julie Justine adopted the new name of Alice Ozy.
Extremely attractive, she retained an air of youthful innocence, and became the mistress of the Duc d’Aumale, son of King Louis Philippe (1830 – 1848). He was besotted her, and escorted Alice publicly, dressed in male attire. However, his lack of fortune caused Alice to become the mistress of the Comte de Perregaux, who in turn, deserted her Marie Duplessis, the original ‘Dame aux Camelias.’
Alice entertained both Victor Hugo and his son Charles as her lovers. She tactlessly chose Charles over his father, on account of his youth, a fact commented upon bitterly by the elder Hugo in his memoirs. Alice Ozy died aged seventy-two, leaving her fortune for the benefit of the children of indigent actors.