Dramatis Personae

The ‘Dramatis Personae’ provides biographical and other information about all the people to whom Olive Schreiner wrote letters, and also concerning a large number of the people her letters mention as well. Where appropriate and possible, references to the South African and the Oxford dictionaries of national biography and also other relevant publications have been provided.

Just click on the letters of the alphabet below to see the information. In addition, clicking on the live links on people’s names in Olive Schreiner’s letters will also take you straight to this information.

Key:  signifies the person is a recipient (and mentioned) |  signifies the person is only mentioned

Name	Description
Barnato, Barney	Barnett Isaacs (‘Barney’) Barnato (1852 - 1897) was a key figure in the early developmen...
Barrett, Wilson	William Henry Barrett (1846 - 1904), known as Wilson Barrett, was a British playwright and actor. He...
Basson, Pierre	Pierre Corneille Faculys Basson, “in all probability, South Africa’s first mass murderer...
Batthyany, Lily	Lilly Batthyany was the wife of the Hungarian aristocrat Count Ervin Batthyany, a friend of Edward C...
Batthyanys (The)	See Lilly Batthyany
Battie, Miss	Miss Battie was a typist who Schreiner approached to type some of her manuscripts. No further inform...
Beit, Alfred	Alfred Beit (1853-1906) was a mining magnate, close associate of Cecil Rhodes, and played a key role...
Benet, Ian	No further information about this person is available.
Bertram, Willie	John William Bertram (1845 - 1879) was the son of Rev J.P. Bertram, Gottlob Schreiner’s predec...
Besant, Annie	Annie Besant nee Wood (1847-1933) was a British social activist, theosophist and campaigner. In 1867...
Beyers, General Christiaan Frederik	Christiaan Frederik Beyers (1869 - 1914) was an important Boer general during the 1899-1902 South Af...
Bland, Edith	Edith Bland nee Nesbit (1858 - 1924) was a well-known British writer. She married Hubert Bland in 18...
Bolus, Lily	Lily Bolus (1877 - 1970) was a botanist and former teacher at the Port Elizabeth Collegiate School f...
Boonzaier, Daniel Cornelis	Daniel Cornelis Boonzaier (1865 - 1950) was a South African caricaturist and political cartoonist, a...
Botha, Louis	Louis Botha (1862 - 1919) was a Boer general, South African politician, and then first Prime Ministe...
Brackenbury, Georgiana	Georgiana Brackenbury (1865 - 1949) was an important figure in the British women’s suffrage mo...
Brackenbury, Mrs Hilda	Hilda Brackenbury (1832 - 1918) was the mother of Georgiana Brackenbury and an important figure in t...
Brackenburys (The)	Refers to Georgiana Brackenbury and
Broadbent, Sir William	Sir William Henry Broadbent (1835-1907) was a British physician. He became a renowned expert on both...
Brown, Arthur	Arthur Brown married Schreiner’s niece Effie Hemming in 1903. There are three extant letters f...
Brown, John	Dr John Brown (1842 - 1929) was a medical doctor, originally from Scotland, but who with his wife Ma...
Brown, Julie	Julia Mary Brown was a daughter of Schreiner’s friends John and Mary Brown. She occasionally n...
Brown, Mary	Mary Brown nee Solomon (1847 - 1935) was the third daughter of Henry Solomon and niece of the Cape p...
Brown, Rachel	Rachel ‘Ray’ Brown was a daughter of Schreiner’s friends John and Mary Brown. She ...
Browns (The)	Refers to John Brown and
Butler, Josephine	Josephine Elizabeth Butler nee Grey (1828-1906) was a British social reformer and campaigner for wom...
Butler, General/Sir William Frances	William Francis Butler (1838 - 1910) was a British army officer and author. Of Irish birth he joined...