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
Hadden, Mrs	Mrs Hadden appears to have been a neighbour of Schreiner’s, but whether in Kimberley, Johannes...
Haddon, Caroline	Caroline Haddon was the sister of Margaret Haddon, who married James Hinton. Caroline Haddon ran a g...
Haggard, H Rider	Sir (Henry) Rider Haggard (1856 - 1925) was a British novelist and is often now most closely associa...
Haldane Murrays (The)	Refers to Minnie Murray and
Hall, H Fielding	Harold Fielding Hall was the author of The Soul of a People (1898), a book which had a profou
Hardie, Keir	(James) Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915) was the founder of the British Labour Party and also of the newspa...
Harkness, Margaret	Margaret (‘Maggie’) Elise Harkness (1854 - 1923) was a British writer and journalist, an...
Harris, Frank	James Thomas (Frank) Harris (1856 - 1931) was a British journalist and from 1886 he edited the influ...
Harte, Bret	Bret Harte (1836 - 1902) was an American novelist. Schreiner makes repeated reference in her letters...
Hay, William	William Hay (1845 - 1932) with his brother George was founder of the Cape Mercury, a n
Hemming, Alice	Alice Elizabeth Hemming nee Schreiner (1845 - 1884) was Olive Schreiner’s second eldest sister...
Hemming, Effie	Ethelwyn (‘Effie’) Brown nee Hemming was one of the daughters of Alice Hemming nee Schre...
Hemming, Elbert	Elbert Hemming was one of the children of Schreiner’s sister Alice Hemming and her husband Rob...
Hemming, Guy	Guy Hemming was one of the children of Schreiner’s sister Alice Hemming and her husband Robert...
Hemming, Robert	Robert Campbell Hemming, son a prominent Cape Town civil servant, married Olive Schreiner’s si...
Hemming, Wynnie	Winifred or Wynnie Hemming was a daughter of Alice Hemming nee Schreiner and her husband Robert, and...
Henderson, James	James Henderson (1867 - 1930) was a Presbyterian missionary in South Africa and the third principal ...
Hertzog, Barry	James Barry Munnik Hertzog (1866 - 1942) was a Boer general and South African politician. He studied...
Hinton, Daisy	Daisy Hinton was the younger of Margaret and James Hinton’s two daughters. She appears to have...
Hinton, Howard	Howard Hinton was the son of James Hinton. He seems to have shared some of his father’s sexual...
Hinton, James	James Hinton (1822 - 1875) was a British aural surgeon and writer on political, social, sexual and r...
Hinton, Margaret	Margaret Haddon (born 1825/6) was the daughter of John Haddon, a printer. She married James Hinton i...
Hobhouse, Emily	Emily Hobhouse (1860 - 1926) was a British social reformer and charity worker. Hobhouse’s moth...
Hobson, John Atkinson	John Atkinson Hobson (1858 - 1940) was a British economist, sociologist and social theorist who wrot...
Hodgson, Joan	Joan Wickham married Schreiner’s friend John Hodgson in August 1918. Her brief ‘reminisc...
Hodgson, John Lawrence	John Hodgson was an engineer and would be literary figure who became a friend of Olive Schreiner?s d...
Hofmeyr, Jan Hendrick	Jan Hendrik (‘Onze Jan’) Hofmeyr (1845 - 1909) was a prominent Cape politician and newspaper editor....
Holub, Emil	Emil Holub (1847 - 1902) was a doctor and explorer, and of Czech birth. After studying medicine he w...
Hope, Hamilton	Hamilton Hope was the husband of Schreiner’s cousin Emmie Hope nee Rolland. Olive Schreiner st...
Hopkins, Ellice	Ellice Hopkins (1836 - 1904) was a British social activist who campaigned against sexual double stan...
Hunt, Albert	Albert Hunt was an employee of the Castle Mail Packets Company owned by Donald Currie. SchreinerR...
Hyett, Ida	Ida Hyett was Edward Carpenter's niece, the daughter of his sister Ellen and her husband Francis Ada...