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
Radford, Dolly	Caroline (known as Dollie or Dolly) Maitland (1858 - 1920) was a British writer and poet. In 1883 sh...
Reitz, Bessie	Bessie Reitz was the daughter of Frank Reitz and thus a niece of Fan Schreiner’s, and she late...
Reitz, Frank (Francis) William	Francis William Reitz (1844 - 1934) was a South African politician and for a time President of the O...
Rhodes, Cecil John	Cecil John Rhodes (1853 - 1902) was a mining magnate, Cape politician and arch-imperialist in southe...
Rhys, Ernest	Ernest Percival Rhys (1859 - 1946) was an English writer and editor, now best known for his role as ...
Rhys Davids, Caroline Augusta Foley	Caroline Rhy Davids nee Foley (1857 - 1942) was a British Pali scholar and translator, the daughter ...
Rhys Davids, Thomas	Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843 - 1922) was an Orientalist scholar who had studied Greek and Sanskr...
Riley, Fred	Fred Riley was the artist husband of Schreiner’s friend Nelly Riley nee Pruse, also an artist....
Ritchie, Professor and Mrs D G	David George Ritchie (1853 - 1903) and his second wife Ellen Sara Haycraft, who he married in 1889, ...
Roberts, Mary King	Mary Roberts nee King was a friend of Schreiner’s who married Cambridge academic Dr Robert Dav...
Roberts, Dr Robert Davies	Robert Davies Roberts (1851 - 1911) was a geologist, Cambridge academic and pioneer in the Universit...
Roberts Brothers	Roberts Brothers (1857-1898) was a bookbinding and publishing firm based in Boston, USA. Roberts Bro...
Robinson, Reverend Zadok	Schreiner stayed at the home of the Rev. Zadok Robinson and his wife Susanna in the small South Afri...
Rolland, Elizabeth	Elizabeth Rolland (nee Lyndall) was the half-sister of Rebecca Schreiner. She had travelled to the C...
Rolland, Emile	Emile Rolland, Schreiner’s cousin and a son of Elizabeth and Samuel Rolland, was married to Ma...
Rolland, Emma	Emmie Rolland, Schreiner’s cousin and a daughter of Elizabeth and Samuel Rolland, was married ...
Rolland, Maggie	Maggie Rolland was the wife of Schreiner’s cousin Emile Rolland. Schoeman speculates that Lill...
Roos, Tielman	Tielman Johannes De Villiers Roos (1879 - 1935) was a South African politician, advocate and eventua...
Rosenberg, Issac	Isaac Rosenberg (1890 - 1918) was a working class British artist and poet. He grew up mainly in the ...
Rubusana, Walter	Walter Benson Rubusana (1858 - 1936) was a South African church minister and political leader. He wa...
Russell, Bertrand	Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 - 1970) was a British philosopher, journalist, social commenta...