Morrell, Lady Ottoline
Name |
| ||||
Birthname | Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish-Bentinck | ||||
born on | 16 June 1873 at 05:30 (= 05:30 AM ) | ||||
Place | London, England, 51n30, 0w10 | ||||
Timezone | GMT h0e (is standard time) | ||||
Data source |
| ||||
Astrology data | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Biography
English aristocrat and society hostess of the Bloomsbury group. Her circle of friends (and lovers) included many authors, artists, sculptors and poets. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befriended writers including Aldous Huxley, T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence, and artists including Mark Gertler and Gilbert Spencer.
In February 1902, she married the MP Philip Morrell, with whom she shared a passion for art and a strong interest in Liberal politics. They shared what would now be known as an open marriage for the rest of their lives. His extramarital affairs produced several children who were cared for by his wife. The Morrells themselves had two children (twins): a son, Hugh, who died in infancy, and a daughter, Julian. Ottoline Morrell's lovers may have included the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the painters Augustus John, and Henry Lamb, the artist Dora Carrington, the art historian Roger Fry, and in her later years, there was even a brief affair with a gardener.
During World War I, the Morrells were notable pacifists, not a popular position then. They invited conscientious objectors such as Duncan Grant, Clive Bell, and Lytton Strachey to take refuge at their home. Siegfried Sassoon recuperated there after an injury.
In 1928 she was diagnosed with cancer, which resulted in a long hospitalization and the removal of her lower teeth and part of her jaw. She died on 21 April 1938.
Relationships
- friend relationship with Eliot, T.S. (born 26 September 1888)
- friend relationship with Huxley, Aldous (born 26 July 1894)
- friend relationship with John, Augustus (born 4 January 1878). Notes: And lover?
- friend relationship with Lawrence, D.H. (born 11 September 1885)
- friend relationship with Russell, Bertrand (born 18 May 1872). Notes: And lover?
- friend relationship with Woolf, Virginia (born 25 January 1882)
- parent->child relationship with Julian Ottoline Vinogradoff (born 18 May 1906)
- role played of/by Swinton, Tilda (born 5 November 1960). Notes: 1993 film, "Wittgenstein"
Events
Source Notes
Sy Scholfield quotes date and place from her birth notice ("On the 16th inst., at No. 5, Portman-square, the wife of Major-General Arthur Cavendish Bentinck, of a daughter" [Times, 18 June 1873, p. 1]), and time of birth from a letter (dated 10 September 1920) written by Morrell to W. B. Yeats, as transcribed in Richard J. Finneran (et al)'s book, "Letters to W. B. Yeats" (London: MacMillan, 1977), p. 367: "I have just heard from my old nurse ... & she says as far as she can remember I was born between 5 & 6 A.M. & I now find Julian was born at 10 P.M. She was a twin - (her little brother died 3 days later)."
Categories
- Passions : Sexuality : Bi-Sexual
- Vocation : Misc. : Other Vocation Misc. (Society hostess)
- Notable : Famous : Royal family (Aristocrat)