Octavia Wilberforce was an English physician who made a medical career despite opposition from her parents, with support from Elizabeth Robins.
10 Facts About Octavia Wilberforce
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Octavia Wilberforce was in general practice in Brighton, and ran a women's shelter near Henfield.
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Octavia Wilberforce treated Virginia Woolf's mental illness in the final years of Woolf's life.
4.
Octavia Wilberforce was friends with multiple members of the Bloomsbury Group.
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Octavia Margaret Wilberforce was the daughter and eighth child of Reginald Garton Wilberforce, son of Samuel Wilberforce, and his wife, Anna Maria Denman, daughter of Richard Denman; her great-grandfather was Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman and her paternal great-grandfather was William Wilberforce.
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Octavia Wilberforce was born at Lavington House, Petworth, Sussex, and had little format education.
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Octavia Wilberforce's parents planned for her to marry Charles Buxton, son of Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton, but the match was against her wishes and she refused him.
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From 1923 Octavia Wilberforce was in general practice in Brighton, retiring in 1954.
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The Woolfs came to know Octavia Wilberforce, who lived with Robins in Brighton, on a social basis at this point.
10.
Octavia Wilberforce subsequently advised Virginia on the lines of her treatment of exhausted women at Backsettown, a farmhouse belonging to Robins.