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10 Facts About Octavia Wilberforce

1.

Octavia Wilberforce was an English physician who made a medical career despite opposition from her parents, with support from Elizabeth Robins.

2.

Octavia Wilberforce was in general practice in Brighton, and ran a women's shelter near Henfield.

3.

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.

5.

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.

6.

Octavia Wilberforce was born at Lavington House, Petworth, Sussex, and had little format education.

7.

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.

8.

From 1923 Octavia Wilberforce was in general practice in Brighton, retiring in 1954.

9.

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.