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Dorothea 'Elizabeth' Irving
Lady Elizabeth Brunner
DOROTHEA ELIZABETH IRVING (LADY BRUNNER) was born in Hanover Square, London on the 14 April 1904 and died in Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire on the 9 January 2003, aged 98. She was better known throughout her life as 'Elizabeth'.
Elizabeth married SIR FELIX JOHN MORGAN BRUNNER 3RD BARONET in Westminster, London on the 8 July 1926.
Felix, son of Sir John Fowler Brunner and Lucy Marianne Vaughan Morgan, was born in Kensington, London on the 13 October 1897 and died in Henley, Oxford in 1982, aged 85.
He was educated at Cheltenham College, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England and graduated from Trinity College, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, in 1921 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.). He continued his educationa and graduated from Trinity College, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, in 1925 with a Master of Arts (M.A.).
Felix fought in the First World War. He gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the Royal Field Artillery (Special Reserve).
He succeeded to the title of 3rd Baronet Brunner [U.K., 1895] on 16 January 1929 and was president of the Liberal Party Organisation between 1962 and 1963.
OBITUARY: Elizabeth Brunner
Independent, The (London), Jan 15, 2003 by Helen Carey
ELIZABETH BRUNNER was an actress when she married Felix Brunner, grandson of Sir John Brunner Bt, founder of Brunner Mond, in 1926 - the year that Brunner Mond combined with three other chemical companies to form ICI. Eleven years later they bought Greys Court, at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire, the 14th-century house they gave to the National Trust in 1969. But it is for her active involvement in the Women's Institute and the Keep Britain Tidy Group, now an arm of the environmental charity EnCams, that Lady Brunner will be most remembered.
She was born in London in 1904, the daughter of H B Irving, himself an actor and the son of the actor-manager Sir Henry. Her mother, Dorothea Baird, created the parts of Trilby in George du Maurier's 1895 play and Mrs Darling in Peter Pan.
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Elizabeth left Wycombe Abbey School at 16 and studied acting in Oxford, working as an actress until she married, with parts in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Trilby (taking her mother's role), Alice- Sit-by-the-Fire, The Happy Ending, The Pretenders and A V Bramble's silent film of Charlotte Bronte's Shirley. Later, when her work with the WI involved giving speeches, her husband, Sir Felix, remarked that her theatrical background "gave her timing and taught her to use her hands".
The Brunners honeymooned in Switzerland and lived in London, Wiltshire and Sussex before buying Greys Court. There the walled garden, renowned for its roses, wisteria and herbaceous border, is testimony to Elizabeth's great love of plants and gardens. The peony border is a tribute to her belief in the importance of preserving the old while continuing to develop the new. True to her abiding belief in progress, the vegetable garden is in the process of becoming organic.
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Life in Oxfordshire introduced Elizabeth Brunner to the Women's Institute. One of its keenest champions, she was elected national chairman from 1951 to 1956. Earlier, as president of her village WI, and later, as chairman of the Oxfordshire federation, she was interested in all aspects of WI life, the educational as well as the practical. She recognised the importance of this balance and once said: "I can't think how you would live in a village if you didn't belong to the WI. It would be like eating bread and milk instead of a good balanced meal."
Of particular interest to her was the cultural life of a community which, she believed, contributed to spiritual well-being. She actively promoted and made available art, music and drama to a wider audience through membership of the WI.
Her gaiety, enjoyment of life and sense of fun created in members an eagerness to extend their horizons. These skills were apparent when, at the 1945 AGM in London, she proposed the successful resolution of the national executive committee setting up a "Women's Institute College".
From the first suggestion of a college in September 1943, Elizabeth Brunner had felt "it was a new and exciting challenge - just what the WI needed". At a time when there was no provision for adult education in the country, support was strong among academics for the creation of adult residential colleges.
Imagination, courage and tenacity were needed if the college was to become a reality. Elizabeth Brunner had such qualities and largely through her drive the 1945 resolution became reality. Denman College, named after the first NFWI national chairman, Lady (Trudie) Denman, was opened in 1948. For more than 50 years Lady Brunner continued her interest in the college and its development; today almost 6,000 students pass annually through its doors.
The Keep Britain Tidy Group was formed in 1955 as a result of a WI resolution, passed in 1954, asking "that this meeting requests the NFWI Executive Committee to inaugurate a campaign to preserve the countryside against desecration by litter of all kinds". Elizabeth Brunner was the first chairman of the group, initially consisting of more than 20 national organisations with many different interests.
Thanks to her guiding spirit, commitment and love of both urban and rural landscape, Keep Britain Tidy is still the leading campaign on litter. WI members continue to play an important role at local level in improving the quality of life of their local communities with litter reduction and recycling projects.
Elizabeth Brunner had the ability to see the "big picture" as well as to enjoy the simplest details of everyday life, and a gift for friendship that made everyone feel special. So far as the circle of friends in her village was concerned, their lives revolved round the WI - during the Second World War they were a group of women who believed that, at a time of great national need, they could, together, make a difference to the life of their village.
Dorothea Elizabeth Irving, actress and voluntary worker: born London, 14 April 1904; Chairman, Oxford Federation of Women's Institutes 1941- 42, 1945-47, 1949-50; Chairman, National Federation of Women's Institutes 1951-56; Founding Chairman, Keep Britain Tidy Group 1955-56, President 1966-85, Senior Vice-President 1985-2003; OBE 1964; married 1926 Felix Brunner (succeeded 1929 as third Bt, died 1982; three sons, and two sons deceased); died Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire 9 January 2003.
Children of FELIX & DOROTHEA BRUNNER
i JOHN HENRY KILIAN BRUNNER [1668] b.1927
ii NICHOLAS LAURENCE BRODRIBB BRUNNER b. 1 January 1929 and died on the 3 March 1931, aged 2
iii TIMOTHY BARNABAS HANS BRUNNER [1669] b.1932
iv DANIEL FELIX BRODRIBB BRUNNER [1666] b.1933
v HUGO LAURENCE JOSEPH BRUNNER [1667] b.1935
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