Olive schreiner short biography

Olive Schreiner was a writer and feminist and one of the first campaigners for women’s rights. She was also a pacifist. She did not agree with British imperialism in South Africa or with the South African (Anglo-Boer) War 1899-1902 that was fought to achieve it. She opposed racism in whatever form, whether against Boers or Black people, both of whom were ‘underdogs’ in the early part of the 20th century.

Olive was the ninth of twelve children born in 1855 to a Wesleyan missionary couple at Wittebergen near Herschel in the Eastern Cape.

Olive schreiner short biography

She was named Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner after her three older brothers, Oliver (1848-1854), Albert (1843-1843) and Emile (1852-1852), who died before she was born. Her childhood was unsettled and harsh. The family moved from mission station in remote parts of the Eastern Cape, until her father was expelled from the mission for supplementing his income by trading.

Her mother was a stern, rigid woman in a society t