# Elizabeth Irving
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elizabeth_Irving
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elizabeth_Irving.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Irving
> Source revision: 1355889442
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|British actress}}
{{for|Native American writer and editor|Elizabeth Cook-Lynn}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Elizabeth Irving
| honorific_suffix = [OBE](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire), [JP](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace)
| image = elizabeth-irving-brunner.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Elizabeth, Lady Brunner in 1953
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|4|14|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|1|9|1904|4|14|df=y}}
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = actor
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
'''Dorothea Elizabeth Irving, Lady Brunner''', [OBE](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire), [JP](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace) (14 April 1904 – 9 January 2003), was a British actress, the daughter of actors [H. B. Irving](/source/H._B._Irving) and [Dorothea Baird](/source/Dorothea_Baird), and the granddaughter of [Victorian era](/source/Victorian_era) stage star [Henry Irving](/source/Henry_Irving). Her older brother was the [Hollywood](/source/Cinema_of_the_United_States) [set designer](/source/Scenic_design) and [art director](/source/art_director) [Laurence Irving](/source/Laurence_Irving_(set_designer)). Elizabeth Irving was the Chairman of the National Federation of [Women's Institute](/source/Women's_Institute)s (W.I.) and in 1955 founded the ''[Keep Britain Tidy](/source/Keep_Britain_Tidy)'' Group, acting as President of the Group for 19 years from 1966.[{{cite web |last1=Wareham |first1=Stephanie |title=The autumnal beauty of trees across Buckinghamshire |url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/19556605.autumnal-beauty-trees-across-buckinghamshire/ |website=Bucks Free Press |date=4 September 2021 |access-date=14 September 2021}}]
== Life ==
Born at 1 [Upper Woburn Place](/source/Upper_Woburn_Place), London, in 1904, Dorothea Elizabeth Irving usually went by her middle name of Elizabeth. She was educated at home, at [South Hampstead High School](/source/South_Hampstead_High_School) and, when the family moved to [Oxford](/source/Oxford) in 1916, at [Oxford High School](/source/Oxford_High_School_(Oxford)), before moving to [Wycombe Abbey School](/source/Wycombe_Abbey_School). Irving left school at 16 to study acting in Oxford and London, making her stage debut aged 12 in ''[The Bells](/source/The_Bells_(play))'', in which her father had a leading role. Her early roles as an adult actress were as Titania in ''[A Midsummer Night's Dream](/source/A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream)'', in [Henrik Ibsen](/source/Henrik_Ibsen)'s ''[The Pretenders](/source/The_Pretenders_(play))'' and in [George du Maurier](/source/George_du_Maurier)'s ''[Trilby](/source/Trilby_(novel))''. She also had a role in [A. V. Bramble](/source/A._V._Bramble)'s silent film version of [Charlotte Brontë](/source/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB)'s ''[Shirley](/source/Shirley_(novel))'' (1922).[[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1420228/Elizabeth-Lady-Brunner.html Obituary] in ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'' 28 January 2003]
She married Sir [Felix Brunner](/source/Felix_Brunner), Baronet, (1897–1982), a businessman and the son of Sir John Fowler Brunner, 2nd Bt. and Lucy Marianne Vaughan Morgan, on 8 July 1926. They had five sons. After her marriage Irving gave up acting, and became Lady Brunner in 1929 on the death of her husband's father, the 2nd [baronet](/source/baronet).[ She held the office of [Justice of the Peace](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace) (J.P.) for Oxfordshire in 1946.][Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 556] In 1937 they bought [Greys Court](/source/Greys_Court) in [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire), and donated the house to the [National Trust](/source/National_Trust_for_Places_of_Historic_Interest_or_Natural_Beauty) in 1969 but continued to live there.[
From 1951 to 1956 she was the Chairman of the National Federation of [Women's Institute](/source/Women's_Institute)s (W.I.) and in 1955 founded the [Keep Britain Tidy](/source/Keep_Britain_Tidy) Group.][{{Cite web |url=http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/AboutUs/OurHistory/Default.aspx |title=History of the ''Keep Britain Tidy'' Campaign |access-date=2010-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106100100/http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/AboutUs/OurHistory/Default.aspx |archive-date=2013-01-06 |url-status=dead }}] She was President of the group for 19 years from 1966, after which she was its senior vice-president. She was appointed an [Officer of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (O.B.E.) in 1964 for her work with the [Keep Britain Tidy](/source/Keep_Britain_Tidy) Campaign. She was the Chairman of the Women's Group on Public Welfare for ten years from 1960, and Chairman of the Henley and District Housing Trust.[Shirley Anglesey, 'Brunner, (Dorothea) Elizabeth, Lady Brunner (1904–2003)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oxford University Press, Jan 2007; online edn, Jan 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/88723, accessed 3 March 2010]] From 1968 to 1971 she was a member of the General Advisory Council of the [BBC](/source/BBC).[ The Brunner Buildings at [Denman College](/source/Denman_College), the [Women's Institute](/source/Women's_Institute)'s own Residential Adult Education College near Oxford, are named after her.
Elizabeth Lady Brunner died of heart failure at her home, [Greys Court](/source/Greys_Court), in [Rotherfield Greys](/source/Rotherfield_Greys), [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire) on 9 January 2003 aged 98.
One of her three surviving sons is Sir [Hugo Brunner](/source/Hugo_Brunner) [KCVO](/source/Royal_Victorian_Order) [JP](/source/Justice_of_the_Peace), [Lord Lieutenant](/source/Lord_Lieutenant) of [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire), [England](/source/England), between 1996 and 2008. He edited her posthumous account of her childhood to the point when she made her stage debut and published it, with a summary of the rest of her life, in 2010 as ''Child of the Theatre'' (Perpetua Press, Oxford).
==See also==
*[Irving family](/source/Irving_family)
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://thepeerage.com/p18636.htm#i186359 Irving on the Peerage.com]
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/elizabeth-brunner-124191.html Obituary] in ''[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)'' 15 January 2003
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1420228/Elizabeth-Lady-Brunner.html Obituary] in ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'' 28 January 2003
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Elizabeth}}
Category:1904 births
Category:2003 deaths
Category:Actresses from London
Elizabeth
Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey
Category:English stage actresses
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:English people of Cornish descent
Category:People educated at South Hampstead High School
Category:People educated at Oxford High School, England
Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts
Category:Wives of baronets
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Elizabeth Irving](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Irving) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Irving?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
]