Olive Juliet Cockerell (1868-1910) was an English artist and illustrator trained in the Arts and Crafts school. [1] She and her partner later became early pioneers of "French gardening" in the UK. [2] [3]
Cockerell was born in Dulwich, London on 13 September 1868, the daughter of Sydney John Cockerell (1842–1877) and Alice Elizabeth (née Bennett). [4] Her brothers were Sydney Carlyle Cockerell who became director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, [5] [6] [1] the entomologist who settled in the United States, and the bookbinder Douglas Bennett Cockerell. [7] Their maternal grandfather, John Bennett, was described by members of the Cockerell family as 'abominable' and 'something of a monster'. [8]
Cockerell studied at Chiswick School of Art in the late 1880s. [9] She became an artist [10] and illustrator and her drawings earned the admiration of John Ruskin. [11] (p160) Ruskin kept her letters [12] and she visited him at Brantwood, his lake district home, early in 1888. [13] She illustrated children's books authored by A. M. W. Stirling [14] and by Mary De Morgan (a close family friend of William Morris) [15]
Cockerell's brother, Sydney, had worked with William Morris from 1892 as his private secretary, was secretary to Morris' Kelmscott Press and, after Morris died in 1896, he was an executor. [16] This led to Olive visiting Kelmscott in 1901, the home of William Morris and where his wife Jane Morris still spent much of her time. A close and enduring friendship developed between the two women who shared various traits and interests including that for gardening, [11] (p160) Jane Morris wrote that Olive had "promised to come for a long stay in Spring" (of 1902). [13] (p69)
Cockerell's godmother was Octavia Hill who had been a friend of her father and Olive became involved in "slum philanthropy" in the poorer parts of London. [11] (p161) Whilst helping Hill with her work she met Helen Nussey who was carrying out social work in the area. [17] Cockerell and Nussey became friends and decided to undertake the development a French market garden, growing and selling fresh local fruit and vegetables. [17]
In November 1906 Octavia Hill wrote to Olive, concerned about her intention of moving to the country to train as a market gardener in what seemed to be a “complete reversal of occupation”. [2] Cockerell and Nussey started searching for a site to locate the market garden in the autumn of 1907. [18] (p9) Their search started in Hampshire but they eventually chose a site "on the estate of a friend in Sussex", with Chanctonbury Ring visible in the distance. [18] (p12) The garden, c. 2 acres, near Southwater, Horsham, was opened in 1908. [19]
In the early part of the 20th century French gardening was capturing the interest of the UK public (the King, Edward VII, twice visited a French garden) [19] and in 1909 Nussey and Cockerell published the book "A French garden in England: a record of the successes and failures of a first year of intensive culture", which Cockerell also illustrated. [18]
Cockerell suffered a decline in her health and she died of cancer on 24 July 1910 at St. Thomas’s Home (part of St Thomas' Hospital, London). [20] [19]
Her death led to the closure of the market garden which folded in September 1910. [21] [19] Her ashes were scattered onto Coniston Water from Ruskin's boat. [13] (p38)