Arranged in four subseries; chronological within each subseries:
Subseries A: Octavia Wilberforce to Elizabeth Robins, 1916-1950
Subseries B: Elizabeth Robins to Octavia Wilberforce, 1924-1943
Subseries C: General Correspondence, 1918-1963
Subseries D: Printed Material

Subseries A and B are arranged chronologically; Subseries C is alphabetical and then chronological within each folder. For the arrangement of Subseries D, see the folder headings on the box and folder list.

Dates: This series spans the years 1916 to 1963, with the bulk of the materials falling into the period between 1925 and the 1940's. There is no correspondence between Elizabeth Robins and Octavia Wilberforce for the years 1917-1919, 1927, 1929 or 1932-1933.

Octavia Margaret Wilberforce (1888-1963) and Elizabeth Robins met in England in 1908 and remained close friends and companions throughout their lives. Wilberforce was the granddaughter of Samuel Wilberforce (1805-1873), Bishop of Oxford, and the great granddaughter of William Wilberforce (1759 1833), the abolitionist.

Octavia Wilberforce studied medicine, becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (M.R.C.S.) and a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (L.R.C.P.). She worked at the new Sussex Hospital for Women and Children, where Robins was a trustee and board member. In her 1924 letters to Robins, Wilberforce indicated that she had opened a private practice in her home at Brighton. Wilberforce had a successful career and was part of a network of women doctors who provided one another with professional and emotional support and worked for better health care for women and children. [See Marjorie Hubert's correspondence in Subseries C, box 5, folder 4.]

Wilberforce and Robins corresponded often about visitors, personal health, domestic issues and work related matters. Sometimes Wilberforce acted as Robins's informal editor, giving reactions and suggestions to Robins about her literary works. [See for example the 1916 (box 1, folder 1) and 1924 (box 1, folder 4) letters about Camilla and Ancilla's Share in Subseries A.] She and Robins co-authored Prudence and Peter, a cookbook for children, published in 1928.

Wilberforce divided her residence between Montpelier Crescent in Brighton, England, and Backsettown, Robins's country home in Sussex County. In 1927 Robins converted her home to a restplace for overworked women. Wilberforce shared the administration of Backsettown with Robins, and became dedicated to farming and raising dairy cows. Her letters of the 1940's describe the fields and farming methods. The letters written during World War II, when Robins was staying in America, provide insight into the war's effect on daily life in England.

In Subseries C there are letters from Dr. Marjorie Hubert, Florence Bell and Mrs. Yates Thompson, who were all members of a close circle of friends that Wilberforce and Robins shared. There are also letters from Raymond Robins and George Bernard Shaw. [A photocopy of Wilberforce's unpublished autobiography, "The Eighth Child" is an addendum to the collection through the generosity of the Fawcett Library, City of London Polytechnic.]