Annie E[lizabeth Fredericka] Horniman

Horniman, Annie E[lizabeth Fredericka] (1860-1937), founding patron of the Abbey Theatre. An English tea-merchant heiress, she was educated at the Slade School of Art and met W. B. Yeats through the Order of the Golden Dawn in London. She began subsidizing the Irish National Theatre Society in 1903, purchasing for it the disused theatre in Abbey Street in 1904. She commenced paying professional salaries in 1905, but strongly opposed a policy of nationalist plays, leading to a rift with the management and members of the company. The final break occurred when the theatre remained open during the period of mourning for Edward VII in 1910. She sold out to the directors on favourable terms. Her subsequent work in Manchester, continuing until 1917, contributed greatly to the English repertory theatre movement.

Annie Horniman, a British dramatist and student of magic, was born on October 3, 1860, in Forest Hill, England, and grew up in Surrey. Her grandfather, a wealthy Quaker tea merchant, invented the tea bag. Her father made the pilgrimage from Quakerism to Congregationalism to the Church of England. He served for a number of years as a Member of Parliament. His inherited wealth allowed him to travel widely and he assembled a large collection of artifacts from around the world that he housed in a private museum.

In 1882 Horniman entered Slade School of Art (an affiliate of the University of London), where she met Mina Bergson (later Moina Mathers). She was eventually led to the magical order founded by Mina's husband, Samuel L. MacGregor Mathers, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (HOGD). She was initiated in 1890 and took the magical name/motto Fortiter et Rocte. She progressed rapidly, and the following year was the first initiate in the more advanced Second Order. In 1893 she became the subPraemonstrator of the Isis Urania Temple.

That same year, Horniman received a substantial inheritance from her grandfather that allowed her to enter into the world of the theater by backing the production of a series of dramas staged by Florence Farr, another HOGD member. She also became a major financial backer of Mathers as he continued to develop the Golden Dawn.

In 1896 Horniman emerged as the opponent within the Golden Dawn of Dr. Edward Beveridge, who advocated the occult sexual theories of Thomas Lake Harris, the American communal leader. Horniman felt that Harris' teachings were immoral. When Mathers sided with Beveridge, she resigned as subPraemonstrator of Isis Urania. She continued as scribe for several years, but in 1903 had a final break with Mathers. Before the end of the year, she was expelled from the order. In the following years she threw herself into theater work and in the 1930s would be honored for her contributions to the British stage.

After many years away from the occult, in 1921 Horniman joined the Quest Society formed by theosophist George R. S. Mead. She died on August 6, 1937.

Sources:

Greer, Mary K. Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priest-esses. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street Press, 1995.

King, Francis. Ritual Magic in England. London: Neville Spearman, 1970.

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