11/08/2026
On this day … in 1926
On the 11th August 1926 Octavia received the keys to number 11 Newnham Road, re-named ‘The Haven’ by the Panacea Society.
The house, built in 1882, was bought in 1923 by Kate Firth, one of the founding members of the Panacea Society. Kate, who was close friends with Mabel ‘Octavia’ Barltrop, allowed the use of the house by the Society.
Mabel /Octavia especially enjoyed the large garden and an opening was made in the wall adjoining Mabel’s house (12 Albany Road). However, early in 1926 things took a turn, the friendship of 20 years came abruptly to an end, and the Society no longer had the use of The Haven.
In November 1925 Leonard Squire Tucker came to Bedford, to meet Octavia with the view of joining the Panacea Society. Octavia enjoyed hosting parties and planned a musical evening where Kate and Leonard were to perform together. They spent some time together practicing and in January were seen at the theatre without a chaperone!
On 6th March 1926 Kate and Leonard left the Society, and the following six months was known as ‘The Silence’. Through her solicitor, Kate instructed the Society to remove all their belongings from the house and for the opening in the garden wall to be bricked up. Mabel/Octavia seems to have particularly missed access to the large garden. At this time Castleside was still a boarding house for schoolboys.
On the evening of August 10th, 1926 the wall between 12 Albany Road and The Haven was taken down. The Society’s chronicler Rachel Fox records “We sat facing the bricked up doorway, watching the gradual enlarging of the opening, seeing first a peep of the sky, then the tree Yggdrasil, and finally, the whole garden of The Haven ! … Imagine our joy as we stepped out into the Garden, and all joined hands and danced round the big lawn in a circle, for we could hardly contain our joy at the rescue of the garden for Octavia.”
The following day [11th August] the keys were handed over to Octavia. At midday a special service of thanksgiving was held; “On this evening, The Divine Mother [Emily Goodwin], entering the Blue Room, exclaimed to Octavia: “You are in your own house … This house shall be a house of rest and peace and joy, and all living in it and coming into it shall know that My Daughter [Octavia/Mabel] is the Head and shall all be under her subjection and rule.” “I spake the Word to her who is our Leader, that the Haven, purchased for My Work would be Mine … ‘I will have that house; it shall be My Haven of Rest.’ … The Blessed Water was then sprinkled in the corners of all the rooms.”
The first image shows Octavia in the 'Blue Room' c.1934, with 'Shiloh's Cradle' next to her.
