Olive Temple
Scottish traveller and author (1880–1936)
Olive Susan Miranda Temple (née MacLeod; 18 February 1880 – 16 May 1936) was a Scottish writer and traveller, known for her work in natural history and ethnography. In 1910–1911, she journeyed 6,000 km (3,700 mi) through parts of Africa little known to Europeans to visit her fiancé's grave, and later published a book based on her observations. In Africa, she later met and married the colonial official Charles Lindsay Temple, and wrote a second book about the geography and ethnography of Northern Nigeria. The couple eventually settled in Granada.
Origins
Olive Susan Miranda MacLeod was born on 18 February 1880, the younger daughter of Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod, the Chief of Clan MacLeod, by his wife, Lady Agnes Mary Cecilia, daughter of the 1st Earl of Iddesleigh. Her older sister was Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod.
First journey
Olive MacLeod was noted in her day as "one of the most intrepid of lady explorers". Her fiancé, the explorer Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, was murdered in 1910 during a dispute with some local inhabitants while travelling on the borderlands of Wadai to the north-east of Lake Chad. He was buried beside his brother Claud at Maifoni, a British Post near Lake Chad. MacLeod, who was distraught, endeavoured to visit his distant grave.
The public source identifies “Olive Temple” as scottish traveller and author (1880–1936). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Olive, Temple and Scottish.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q18733702. VIAF identifies the subject as 43843860. The Library of Congress control number is no00047564. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1936, 1910 and 1911.
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This entry incorporates text from “Olive Temple” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.