Noel A. Gillespie was born December 25, 1904, in Crownbrook, Mayrow Road, Sydenham, England. He was christened Noel Alexander Rieder but on October 10, 1918, he legally changed his name to Noel Alexander Gillespie, after his grandmother Gillespie. His father, Andre Rieder, was a native of France but very little information is found about him in this collection, probably due to the fact he died on January 23, 1912, when Noel was seven. His mother, Emily (Farber) Rieder, was originally from New York, became a naturalized English citizen, and upon the death of her husband again took up her American citizenship but resided in England.
Mrs. Rieder was a world traveler, linguist, and lecturer active in women's and humanitarian movements. Her interests included the International Alliance of Cultural Relations and the feminist movement. Her lyceum lectures on the Near and Middle East concerned social and political questions. She died on January 22, 1935, having lectured in many countries between 1912 and 1924. It is because she and her son corresponded so faithfully that one is able to learn of the activities of both.
As a young boy, Noel Gillespie attended Peekskill Military Academy and the Elms at Colwall, England. His college and university days were spent at Oxford. At the age of nineteen he took a break from his studies and journeyed to Africa with Doctor Albert Schweitzer, working there with him from January to October, 1924. A detailed account of his time spent with Schweitzer is recorded in Noel's correspondence to his mother while he was there.
Gillespie returned to Oxford and continued to study, in 1931 receiving his highest degree as a medical doctor. He was appointed an anesthesiologist at London Hospital on May 30, 1934. Also in the 1930s, Gillespie traveled to the U.S. for a visit and spent some time in Madison, Wisconsin. Eventually, in May of 1939, he returned to the University Hospitals in Madison, having resigned from London Hospital in March 1939. At Wisconsin, Gillespie was a professor in the Anesthesiology Department of the medical school, where he became well known in his field.
It may be noted that N. A. Gillespie was devoted to the Anglican and Episcopal churches and had very close friendships with several clergymen, especially with Philip T. B. (Tubby) Clayton, probably due to his activities in Toc H and boy scouting in England. Gillespie never married, and died October 22, 1955 in Madison, at the age of fifty-one.
