Dorothy Clutterbuck, also "Old Dorothy", (possibly 1880-1951) was a well-to-do woman who lived near Christchurch, England, whom Gerald Gardner claimed to have been initiated into witchcraft by.
Cited as an early influence on modern witchcraft, she was identified by Gardner as his High Priestess and Initrix into Wicca in 1939. He claimed she was head of the New Forest Coven until her death. Some, such as historian Jeffrey Russell, have opined that she was fictitious, invented by Gardner to support his claim that such people still existed and to link his work with the ancient beliefs. Doreen Valiente, a friend of Gardner, reported in Witchcraft for Tomorrow in 1982 to have found her birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate.
Ronald Hutton, in The Triumph of the Moon, examines the historical data on Dorothy Clutterbuck and concludes that she is unlikely to have been involved with Gardner's Craft activities. He suggests that Gardner may have used Clutterbuck to distract attention from 'Dafo', his first priestess.
