Josephine Burge is best known as the second wife of British actor Oliver Reed, but her life also includes a second marriage and involvement in a food business in Ireland. She married Reed in 1985 and remained his wife until his death in 1999. In 2001, she married Walter Ryan-Purcell in County Cork.
Although her name is closely associated with Reed’s film career, Josephine also participated in Loughbeg Farm, an Irish food business documented in local reporting during the 2010s.
Her story is more than a celebrity marriage. Contemporary newspaper reports, archived photographs, and Irish business records provide a clearer picture of her life, including details often missing from short online biographies.
Who Is Josephine Burge?
Josephine Burge became publicly known through her relationship with Oliver Reed, an English actor famous for his powerful performances and unconventional public image.
Reed appeared in major films including Oliver!, Women in Love, The Three Musketeers, and Gladiator. His career made him an established figure in British cinema long before he met Josephine.
The couple married on September 7, 1985, at a register office in Epsom, Surrey. Josephine was 21 at the time.
Their marriage lasted nearly 14 years, ending when Reed died in Malta on May 2, 1999.
Two years later, Josephine remarried. Her subsequent activities in Ireland included work connected with farming and food production.
Josephine Burge’s Age and Early Life
Josephine was 21 when she married Oliver Reed in September 1985.
A Reuters report published by the Los Angeles Times on September 10, 1985, recorded her age at the wedding. The Irish Examiner subsequently reported that she was 37 in May 2001.
These contemporary reports indicate that she was born around 1963 or 1964. Her exact birth date is not established by those accounts.
That would make her approximately 62 or 63 years old in November 2026.
Detailed information about her childhood, formal education, and early employment is not established by the major contemporary reports covering her marriages.
How Did Josephine Burge Meet Oliver Reed?
Josephine Burge and Oliver Reed began their relationship around 1980, approximately five years before their wedding.
According to the Reuters report published in September 1985, Josephine was 16 when they started dating. Reed was already in his early forties and had an established acting career.
Their significant age difference attracted press criticism.
Reed acknowledged that criticism when speaking to reporters following the wedding. He regarded their marriage as an answer to those who had doubted the relationship.
The couple’s relationship developed during a period when Reed was already widely known for both his acting talent and his heavy drinking.
However, Josephine’s personal experience of those early years is less extensively recorded than Reed’s public behavior.
Their Wedding in September 1985
Josephine and Reed married on September 7, 1985, in Epsom, Surrey.
The ceremony was a civil wedding lasting approximately ten minutes, according to Reuters.
Archival photography provides independent evidence of the occasion. A photograph by Terry Fincher, preserved in the Getty Images collection, identifies the couple at the Epsom register office on September 7, 1985.
Reed had previously been married to Irish model Kate Byrne.
His marriage to Josephine was his second.
Married Life in Ireland
During their later years together, Josephine Burge and Oliver Reed established a home in County Cork, Ireland.
By March 1995, their residence in Cork was already mentioned in an interview with Reed published by The Independent.
The couple became associated with Churchtown, a village in County Cork.
Reed’s life there was markedly different from the film locations and entertainment circles associated with his career.
Although he remained internationally recognizable, Churchtown became an important part of his final years.
Local residents knew him as a regular visitor to the village’s pubs.
Josephine shared this period of Reed’s life, although newspaper coverage continued to focus primarily on the actor.
Did Josephine Burge Have Children With Oliver Reed?
Oliver Reed had two children from relationships that preceded his marriage to Josephine.
His son Mark was born during his first marriage to Kate Byrne. His daughter Sarah came from his relationship with dancer Jacquie Daryl.
These family details were recorded in Reed’s obituary published by The Guardian in May 1999.
Contemporary biographical accounts do not identify any biological children from Reed’s marriage to Josephine.
It is therefore important to distinguish Reed’s two children from Josephine’s subsequent family life following her remarriage.
Oliver Reed’s Death in 1999
Oliver Reed died on May 2, 1999, in Malta while working on Ridley Scott’s historical film Gladiator.
He was 61 years old.
His death occurred before the film was completed. Gladiator was subsequently released in 2000, with Reed appearing as Proximo, a former gladiator who trains fighters.
Reed’s body was returned to Ireland for burial.
His funeral took place on May 15, 1999, at St James’s Church in Mallow, County Cork.
Josephine attended alongside other family members, friends, and figures associated with Reed’s career.
According to The Irish Times, the funeral attracted hundreds of mourners and considerable attention from people living in the surrounding area.
Reed was buried in Churchtown, where he had spent his later years.
Josephine was 35 or 36 when her first husband died.
Josephine Burge’s Second Marriage to Walter Ryan-Purcell
Josephine Burge’s life after Reed’s death included a second marriage.
She married Walter Ryan-Purcell, an Irish businessman with family connections to County Cork, on July 21, 2001.
The marriage was covered in contemporary reports by the Irish Examiner.
At the time, Ryan-Purcell worked as the manager of a recycling factory.
How Did Josephine Meet Walter Ryan-Purcell?
In an interview published by the Irish Examiner on May 15, 2001, Ryan-Purcell explained that he and Josephine had met approximately ten months after Reed’s death.
He proposed during a visit to Glandore, a coastal village in West Cork.
Before proposing, he had asked Josephine’s mother for her approval.
He also explained that he had given Josephine a horse instead of an engagement ring, partly to prevent news of their plans from spreading before the announcement.
The couple arranged to marry at Ryan-Purcell’s ancestral family property in Churchtown.
Their wedding was scheduled for July 21, 2001.
A second Irish Examiner report published that day described the planned ceremony and preparations.
Father Patrick Joseph Twohig conducted the religious service. The report explained that Josephine wanted a relatively straightforward ceremony, with only three hymns.
The marriage marked another important chapter in her life in Ireland.
Josephine Burge’s Career: Her Work at Loughbeg Farm
One of the most useful details about Josephine Burge’s later life is her involvement in Loughbeg Farm, a food-producing business in West Cork.
This connection is documented in local food reporting and commercial company information.
It also provides an important correction to biographies that describe Josephine solely through her relationship with Oliver Reed.
Farming and Food Production in West Cork
During the 2010s, Josephine and Walter Ryan-Purcell operated Loughbeg Farm near Schull, County Cork.
The farm was associated with agricultural products, goats, specialty foods, and locally produced bread.
A May 2014 report published by the Irish food website Restaurants and Food, also known as CorkBilly, described Josephine and Walter as running the farm together.
The writer had met Josephine at Schull Country Market, where the business offered specialty products.
These included chutneys and goat’s-milk ice cream.
The farm subsequently became associated with oat-based bread and other food products.
In September 2015, the same publication reported on a visit to Loughbeg Farm.
The journalist described Josephine and Walter raising goats and pigs, growing vegetables, and developing the farm’s food business.
During the visit, Josephine was observed packing large quantities of bread for distribution.
By January 2017, the publication reported that the couple had experimented with recipes for the farm’s oat loaf.
Loughbeg had also benefited from the SuperValu Food Academy, an initiative supporting small Irish food producers.
These reports establish that Josephine had practical involvement in food production and business activities during that period.
Her Connection to Loughbeg Farm Foods Limited
Commercial records provide another connection between Josephine and the business.
The company information service Global Database identifies Josephine Ryan-Purcell as a director of Loughbeg Farm Foods Limited.
The company was incorporated on October 25, 2013, under Irish registration number 534576.
The database also identifies Walter Ryan-Purcell as company secretary and lists both as shareholders.
The company profile currently labels the business inactive. However, its available financial data is historical and does not establish Josephine’s present employment or the operating status of every activity associated with the farm.
The important distinction is that Josephine Burge had a documented business role beyond her marriage to Oliver Reed.
Her involvement in Loughbeg Farm is one of the clearest independently documented parts of her later professional life.
Where Is Josephine Burge Now?
Josephine Burge’s later life has been associated with West Cork, particularly through her marriage to Walter Ryan-Purcell and their food business.
Local reporting placed the couple in the Schull area during the 2010s.
The 2014, 2015, and 2017 accounts provide specific evidence of their participation in local food production.
However, these historical records do not establish Josephine’s exact residence, professional activities, or marital circumstances in November 2026.
Her earlier connection to West Cork should not automatically be presented as confirmation of her current location.
Likewise, her documented participation in Loughbeg Farm does not prove that she continues to operate the business today.
What Is Josephine Burge’s Net Worth?
Josephine Burge’s personal net worth has not been established through reliable public financial reporting.
Her association with Oliver Reed and subsequent involvement in a food business do not provide enough information to calculate her personal wealth.
Company records documenting a directorship or shareholding are not equivalent to personal net-worth disclosures.
Online figures claiming to describe her inheritance, bank balance, or present fortune should therefore not be treated as established facts without direct financial evidence.
Why Josephine Burge’s Story Extends Beyond Oliver Reed
Josephine Burge first became known through her marriage to one of Britain’s most recognizable film actors.
The historical record, however, does not end with Reed’s death in 1999.
Her remarriage in 2001 is documented by contemporary Irish newspapers, while reporting from the following decade establishes her involvement in an Irish farming and food-production enterprise.
Those details provide a more complete understanding of her life.
They also explain why older references may identify her as Josephine Burge or Josephine Reed, while later business records use Josephine Ryan-Purcell.
Her relationship with Oliver Reed remains the most widely documented chapter of her biography, but it was not the only significant part of her publicly recorded life.
Sources
The following sources were opened and used to establish the biographical details, dates, and business information in this article.
- Los Angeles Times / Reuters — “Oliver Reed Weds; 5-Year Courtship.” Published September 10, 1985. Contemporary reporting on Josephine Burge’s first marriage and age.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-10-ca-3286-story.html - Getty Images / Popperfoto — “The Wedding of Oliver Reed & Josephine Burge.” Archival photograph dated September 7, 1985; uploaded December 8, 2023.
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/british-actor-oliver-reed-kisses-his-wife-josephine-burge-news-photo/1833762168 - The Independent — “How We Met: Oliver Reed and Ken Russell.” Published March 25, 1995. Contemporary evidence of Reed’s marriage to Josephine and their residence in Cork.
https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/howwe-met-1612956.html - The Guardian — “Oliver Reed obituary.” By Norman King, published May 3, 1999. Covers Reed’s acting career, marriages, and children.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/may/03/features1 - The Irish Times — “Oliver Reed given a rousing send-off in Cork.” By Dick Hogan, published May 17, 1999. Contemporary coverage of Reed’s funeral and Josephine’s attendance.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/oliver-reed-given-a-rousing-send-off-in-cork-1.185519 - Irish Examiner — “Oliver Reed’s widow to marry.” Published May 15, 2001. Reports Walter Ryan-Purcell’s account of their relationship and wedding plans.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30012684.html - Irish Examiner — “Oliver Reed’s widow remarries in Cork.” Published July 21, 2001. Details of Josephine’s second wedding.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30018808.html - Restaurants and Food (CorkBilly) — Local reporting on Schull Country Market, May 16, 2014, and Loughbeg Farm, September 2, 2015. First-hand accounts of Josephine’s involvement in the farm and food business.
https://www.corkbilly.com/search/label/Schull - Restaurants and Food (CorkBilly) — “Taste of the Week. Loughbeg Farm Oat Bread.” Published January 24, 2017. Reports Josephine and Walter’s involvement in developing the farm’s oat loaf.
https://www.corkbilly.com/search/label/Loughbeg%20Farm?m=0 - Global Database — “Loughbeg Farm Foods Limited Overview.” Company profile identifying Josephine Ryan-Purcell as a director and shareholder. No clearly stated page publication date.
https://ie.globaldatabase.com/company/loughbeg-farm-foods-limited