Beatrix Potter Was An Amazing Woman For Her Time
Few people realize that Beatrix Potter did something other than write and illustrate beautiful little children’s books however she was really quite remarkable. At a time when women were to be seen and not heard Beatrix Potter had several papers presented on her behalf, amassed an enormous estate, became the President of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association and at the time of her death left over 4,000 acres of land, cottages, and 15 farms to the National Trust.
Beatrix was born in South Kensington, London on July 28, 1866 and her parents, seeing little need to bother with making sure she was socially active, had her educated at home where she had very little opportunity to play with other children. She entertained herself with her many pets. She had frogs, newts, ferrets and two rabbits. The first rabbit, Benjamin she described as being impudent and cheeky. However it was Peter rabbit whom she took along with her, on a little lead, every where she went.
Both of Potter’s parents had received large inheritances and neither of them worked. Although her father was an attorney he spent most of his time at the clob or working on his photography and her mother whiled away the day on social calls. It was during this time of her life that she spent her time learning to draw animals and developing her talents as an artist.
Each summer Beatrix’s father would rent a summer cottage for the family, in Scotland for the first 11 years and then in Lindeth Howe, in the English Lake District and it was here that Beatrix developed her love of nature, farming and conservationism. Potter eventually purchased fifteen farms, with over 4,000 acres of land, to save them from developers, and donated them to the Lakes District in her will.
At the age of 15 Potter’s parents discouraged any further education and put her in charge of running the household and she secretly began keeping a journal, in her own special code, that wasn’t decoded until 20 years after her death. And during this time her uncle attempted to gain her admittance to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew but she was denied because she was a woman.
Because of her detailed drawings of items in nature, Beatrix is even credited with discovering the relationship between fungi and algae, however, because she was a woman, her uncle had to present her findings on her behalf to the Royal Society.
Over the years, as Potter’s books increased in popularity, she began buying up farms within the Lake District that she loved so much, became an avid breeder of Herdwick Sheep, and in even became President of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association.
Potter’s first books were nothing more than a fluke really, originally created as greeting cards for her young cousins. And one wonders if she would have followed this same path had she been born in a later era where women did not lead such confined lives. Peter Rabbit might never have been born had Beatrix Potter been born just 100 years later, in 1966 instead of 1866.
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