28 July: Beatrix Potter

This date in 1866 was the birthdate of Beatrix Potter, English author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

1. Peter Rabbit was based on her own pet Rabbit, which she bought in 1890 and named Benjamin Bouncer. She used to take him for walks on a leash.
2. Her books of animal tales came about when she was writing letters to the sick child of her former governess. One day she ran out of things to say and filled up the letter by telling a story about a rabbit.
3. As a teenager, Beatrix kept a diary, which she wrote in code. She wrote about society, art and artists, told stories and observed life around her. The code was so secret that Beatrix herself had trouble deciphering it as she got older.
4. She was very interested in most branches of natural science, and in her time, collected fossils and drew insect specimens - but her number one passion was the study of fungi. At first she was interested because she liked painting them, but her interest deepened after meeting Charles McIntosh, a revered naturalist and amateur mycologist, during a summer holiday in Perthshire in 1892. He taught her taxonomy and supplied her with live specimens to paint during the winter. By 1895 she had developed a theory of the germination of fungi and wrote a paper about it. Her paper, On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae, was submitted to the Linnean Society in 1897. She couldn't go to the meeting where it was presented because women weren't allowed to attend. Her paper and its illustrations have recently been rediscovered, and is only now being properly evaluated. In 1967, the mycologist W.P.K. Findlay included many of Potter's fungus drawings in his Wayside and Woodland Fungi, thereby fulfilling her desire to one day have her fungus drawings published in a book. In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexism displayed in its handling of her research.
5. She knew the value of "spin-off" merchandise, and patented a Peter Rabbit doll in 1903. Following on from that, she licensed painting books, board games, wall-paper, figurines, baby blankets and china tea-sets, all of which supplemented her income.
6. In her late thirties, she became engaged to Norman Warne, even though her parents disapproved of him because they thought he was of too low a social status. The engagement only lasted only a month - Warne died of leukaemia at the age of 37. In her forties she married solicitor William Heelis, a solicitor who had helped her manage her working farms. Her parents didn't approve of him either but this time the marriage went ahead and they remained happily married until her death.
7. In later life, Beatrix became a highly respected sheep farmer. She bred Herdwick sheep, the indigenous fell sheep. She was so highly regarded among the sheep farming community that in 1942 she was named President-elect of The Herdwick Sheepbreeders’ Association, the first woman to be elected to that position, but she died before taking office.
8. She was also an authority on the traditional Lakeland crafts, period furniture and stonework; established a Nursing Trust for local villages, and served on committees and councils responsible for footpaths and other rural issues. She gave generously to the Girl Guide movement, and allowed them to camp on her land.
9. She owned a working farm, Hill Top Farm, which had not only accommodation for the tenant farmer but space for her studio and workshop.
10. When she died, she left most of her estate, 14 farms, over 4,000 acres of land, and substantial numbers of Herdwick sheep, to the National Trust. It was the largest gift of the time to the Trust, and enabled the preservation of the land now included in the Lake District National Park and the continuation of fell farming. In 2005, the central office of the National Trust in Swindon was named "Heelis" in her honour. Potter also left most of the original illustrations for her books to the National Trust. Her husband kept some property which he left to the Trust when he died 18 months later. Hill Top Farm was opened to the public by the National Trust in 1946.