Beatrix Potter was a famous English children’s author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist. She is most known for writing more than 20 books for children, including The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tailor of Gloucester. She was also a dedicated mycologist that came up with a new theory of germination but didn’t receive the deserved acknowledgment in science due to being a female researcher.
Background
Helen Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 in Kensington, London. She originates from a very wealthy and well-reputable family. Her grandfather Edmund was a member of parliament, while her father Rupert William Potter had been studying to be a lawyer, but never actually practiced law. He and her mother Helen Leech lived comfortably due to the inheritance from the cotton industry. Beatrix was their first of two children, while the other – Walter Bertram – was born in 1872.
Education
Beatrix was first of two children that her parents had, while the other – Walter Bertram – was born in 1872. Young Beatrix had a solitary childhood and almost no contact with other children. This is why she was extremely happy when her brother Walter Bertram was born in 1872. It is said that they both enjoyed a lot of happy times by keeping various animals as pets, including dogs, rabbits, frogs and bats, and searching for fossils. This is why they were both looking forward to summer, when the family would go on vacation to Dalguise, Scotland, and Lake District, near Windermere.
She got her love for the countryside from her parents, as well as love for arts, which is why she would always take a sketchbook with her. The earliest example of Beatrix’s drawings dates back to 1875 when a sketchbook with drawings of butterflies, birds and caterpillars was found. This sketchbook can now be seen at Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
At about 15 years of age, Beatrix started to keep a diary. She wrote about society and other observations she had of the things happening around her, as well about her impressions of artists and their works. It was important to Beatrix to keep her privacy, so she wrote in code which was not deciphered until 1958 when Leslie Linder figured out the letter by letter substitution system the famous author used. This diary offers some very insightful observations of the English society during the late 19th century.
In 1882, Beatrix met Hardwicke Rawnsley, one of the founders of the National Trust, who had a great influence on her when it comes to the love for the countryside. Next year Miss Annie Carter came to work as the new Beatrix’s governess and very much helped Beatrix to get over the fact that Bertram was sent to boarding school. Carter had quit her position after two years and went to get married, but remained a great friend to Beatrix.
Career
Potter was extremely interested in natural science and had a passion for drawing. She collected fossils, studied artefacts and was into entomology. Mycology was something she was particularly attracted to, mainly because she loved drawing fungi because of their colorfulness. While she was on a summer holiday in 1892, she met Charles McIntosh, who helped her with her microscopic illustrations and sent her live specimen to draw in the periods of winter.
She studied fungus carefully and came up with a new theory of their reproduction process in 1895. Until then, the symbiosis theory set by the German mycologist Simon Schwendener was predominant, but Beatrix proposed a much more independent process. The University of London rejected her theory due to the fact she was a female and an amateur. She didn’t give up and she submitted a paper to a Linnean Society, which was presented by her mentor George Massee in 1897, considering the fact, as a female, she didn’t have the possibility of attending proceedings and reading the paper. In the end, Beatrix withdrew her paper after realizing that some samples were contaminated. Eventually, she gave her drawing to the Armitt Museum and Library and the mycologists from Ambleside even today refer to them when they need to identify the fungi. The Linnean Society posthumously apologized to Potter in1 997, admitting that obvious sexism was displayed when her research was rejected.
The success Potter more than deserved came in the art and literary area. The first drawings that she sold were the illustrations and greeting cards in 1890, which were bought by Hildesheimer & Faulkner. She continued drawing and also started writing. In 1895, she sent to Eric, the son of her last governess Annie, a story about Peter Rabbit. Peter was one of her pets and she used him as an inspiration for this book. Eric, who was five years old at the time, loved this book and Annie suggested Beatrix publish the story.
It was not until 1901 when Potter decided to do this. When Peter Rabbit died, she published The Tale of Peter Rabbit by herself. The story was printed in 250 copies and was only intended for friends and family. She even refused the first offer of Frederick Warne to publish her story because she was asked to color her illustrations that were black and white. However, in 1902, Frederick Warne did publish The Tale of Peter Rabbit, in 8,000 copies and with colored illustrations. The book instantly became a great hit and brought Potter a lot of money.
She continued writing animal adventures, so the next year she decided to publish two more books – The Tailor of Gloucester and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. Potter also started selling various merchandise with pictures of Peter Rabbit, including dolls and wallpapers. In 1905, her editor Norman Warne decided to propose her and she accepted despite her parents were against it. However, he was very sick at the time and died only a month later. She decided to buy a farm in the Lake District. This is where she wrote many books, including The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, The Tale of Flopsy Bunnies and the Tale of Tom Kitten.
Potter married again in 1913, this time to a local lawyer William Heelis. As the years gone by, she was more and more dedicated to preserving and enjoying the countryside. She hasn’t been as active in writing, but she did become a very successful sheep breeder. Potter write two more books, The Fairy Caravan in 1926, which was published only in the United States because she believed that the book was way too much autobiographical to be published in England.
Her final story that was published was The Tale of Little Pig Robinson in 1930. However, The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots that was previously unreleased is scheduled to be published in 2016. Considering that Potter only did one illustration for this book, Quentin Blake will be creating the images to go with the story, whose manuscript will not be changed.
Potter died in 1943 at Castle Cottage due to bronchitis and heart trouble. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered over her land by her husband.
Helen Beatrix PotterThe Mice Stitching Button-Holes
The Tailor and Simpkin Set Out for the Shop
The Tailor Returning Home
The Tailor Leaving his Workshop
Frontispiece. The Tailor Mouse
Simpkin Goes Out
The Mice Escape
The tale of Pigling Bland
Peter Rabbit - Benjamin and Flopsy Bunny
The Mice at Work.Threading the Needle
Peter-rabbit
‘No More Twist’
Squirrel Nutkin
The Finished Coat
Lady Mouse in Mob Cap
The Mice Listen to the Tailor’s Lament
Religion
During the life of Potter, the Unitarians were considered to be Dissenters in England. Potter herself was a quiet rebel always fighting for her beliefs. She wrote in her journal that different forms of religion are simply a cause of strife. Instead, people should behave themselves, let others be and believe that there is a greater power working for the greater good.
Politics
With her grandfather being a member of the Parliament, it was only natural for Beatrix to be interested in politics, although she never actively took part int he political life of England. However, some sources state that a poster with her most famous character Peter Rabbit was used in the political campaign to restrict the import of the German goods in 1910.
The First World War had a direct effect on her as the owner of farm land in Lake District. She questioned government in her letters to friends more than once, stating: "The hens will be killed despite they're about to lay again...we are governed by idiots".
Her pragmatism made it possible to cross various party lines ine xpressing her opinions.
Views
Potter was a great fan of nature and the countryside and dedicated a great part of her life to preserving it and enjoying its beauty. This was inspired by the fact that she had a solitary childhood during which she spent summer in the countryside, where she grew up to love animals and nature. After the death of her second husband William Heelies in 1945, all property they owned, was bequathed to National Trust. This was in total more than 400 acres with 8 cottages and 17 farms. It is believed that she is the most meritorious for preserving today's Lake District National Park.
Aside from being a successful writer of children books, Potter wanted to be a successful mycologist. She spent years in her research and proposed a new theory of germination, but the research was rejected on account that she was a woman and an amateur. She never got recognition for her work in science during her life, although it was her great wish for her scientific drawings to find a place in a book. However, after her death, in 1967 her drawing were published in "Wayside & Woodland Fungi", written by W.P.K. Findlay.
Personality
Potter was described as a pretty shy person, who felt much better in the presence of animals than in the presence of other people. This probably was due to her solitary childhood, during which she kept a great number of pets. Potter was a very pragmatic person, with strong beliefs when it comes to justice.
Physical Characteristics:
Coming from a reputable family, Beatrix took great care about her looks. She always tried and managed to look elegant and just the way a woman of her class should look like.
Quotes from others about the person
“The part of the Lake District that Beatrix Potter chose as her own was not only physically beautiful, it was a place in which she felt emotionally rooted as a descendant of hard-working north-country folk. The predictable routines of farm life appealed to her. There was a realism in the countryside that nurtured a deep connection. The scale of the villages was manageable. Yet the vast desolateness of the surrounding fells was awe-inspiring. It was mysterious, but easily imbued with fantasy and tamed by imagination. The sheltered lakes and fertile valleys satisfied her love of the pastoral. The hill farms and the sheep on the high fells demanded accountability. There was a longing in Beatrix Potter for association with permanence: to find a place where time moved slowly, where places remained much as she remembered them from season to season and from year to year.”
Linda Lear, the author of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature
Interests
botany, mycology, taxonomy, archeology
Philosophers & Thinkers
Edmund Potter
Politicians
Edmund Potter
Writers
Lewis Carroll, Charles Kingsley, William Shakespeare
Artists
John Everett
Connections
Beatrix Potter was married two times. First time it was to Norman Warne, the editor of her first book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. According to some sources, this marriage never came through, because Warne died only a month after proposing to Potter.
Her second marriage followed in 1913, when she married William Heelis, a local lawyer. They were happily married, but never had any children.