Few people realize that Beatrix Potter did anything other than write and illustrate beautiful little children's books but she was actually quite remarkable. At a time when women were to be seen and not heard Beatrix Potter had several papers presented on her behalf, amassed a huge 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.
Born in South Kensington, London on July 28, 1866, Beatrix was educated at home, as were most young girls at the time, and 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. But it was Peter rabbit whom she took with her, on a little lead, every where she went.
As both of her parents had received a large inheritance neither of them worked and they spent their days socializing at the clubs, leaving poor Beatrix at home alone with her pets whom she watched for hours on end. It was during this time of her life that she spent her time learning to draw animals and developing her abilities as an artist.
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Every 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 15 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, which 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 in 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 didn't lead such confined lives. If Beatrix Potter had been born even 100 years later, in 1966 instead of 1866, Peter Rabbit might never have been born.
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