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Isabella Bird
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Isabella Bird
Isabella Lucy Bishop FRGS (née Bird; 15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904) was an English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Alongside fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler, she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in modern-day Kashmir. She was also the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bird was born on 15 October 1831 in Boroughbridge Hall, Yorkshire, the home of her maternal grandmother and her father's first curacy after taking orders in 1821. Her parents were Rev Edward Bird (1793-1858; younger brother of the civil servant Robert Merttins Bird) and his second wife, Dora Lawson (1803–1866). Her paternal grandparents were cousins: Robert Bird, of Taplow, Buckinghamshire, married Lucy Wilberforce Bird, daughter of silk merchant John Bird, of Coventry; Lucy's brother, the politician William Wilberforce Bird, married Robert Bird's sister, Elizabeth. Lucy's mother was the aunt of the philanthropist and slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce. The Bird family had established the silk trade at Coventry in the late 1600s, and were themselves silk masters.
Bird lived in several places during her childhood. In 1832, Reverend Bird was appointed curate in Maidenhead. Because of her father's ill health, Bird's family moved again in 1834 to Tattenhall in Cheshire, a living presented to him by his cousin Dr John Bird Sumner, Bishop of Chester, where in the same year Bird's sister, Henrietta, was born.
Bird was outspoken from an early age. When six years old, she confronted the local MP for South Cheshire, Sir Malpas de Grey Tatton Egerton, while he was campaigning, asking him "did you tell my father my sister was so pretty because you wanted his vote?"
Edward Bird's controversial views against Sunday labour caused his congregation to dwindle, and in 1842 he requested a transfer to St. Thomas's in Birmingham. Here again, objections were raised, which culminated in the minister being pelted "with stones, mud, and insults".
In 1848, the family moved again and, after spending some time in Eastbourne, took up residence in Wyton in Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire.)
From early childhood, Bird was frail, suffering from a spinal complaint, nervous headaches, and insomnia. The doctor recommended an open-air life, and consequently, Bird learned to ride in infancy, and later to row. Her only education came from her parents: her father was a keen botanist who instructed Bird in flora, and her mother taught her daughters an eclectic mix of subjects. Bird became an avid reader. However, her "bright intelligence, [and] an extreme curiosity as to the world outside, made it impossible for her brain and her nature generally to be narrowed and stiffened by the strictly evangelical atmosphere of her childhood".
Isabella's first publication at the age of 16 was a pamphlet addressing free trade versus protectionism, after which she continued writing articles for various periodicals.
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Isabella Bird
Isabella Lucy Bishop FRGS (née Bird; 15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904) was an English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Alongside fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler, she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in modern-day Kashmir. She was also the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bird was born on 15 October 1831 in Boroughbridge Hall, Yorkshire, the home of her maternal grandmother and her father's first curacy after taking orders in 1821. Her parents were Rev Edward Bird (1793-1858; younger brother of the civil servant Robert Merttins Bird) and his second wife, Dora Lawson (1803–1866). Her paternal grandparents were cousins: Robert Bird, of Taplow, Buckinghamshire, married Lucy Wilberforce Bird, daughter of silk merchant John Bird, of Coventry; Lucy's brother, the politician William Wilberforce Bird, married Robert Bird's sister, Elizabeth. Lucy's mother was the aunt of the philanthropist and slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce. The Bird family had established the silk trade at Coventry in the late 1600s, and were themselves silk masters.
Bird lived in several places during her childhood. In 1832, Reverend Bird was appointed curate in Maidenhead. Because of her father's ill health, Bird's family moved again in 1834 to Tattenhall in Cheshire, a living presented to him by his cousin Dr John Bird Sumner, Bishop of Chester, where in the same year Bird's sister, Henrietta, was born.
Bird was outspoken from an early age. When six years old, she confronted the local MP for South Cheshire, Sir Malpas de Grey Tatton Egerton, while he was campaigning, asking him "did you tell my father my sister was so pretty because you wanted his vote?"
Edward Bird's controversial views against Sunday labour caused his congregation to dwindle, and in 1842 he requested a transfer to St. Thomas's in Birmingham. Here again, objections were raised, which culminated in the minister being pelted "with stones, mud, and insults".
In 1848, the family moved again and, after spending some time in Eastbourne, took up residence in Wyton in Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire.)
From early childhood, Bird was frail, suffering from a spinal complaint, nervous headaches, and insomnia. The doctor recommended an open-air life, and consequently, Bird learned to ride in infancy, and later to row. Her only education came from her parents: her father was a keen botanist who instructed Bird in flora, and her mother taught her daughters an eclectic mix of subjects. Bird became an avid reader. However, her "bright intelligence, [and] an extreme curiosity as to the world outside, made it impossible for her brain and her nature generally to be narrowed and stiffened by the strictly evangelical atmosphere of her childhood".
Isabella's first publication at the age of 16 was a pamphlet addressing free trade versus protectionism, after which she continued writing articles for various periodicals.
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