Sleepy History - Beatrix Potter

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Starting point is 00:01:00 I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my head of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IGPrivatewealth.com. Many of us grew up with the classic works of Beatrix Potter,

Starting point is 00:01:32 the artist and naturalist, who introduced the world to beloved characters like, squirrel nutkin, Jemima Puddleduck, the Taylor of Glouc, and of course, the mischievous, carrot-thieving bunny, Peter Rabbit. But who really was the woman behind these children's books? How did she hone the craft of both writing and botanical illustration? And how did her love for the natural world develop into a lifelong passion for conservation? We'll delve into these questions and more tonight and we'll begin at Beatrix Potter's family home in England. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of Beatrix Potter.

Starting point is 00:02:29 This mansion is located in Kensington, London. The lawn is well manicured. The tall, old oak trees provide shade from the warm summer sun, and the leaves of the elm trees rustle softly in the breeze. The flower beds are a pleasing tangle of daisies, primroses, buttercups, and pansies. A genteel rose garden boasts flowering shrubs with roses in a riot of pinks, creams, reds and buttery yellows. If you sniff the air, you can smell the roses sweet scent. The year is 1866. Kensington is a far cry from the butter.

Starting point is 00:03:47 wrestling in a city suburb familiar to Londoners today. The district sat on the outskirts of the city, and though many of its streets boasted gracious homes, in some ways it still resemble the rural village. Beyond a clutch of comfortable middle-class homes lay forests and open fields. Some of the fields were still used as common farmland, where local families brought their sheep and cattle to graze. In fact, if you listen, you can hear the trilling of the birds in the forest and the distant bleat of sheep.

Starting point is 00:04:46 But there are no sheep or cattle in this very respectable garden. Patrick's Potter was born on July 28, 1866. And for the first 47 years of her life, she lived in this house at 22, Bolton Gardens, Kensington. She was born into a comfortably middle-class family, originally from the area around Manchester, a city in the north of England. It was at the time one of the world's first great industrial cities, famed for its skyline of red brick factories and textile mills. Beatrix's paternal grandfather was the proprietor of a calico printing works. Her maternal grandfather, the proprietor of a cotton mill.

Starting point is 00:05:56 Her own father was a London barrister. Despite their upper middle class respectability, an artistic streak ran through the family. Her mother, Helen, was a keen embroiderer and loved to spend evenings dipping her paintbrush into her pot of watercolours and producing moody scenes of the windswept landscapes of her childhood. or more temperate scenes of her London garden, Helen would later gift her paintbox to Beatrix. Beatrix's father, meanwhile, was an avid devotee of a relatively new artistic discipline. Photography, Beatrix would watch, fascinated as her father set up his camera on his tripod, Then disappeared behind the dark clock which shrouded the camera and blocked out all the light.

Starting point is 00:07:15 She waited eagerly outside the door of his dark room to see how the final photograph appeared. He loved to take portraits of her. And when he was born six years later of her younger brother, Bertram, she didn't even mind standing completely still for minutes at a time so that her likeness in the final photograph would be clear, not blurry around the edges. Following her father's influence, Beatrix would grow up to become an accomplished photographer in her own right. Like many Victorian girls, Beatrix was sheltered from much of the world. She and Bertram were educated privately by a series of governesses. Because Beatrix was a girl, she wasn't expected to take much interest

Starting point is 00:08:21 in serious subjects, like Latin or mathematics. Instead, she was encouraged in more ladylike pursuits, playing music, sewing, and of course, the watercolor painting, which would eventually make her name. However, her parents didn't discourage her from the, those serious subjects when she showed an interest. She took to the natural sciences, and while surprised, her parents were quite encouraging for the time. Beatrix and Bertram both loved spending long days in the garden. They rambled through the flower beds, and when they were permitted, went beyond the confines

Starting point is 00:09:18 of their own cottage garden and into the floor. fields and forests of Kensington, surrounded by trees and rocks, mottled with lichen and moss, with cool, damp soil underfoot and a bright tapestry of birdsong, weaving through the branches above them. I felt very far from the city. Here they filled their pockets with treasures to take back to the schoolroom. Birds nests and shells, leaves and rocks. They carefully transported live creatures back to the schoolroom too.

Starting point is 00:10:10 And soon one corner of the room was a dedicated menagerie where salamanders and noots swam in bowls. Mites nibbled at the edges of their sawdust nests. frogs ribbed, worms slithered, and tortoises chewed thoughtfully on crisp green lettuce leaves. Beatrix and Bertram both delighted in observing their creatures and sketching their likenesses. The pair made etchings, crayon drawings and paintings of the animals in their care. At weekends, Beatrix and Bertram went farther afield. They visited Kensington Gardens, wandering through its gracious rose gardens, stopping to sail toy boats at the round pond in the garden centre.

Starting point is 00:11:19 On hot, sunny days, they sometimes went swimming. Or they ventured to Regents Park in the heart of the city, where the London zoological gardens could be found. They joined the thronging crowds, dressed in their best going-out clones, all eager to catch a glimpse of animals from faraway lands. Here, Beatrix would have admired the elephants and orangutans and the jewel-colored parrots in the aviary. While the monkeys and elephants always drew crowds of,

Starting point is 00:12:04 excited onlookers. Beatrix also sought out the less popular animals. She loved to examine the intricate scales of the rattlesnakes that draped themselves over rocks in the reptile house, and the frilled lizards that watched her almost as intently as she watched them through their gleaming guise. Far better than their garden in London and the zoo at Regent's Park, though, was the wild countryside of England's Lake District and Perthshire, Scotland, where the Potter family often went on holidays. In Perthshire, Beatrix would have walked across wild moors and through thick forests where rivers and waterfalls, tumble, over mossy rocks. In the Lake District, the potters stayed at Lake Windermere, a glacial lake nestled in the district's green, rolling hills. Beatrix would have wandered the lake's edge, and even rode out to visit the islands, scattered across the middle of it. Beatrix loved the

Starting point is 00:13:40 feeling of freedom that came with roaming across the countryside. for hours. In the Lake District, she learned to ride a horse and trap, and then she could travel to even further flung destinations. At the end of every holiday, the Potter family returned to their comfortable life in London. Theatrix always felt her heart belonged to those wilder, less cultivated landscapes, and she would return to them time and time again. When Bertram was sent to boarding school to continue his education, Beatrix was left alone with her governess and ladies' companion Annie Moore. Annie encouraged Beatrix's artistic passions, but Beatrix's interest in the sciences also flourished.

Starting point is 00:14:49 filled sketchbook after sketchbook with highly detailed, biologically accurate depictions of flora and fauna. In her late teens, Beatrix was accepted to the National Art Training School, where she took courses in drawing and painting. Beatrix was a diligent student, spending many afternoons, copying the work of master painters, like Constable and Van Dyke of the Royal Academy's exhibition. She was skeptical about some of the advice her teachers gave her. She felt their insistence on doing things the right way, sapped all the life and energy from her drawings.

Starting point is 00:15:49 Although she devoted herself to art, Beatrix was still passionate about science. In fact, she felt, found ways to bring her two passions together. She could often be seen in the grand halls of London's Museum of Natural History, bent over her sketchbook as she made an exacting copy of whichever specimen had caught her eye that day. In her late teens and early twenties,

Starting point is 00:16:23 Beatrix drew insects, fossils, moths, birds, mosses and lichens, but more than anything else, she sketched mushrooms. She collected the specimens herself, foraging through the forests on misty autumn days. With the help of a pocket knife, she lifted the most beautifully coloured and intricately structured examples carefully from the mossy earth where they grew and carried them back to Bolton Gardens where she observed them through the lens of a wondrous new invention, a microscope. She taught herself the techniques for proper botanical illustration. Soon, her work caught the eye of Sir Charles Macintosh, a leading figure in British mycology,

Starting point is 00:17:29 Mycology as the study of fungi and mushrooms is called. With Macintosh's encouragement, Beatrix began to study how mushrooms reproduce, a subject about which little was known. Some scientists had suggested that they reproduce through their spores, tiny cells which are generated by the mushroom cap, dropped down into the soil, where when conditions are right, they connect with other spores and finally generate new mushrooms. These theories were widely dismissed, but Beatrix thought there might be something to them. She conducted various experiments, germinating her own mushroom spores, and trying to establish under which circumstances these spores might reproduce.

Starting point is 00:18:38 She even published a paper on the topic titled On the Germination of the Spores of Agara K. Cicini, she hoped to present the paper to London's Linnean Society, an organization of eminent botanists. There was just one problem. The Linnaean Society only accepted male members. Despite Beatrix's best efforts, they refused to even discuss a woman's research findings. Now it is widely accepted that mushrooms do reproduce through their spores. What's more, Beatrix's botanical illustrations are still studied today, thanks to their scientific accuracy. A scientific career might have been closed off to her,

Starting point is 00:19:45 But that couldn't dampen Beatrix's love of nature. She continued to sketch the animals she observed in her London garden, in the Lake District and in the Scottish Highlands. And while Beatrix was a rigorous scientist who captured the flora and fauna she saw around her with astonishing accuracy, she also felt that the English countryside was filled with. with magic. After a walk through the Lake District, she is said to have observed that the Moors felt like they belonged to the fairies. This intertwined interest in science and nature

Starting point is 00:20:37 and sensitivity to magic and enchantment would go on to define her unique artistic style. In September 1893, she enclosed some of these drawings in a letter to Noel Moore, the son of her former governess, Annie. The drawings showed a young rabbit. To amuse Noel, Beatrix wrote a little story to accompany the drawings. She called the rabbit Peter. In the story, the mischievous Peter sneaks into the garden of Farmer McGregor and feasts on the farmer's vegetable patch even though his mother has sternly warned him not to

Starting point is 00:21:36 when Farmer McGregor catches sight of Peter Peter runs away and gets stuck in a watering can eventually he wriggles free and escapes That night, his sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton Tail, enjoy a supper of blackberries and cream. But Peter, who has over-indulged on Farmer McGregor's radishes and lettuce, has a stomachate and has to drink chamomile tea instead. Noel and his siblings were delighted with the story.

Starting point is 00:22:25 His mother, Annie, suggested Beatrix publisher. Beatrix worked at the story a little more and refined her illustrations with a view to finding a publisher. The first publisher she approached rejected her. So did the second. All in all, six publishing houses turned down the chance to take her story. While many editors enjoyed her work, none were prepared to publish a book that fit Beatrix's very exacting stipulations. She wanted the book to be published in a smaller format than was usual at the time. She insisted that smaller books would be easier for children's small hands to hold.

Starting point is 00:23:27 And because she wanted her story to be a full. affordable for all children. She proposed only including a select few color illustrations. The rest would be rendered in black and white, which were far cheaper to print. At last, Beatrix printed off a small run of copies which might be shared with friends and family. In 1902, the publisher Frederick Warn saw Beatrix's little book and was charmed. Together they prepared the story for commercial publication with color plate illustrations. The tale of Peter Rabbit was an immediate success. The story captivated readers and its illustrations which blended Victorian whimsy with Beatrix's

Starting point is 00:24:33 scientific eye for accuracy caused a sensation. The public was delighted with the young rabbit, Peter, who dressed in a natty blue velvet jacket, and his sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, who wore demure red capes. In partnership with Warn, Beatrix was soon producing two storybooks a year. Following on from Peter Rabbit, she wrote The Taylor of Gloucester and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. In all, she would publish more than 20 children's books, in which perfectly realistic animals dressed in the latest Victorian fashions and went on adventures through the picturesque mares, dales and forests of the English countryside. For most of her career, she worked very closely with her editor, Frederick's son, Norman Warren.

Starting point is 00:25:51 Their relationship did not stay purely professional. Beatrix had always been a shy woman, more at home in the forest than she was in the drawing rooms of Victorian society, a woman who counted more pets than people among her friends. In the gentle, soft-spoken Norman, she found a kindred spirit, someone who truly understood her and encouraged her ambitions. The two fell in love. Beatrix's family did not approve of the match. In pursuing a career as a writer and illustrator, Beatrix was already defying social conventions. Her parents never fully supported her career.

Starting point is 00:26:46 They certainly couldn't support their only daughter, becoming involved with an editor. They viewed Norman as a tradesman, well below their own class. But Beatrix wasn't deterred. She and Norman wrote each other long letters professing their love. Norman even proposed to Beatrix. in a letter, and Beatrix accepted without hesitation, she was prepared to defy her parents' wishes. After all, she loved Norman, and unusually for a woman at that time, her commercial publishing success meant she had the financial means to make her own decisions in life. But their longed-for

Starting point is 00:27:44 marriage was not to be. Less than a month after, he proposed, Norman passed away. Beatrix received the news by telegram while she was on holiday in Wales with her parents. She went into deep mourning. When the clouds of grief pass, Beatrix decided to do something rather unusual for a woman of her class, with the substantial royalties she had earned on the tail of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix bought a property of her own, Hilltop Farm, small cottage in the Lake District. Although she continued to live with her parents in Kensington, she travelled to the cottage often. She threw herself into renovating the shabby 17th century stone house and even turned it into a working farm, where she bred Herdwick Sheep.

Starting point is 00:28:55 She was very good at him and would go on to be elected the first female president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association. Beatrix often retreated to Hilltop to work on her books. She found the wild nature that surrounded her there inspiring. The cottages pleasantly overgrown gardens with climbing flowers and a vegetable patch by carrots and rubal and cabbage grew, often crept into her distinctive watercolor illustrations. So too did the views of the Lake District that she enjoyed from her hilltop perch, delicate, grey-green fields. and moors, tumble down farms and higgledy-piggledy stone fences, and silvery skies where heavy clouds almost always seemed to threaten rain.

Starting point is 00:30:06 Some of Beatrix's best-loved characters came to life in her studio at Hilltop. Characters like the scatterbrained Aylesbury duck, Jemima Puddleda, who is forever forgetting where she has laid her eggs, and Tom Kitten, the mischievous cat who wreaks havoc on his mother's tea party. During her visits to Hiltok, Beatrix got to know the residents of the nearby village. One resident in particular became a treasured companion, local solicitor William Heelitz. The two members. married and moved into Castle Cottage in the prosperous town of near Sorey. Here, Beatrix Rowe, drew and painted.

Starting point is 00:31:10 She also developed a deep admiration for the region's traditional farming methods. She and William bought a few acres of farmland and Beatrix expanded her flock of sheep. Although agriculture in England was becoming increasingly industrialized, Beatrix insisted on doing things the old-fashioned way. As a result, her flock thrived. Soon she expanded her land holdings. In her 15s, as her eyesight began to fade, she concentrated more and more energy on tending to her own farm.

Starting point is 00:31:58 and to safeguarding the welfare and interests of other local farming families. She also did something that struck her farming neighbours as a little odd. There were large tracts of her land that Beatrix didn't farm. As she acquired more and more land, she decided that some of it should be left wild and untouched. It was our way of trying to preserve the uniquely rugged beauty of her adopted home. In 1930, Beatrix published what would be her last book, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson. It tells the story of a gullible young pig who is sent to market by his grandmother. At the market he meets a sailor who invites him on an ocean.

Starting point is 00:33:06 voyage, Pig Robinson immediately accepts the sailor's offer, excited at all the adventures he will have at sea, but the sailor has tricked him. He's only invited the pig aboard the ship so that the cook can serve the luckless pig to the crew for dinner. Happily, Pig Robinson escapes and finds his way to a tropical island where he makes friends with the owl and the pussycat from the old nursery rhyme. Although it was the last book she ever published, it was based on one of the first stories Beatrix ever wrote. Back when she was still a young girl, spending hours in the garden at Kensington, sketching the birds and insects and mice and squirrels she spied there in her notebook. In 1940s, she spied there in her notebook. In 1940s,

Starting point is 00:34:15 At the age of 77, Beatrix died. Her legacy lives on in the many books she published. Although they have been reprinted many times, they are still just the right size for little hands to hold. And the charming, yet precise illustrations inside continue to enchant generation after generation. Her legacy lives on too, in the vast acres of land, she worked tirelessly to preserve throughout the Lake District. On her death, Beatrix gifted 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust, an organization that works to preserve the British landscape.

Starting point is 00:35:13 Thanks in part to Beatrix's generous bequest, visitors to the Lake District experience a landscape, largely unchanged, from the scenes depicted in Beatrix's distinctive illustrations. In summer, they might see the rolling green moors unfurled under a blue sky. Ribboning through the moors, the glittering streams and tiny waterfalls, the trees that dot the landscape are in full leaf. The gardens of the farms and cottages that stand in the fields are overgrown with a profusion of flowers and vegetables. In autumn, they might see the moors turn a heathery purple and woodland copses burnished in autumnal colours. Orange, red, copper, russ with every brisk.

Starting point is 00:36:27 flurry of wind, they would see bright leaves spinning towards the earth. In winter, they might see frost-rimmed fields, punctuated with bright bursts of green and red from the holly bushes that grow wild in the region. The thick, white snow that lies along the moor is disturbed only by sleigh-marks, or perhaps the tiny pawprint of a rabbit or two. And in spring, they would see a carpet of wildflowers under a gentle pastel sky, all rendered with a hazy wash of colour, could have been painted from the brush of Beatrix Potter herself.

Sleepy History - Beatrix Potter

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