
Beatrix Potter
author + illustrator
Beatrix Potter is known worldwide for her charming children's stories featuring mischievous, anthropomorphic animals. She was also a noted naturalist, fascinated by fungi. The cute creatures in her books were all modeled on the real-life tiny inhabitants of her many farms ~ even as a child, she boarded the train for family holidays with boxes + baskets of her mice, rabbits + other pets. Her love of nature extended to land conservation, and she was an active supporter of the National Trust ~ acting as de facto land agent, managing her own farms as well as Trust properties...ensuring the preservation of beautiful places for the enjoyment of all, now + in the future.
charming children's stories | The Tale of Peter Rabbit has its origins in a picture letter to Noel Moore, the son of Beatrix's former governess Annie {his brother Eric got Mr. Jeremy Fisher} ~ she was meticulous about mapping actual animal behavior to the creatures in her stories {wood mice really do appear to rear on their hind legs and "dance" in greeting!}.
historic preservation | A champion of the National Trust, Beatrix left her 15 farms to the charity when she died, ensuring they'd be maintained + protected ~ and open for everyone to visit. Hill Top Farm, the setting of many of her stories, is the most famous. She played an active role in their management, working closely with her caretakers ~ she won silver challenge cup for best Herdwick ewe in 1930 + served as the president of Herdwick Sheepbreeder's Association {the first woman to do so}.
business savvy | She actively protected her copyrights, pursuing the inevitable infringements. One of the first to explore extensive merchandising, from cuddly toys to board games ~ all of which she personally designed, to stay faithful to the original illustrations. The Beatrix Potter collection currently has more than 400 license holders!
1882 | first visit to her beloved Lake District. She buys Hill Top Farm 23 years later, in 1905.
1890 | buys first rabbit, Benjamin Bouncer, from a pet shop. 2 years later, she sells six watercolour paintings of the bunny to the greetings card firm, Hildesheimer & Faulkner, and adopts Peter.
1901 | private publication of Peter Rabbit. The beloved Warne & Co. version is published the following year {after rejecting it earlier}. It's not her first published work ~ her paper on mushroom spores + reproduction was published by London's Linnean Society in 1897, to say nothing of the publication of her drawings.
from | to
lonely upper-middle class daughter | celebrated author + illustrator
born on
July 28, 1866
born in
2 Bolton Gardens
Kensington, London
birth name
Helen Beatrix Potter
known as
Beatrix
citizen of
the United Kingdom
daughter of
Rupert + Helen
~ Rupert, an accomplished amateur photographer, was friends with
photographer Sir John Edward Millais ~ he helped Rupert + Helen encourage her artistic talent ~
granddaughter of
Edmund Potter
~ co-founder of Manchester School of Design ~
sister of
Walter Bertram
grew up in | lived in
London
holidays in Scotland, at Dalguise House, and the Lake District
the Lake District {Hill Top Farm + Castle Cottage}
educated at | studied with
home | governesses
~ Annie Carter Moore was her last teacher, and Beatrix sent picture letters {the stars of which include Peter Rabbit and Mr. Jeremy Fisher} to Annie's children ~
Charles McIntosh ~ encouraged her studies of fungus
loved studying
art + natural sciences
~ the characters' behaviors in her children's books is influenced by her studies of animals ~
engaged to
~ publisher Norman Warne proposed in July of 1905, against her parents' opposition, but died a month later of a blood disorder ~ their story is dramatized in the 2006 film, Miss Potter ~
married to
William Heelis, solicitor | October 15, 1913
~ her parents opposed his position "in trade" as they had done with Norman Warne ~
advocate for | worked alongside
conservation | met Hardwicke Rawnsley, later founder of the National Trust, when she was 16
in her spare time
kept secret diary
~ written in code, which was broken 15 years after her death ~
raised sheep
~ key figure in saving Herdwick breed from extinction ~
farming
~ purchased + managed 15 farms ~
died on
December 22, 1943
~ Castle Cottage, Sawrey ~
"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest."
Beatrix Potter | september 1884
"My dear Noel, I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter."
to Noel Moore, introducing Peter Rabbit | september 1893
"What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood..."
journal entry | november 1896
"We find some people make theories out of dried specimens without the least experience of the way things grow."
to Charles McIntosh | january 1897
"I am sure the crabs & shrimps join hands and caper about when the tide is coming in and the children have gone home."
journal entry | august 1905
"Jemima Puddle-duck was a simpleton: not even the mention of sage and onions made her suspicious."
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck | july 1908
"It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is 'soporific.' I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit."
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies | july 1909
"Dreadfully shy, but I am sure he will be more comfortable married."
to Fanny Cooper {quoted in Beatrix Potter: a Life in Nature by Linda Lear} | october 1913
"Once upon a time there was a serious, well-behaved young black cat. It belonged to a kind old lady who assured me that no other cat could compare with Kitty . . . She called it 'Kitty,' but Kitty called herself 'Miss Catherine St Quintin.'"
The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots | circa 1914
"There are seasons when things go wrong; and they just have to be lived through."
to Henry P. Coolidge | june 1928
"Do you not feel it is rather pleasing to be so much wiser than quantities of young idiots?"
to Caroline | 1936
for further reading about Beatrix Potter:
curated with care by Meghan Miller Brawley {march 2015}
picture letter
In 1893, Beatrix wrote her famous letter to her former governess' young son, Noel. Over the years, she would write many letters to Noel + his siblings, telling stories of the animals she knew. In 1930, she published Little Pig Robinson ~ drawing on these picture letters, as her eyesight was failing and illustrations were difficult. The letter reads: 'Eastwood, Dunfield. Sept 4th '93 My dear Noel, I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter. They lived with their mother in a sand bank under the root of a big fir tree.'
Frederick Warne & Co.
mushrooms
Now known almost exclusively for her children's stories, Beatrix was an accomplished mycologist ~ someone who studies fungi. She befriended the naturalist Charles McIntosh while visiting Scotland in her mid-20s, and the two mushroom enthusiasts exchanged drawings + information. Spore production ~ and their role in reproduction ~ was a hot topic at the time, and one Beatrix was able to illuminate. She successfully germinated spores + produced detailed microscope drawings of spores and spore production ~ but her status as a woman excluded her from scientific acknowledgement.
Meghan Miller Brawley | (c) 2015
Hill Top Cottage
Hill Top Cottage, purchased by Beatrix in 1905 with proceeds from the Tale of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix kept a low profile amongst her neighbors, preferring her role as "lady farmer" to that of celebrated author + illustrator. Her She did have a soft spot for Americans, and often welcomed visitors from the States ~ including a young boy named Henry P. Coolidge, who encouraged her to write The Fairy Caravan. The book was first published only in the US. When she left her land to the National Trust, she included instructions for its upkeep and presentation...visitors today won't inspire a new Beatrix Potter book, but they will see Hill Top as Beatrix did {and can spot scenes from Jemima Puddleduck and Tom Kitten}.
Phil Bartle | CC-BY 2.0
wedding portrait
The Heelis's wedding portrait. Beatrix met William Heelis in the course of the purchase of one of her farms. She was 47 and he 42 when they married ~ and she still had to fight her parents' strenuous objections! Her father Rupert, an avid amateur photographer, took the photograph despite his initial unwillingness to see his daughter married to a country solicitor. Beatrix said she wouldn't marry a man with a house of his own, as it would mean giving up the farm she loved. The couple moved into Castle Cottage, in Cumbria.
Rupert Potter