Helen Beatrix Potter was born on the 28th of July 1866 in London. Her family were keen on nature and the outdoors and Potter spent most of her childhood holidays in Dalguise, where Potter explored and sketched, developing her artistic skills.
Beatrix and her brother, Bertram, also kept a menagerie of small pets, including mice, rabbits, and hedgehogs. The siblings observed the animals keenly and enjoyed sketching them. In 1882, the family made their first trip to the Lake District. Beatrix developed a love for the area and befriended a local vicar, Hardwicke Rawnsley, who shared and encouraged her love of the local countryside.
Recently, Beatrix Potter has been recognised for her scientific studies, alongside her drawing and storytelling skills. A keen amateur mycologist, Potter submitted a paper to the Linnean Society in 1897 entitled On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae. Due to her sex, Beatrix Potter was not allowed to read her paper for the Society, and it was introduced by Kew botanist, George Massee.
Beatrix Potter held a lifelong interest in literature, particularly folk and fairy stories. Simultaneously, family friend Sir John Everett Millais recognised and encouraged Potter’s artistic skills and Beatrix began to create her own illustrations for stories such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. Her first commercially successful works as an illustrator were produced in the 1890s, as Potter created Christmas and occasion cards. Benjamin Bunny was drawn to illustrate Frederic Weatherley’s verses ‘A Happy Pair’ and Potter created a series of frog illustrations for the annual ‘Changing Pictures.’
