Flopsy, Mopsy and Peter Cottontail ~ Beatrix Potter

Helen Beatrix Potter ~ at nine years

Beatrix Potter - probably taken in her twenties

With thoughts of Easter in my mind, and Peter Cottontail "hopping down the bunny trail", Peter Rabbit was not far behind.  Naturally Beatrix Potter popped up next.  Sometime this last year or so I saw the movie adaptation of her life.  For my part the movie was beautifully done.  I do always love to see the English countryside and peek in on family life in the Victorian era.

Following now a brief biographic look at Beatrix Potter:

Beatrix was the daughter of Rupert and Helen Beatrix Potter, she was born on July 28, 1866, at 2 Bolton Gardens, in Victoria, London.  It is said both parents inherited cotton furtunes from their respective families.  She was raised in a middle class home of privilege with ever present servants.

As an infant and small child Beatrix was cared for by her nurse, Miss McKenzie, from the Scottish Highlands.  Miss McKenzie first told her fantastical stories of witches and fairies.

Beatrix was seen as a lonely child forming no close friendships.  She was six years old when her brother, William Bertram Potter, was born.  Bertram, as he grew older, became her only friend and they shared many common interests.

 

When she became of school age she was tutored at home by her governess, Miss Hammond.  Along with reading, writing and arithmetic, Ms. Hammond allowed a fair amount of time for art education.  Miss Hammond introduced natural history to Beatrix at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London.  Beatrix loved reading and discovering she could draw expanded her imagination.  Bertram and Beatrix shared a love of natural history and disected small insects to understand the skeletal structure.

 Beatrice and Pet Rabbit 

I believe Beatrix, separated from normal friendships, created a comfortable imaginary world of her favorite things.  Loving the countryside where her family summered she spent hours sketching the beautiful woodland and animals. She filled her books with practical lessons for imaginary friends.  Beginning with her art and writing she moved on the claim her life in full.

Once given the opportunity of publishing her work, the outside world opened up.  She was determined in her ideas for marketing and became adept at managing her new life.  Although she was slow to step out on her own the ground work was laid well in advance.

After the death of the of her fiance, Norman Warne of Fredrick Warne and Company Publishers, grieving took her for a time but finally she moved to Top Hill in Near Sawery, in the Lake District of north west England.

Her art and writing blossomed making a way for the life she dreamed of to become a reality.  Ability she had, confidence she gained.

She came to love this countryside from childhood vacations.

Along the way of farming she came to love Herdwick sheep and raised some for show. More properties were acquired and would supply funds to care for her Herdwick sheep even after her death.

Being a romantic, I imagine she waited for love to come again, and in 1912 she married William Hellis her property solicitor. They both loved the english countryside, to study natural history, and raising Herdwick sheep.

"I hold an old-fashioned notion that a happy marriage is the crown of a woman's life.' [Journals 1894]

* “The word Herdwick is mentioned in documents going back into the 12th century, and means 'sheep pasture'. Flocks were kept by the monks from Furness Abbeyon their farms in upper Eskdale at Brotherilkeld, mainly for their wool. Beatrix Potter had a very keen interest in the breed and, just before her death in 1942, she left a number of her farms to the National Trust with the stipulation that Herdwick sheep must be kept, an obligation which still exists to this day on selected farms…”

You have to love the happy smiling sheeps.  I do.

*www.shelwin.com/e/sheep/sheep.htm
www.library.pitt.edu/.../illustrators/potter.htm
While I looked at several sites this was the best site I used for research.
http://www.reflectionsintheafternoon.blogspot.com/
1 photo BP probably about 12 years old