A Brief History
On July 28, 1866, Helen Beatrix Potter was born in London, England, to a moderately well to do family of Unitarians. Her father was a barrister and her mother came from a wealthy cotton trading and shipbuilding family. (See our other articles about some great women.)
Digging Deeper
Potter is most famous as the author of the classic children’s book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published in 1902. Potter was also renowned as an illustrator, a talented artist that designed greeting cards and contributed illustrations to the books of other authors. She was also a keen businesswoman that saw the value of creating dolls and toys related to her literary characters, a franchising scheme long before the modern iteration of that idea.
Potter was also interested in many disciplines of science and ran multiple farms raising sheep. Her interest in science led her to develop cures and remedies for various maladies of sheep. Not surprisingly, Potter was also an avid proponent of conservation of the environment.
Potter died of pneumonia that complicated her heart disease at the age of 77, leaving most of her wealth and property to charity.
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever read The Tale of Peter Rabbit? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
O’Quinn, Amy. Becoming Beatrix: The Life of Beatrix Potter and the World of Peter Rabbit. Chicago Review Press, 2022.
Potter, Beatrix. The Tale Of Peter Rabbit: The original and authorized edition. Warne, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Simon Harriyott from Uckfield, England, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
