Nadia Cohen - The Real Beatrix Potter

THE REAL

BEATRIX POTTER

Dedicated to

Mum and Dad,

Diana and Martin.

Thank You

NADIA COHEN

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

PEN AND SWORD WHITE OWL

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Nadia Cohen, 2020

ISBN 978 1 52675 275 8

ePUB ISBN 978 1 52675 276 5

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52675 277 2

The right of Nadia Cohen to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Say the name Beatrix Potter almost anywhere in the world and it immediately conjures up enchanting images of adorable and mischievous animals scampering through the pages of her instantly recognisable little white books. Synonymous with Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Beatrix and her classic childrens tales have been firmly established nursery favourites for generations.

What is less known about the whimsical childrens author is that she was also a shrewd businesswoman, a canny marketing expert and a hardworking, often irritable, farmer who bought up great swathes of land across Englands picturesque Lake District to protect it from the onslaught of modern development. She was a passionate environmental campaigner, something of an eco-warrior and a trailblazing feminist many years before the terms had even been coined.

Despite her privileged and sheltered upbringing in Victorian London, Beatrix defied the genteel social conventions of the time and refused to settle down and churn out children with whichever wealthy and well-connected husband her parents deemed a suitable match. She had no interest in being squeezed into the latest fashions and paraded around high society balls and parties, where she was expected to secure herself a suitable man.

As a result of this fiercely rebellious streak, Beatrix endured an unhappy and stifling childhood, frustrated by the rigid confines of her prosperous familys townhouse in Kensington where her mother reminded her repeatedly that her only true purpose in life was marriage and motherhood. One thing was abundantly clear Beatrix was not remotely interested in either.

A quiet life was never going to be enough for this fiercely outspoken and clever woman who did not find a husband until she was 47 years old far too late to start a family and although she was never granted the education she craved, she consoled herself with studying the anatomy of animals and plants, and teaching herself to draw with remarkable accuracy.

From a very early age Beatrix desperately longed for the cerebral stimulation of a life beyond the snobbery of her social class, and rejected much of the wealth and luxury that came with her aristocratic birthright. Beatrix simply could not see the point of her familys social life. She would much rather have spent her time dissecting frogs in the countryside, or sketching the pet hedgehog she kept hidden in her bedroom without her parents knowledge.

At a time when it was rarely considered worthwhile to educate girls of her class (school and university would have been a waste of time and money since the goal was merely marriage and motherhood), Beatrix stood out a mile. She could not abide the other women of her class, who appeared to be content to fill their days taking tea and discussing the weather. Beatrix was desperate to learn something more than piano and embroidery, and when she realised she had no choice but to teach herself, that is precisely what she did.

By the time she reached her teens Beatrix was entirely self-taught in a wide range of subjects and held strong opinions about them all, although she was far too cripplingly shy to ever dare voice her views in public. Instead, she had to content herself with pouring her heart out into the pages of her secret coded diaries. Bored at the long empty hours which stretched out as she was confined to the nursery of the Potters townhouse in Bolton Gardens, Beatrix confided in one of her earliest journal entries: I must draw, however poor the result. I will do something sooner or later.

Despite her parents, Rupert and Helen, doing all they could to drag their only daughter to debutante balls in the vain hope that she might lure a wealthy aristocrat, Beatrix felt stifled and awkward in London. Instead, she longed for the wide-open landscapes of the English countryside; preserving its breathtaking beauty would eventually become her mission in life.

Desperate to find as many different ways as she could think of to pass the time, Beatrix began to send lavishly illustrated letters to her friends children, and started to wonder if her homespun stories could potentially earn her an independent income, which would allow her to escape from Bolton Gardens and live the life she dreamt of. Her first attempt at a childrens story The Tale of Peter Rabbit was rejected several times by publishers who failed to spot its enormous potential. When it did eventually appear after she had paid to publish it herself privately Beatrix was astonished to find herself in great demand. Suddenly she had an eager publisher, who was not only clamouring to publish more and more books, but also wanted to marry her too. Life at her parents stifling townhouse in Kensington, West London, was not so dull after all. Tragically, her happiness was short-lived. Beatrixs fianc Norman Warne died barely a month after he proposed and she fled to the Lake District to grieve in private.

Her childrens books were proving phenomenally popular, but writing them could never bring Beatrix the satisfaction or contentment she craved after she discovered a new way of living in the Cumbrian hills and fells. Beatrix only ever really felt motivated to write when she needed money in order to be able to buy more farms and cottages to thwart ruthless developers who were eager to capitalise on the popularity of the Lake District. She feared that pandering to tourists would destroy the areas natural beauty.

Although Beatrixs books led to global fame and a vast fortune, in the close knit rural community where she retreated for the rest of her life she always kept her star status concealed. She eventually married a local solicitor, William Heelis, and became known simply as his rather stout and loyal wife. Together they lived a quiet and frugal existence in their remote cottage, and Beatrix once described herself and William as being like two horses in front of the same plough, walking so steadily beside each other.