Emily Williamson (''née'' Bateson; 17 April 1855 – 12 January 1936), was an English
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. She was co-founder of the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...
(RSPB) with
Eliza Phillips
Eliza Phillips (''née'' Barron; 1823 – 18 August 1916) was an English animal welfare activist and co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. She was the RSPB's vice president and publications editor.
Biography
Early life and ...
in 1891.
The society started as the Plumage League; it became the Society for the Protection of Birds, and was granted 'Royal' status in 1904.
In 1891 she also established the Gentlewomen's Employment Association in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
.
Personal life
Emily Bateson was born at Moon,
Lancaster, in April 1855. She was the daughter of Frederick Septimus Bateson and Eliza Frost. She settled in
Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...
after her marriage on 8June 1882 to
Robert Wood Williamson, where they lived until their relocation to The Copse,
Brook, Surrey, in 1912. When Robert died in 1932, Emily moved to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
where she remained for the rest of her life. She died at home in
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
on 12January 1936, at age 80. She and her husband left no issue. The home in which she lived in Didsbury, and from which she established her organisation, bears a plaque placed in 1989 to honour her work on the centenary of her organisation.
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Williamson disapproved of the use of bird feathers in fashion, both due to the reduction of bird population and the
cruelty of
plume hunting. In February 1889 she founded the Society for the Protection of Birds, a group of women who pledged not to wear feathers from most birds.
Explicit exceptions included birds killed for food and the ostrich, because the harvesting of its tail feathers was not painful.
The early efforts of the Society were lauded in the press, including an endorsement in ''Punch'' in October 1889, although ''Punch'' questioned the degree of restriction imposed by the group: "Not a ''very'' severe self-denying ordinance that, Ladies?"
In 1891 Williamson's group merged with a similar organisation in Croydon, organised by
Eliza Phillips
Eliza Phillips (''née'' Barron; 1823 – 18 August 1916) was an English animal welfare activist and co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. She was the RSPB's vice president and publications editor.
Biography
Early life and ...
and focused on both "fur and feather".
The headquarters of the merged Society for the Protection of Birds was moved to London. Hannah Poland took over from Williamson as secretary, and
Winifred, the Duchess of Portland became president. Williamson took a vice-presidency which she would retain until her death. She also continued to serve as secretary in various branches through most of the rest of her life, according to where she lived: in Didsbury (1891–1911), Brook, Surrey (1912–1931), and London (1931 – ca. 1934).
In the period from 1891 to 1899, membership expanded from 1,200 to over 20,000. Among the membership, once men were included, was
William Henry Hudson
William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an Anglo-Argentine author, naturalist and ornithologist.
Life
Hudson was the son of Daniel Hudson and his wife Catherine (), U ...
. In 1904, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was incorporated by
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
, and the group began charging membership fees. That year was the only one in which Williamson spoke at an annual meeting, reflecting on the growth of the organization from "when it was a very small fledgling, and had no dreams of soaring to the heights which it had reached".
Later work
In 1891, she had founded the Gentlewomen's Employment Association in Manchester, and she also initiated two influential programmes from within this group: the
Princess Christian
Princess Helena (Helena Augusta Victoria; 25 May 1846 – 9 June 1923), later Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, was the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Helena was educated by private tutors chosen ...
Training College for Nurses and, in 1898, the Loan Training Fund, which helped to subsidise the costs of further education for young women. Although no records of these organisations exist, the Loan Training Fund was said to have been the first of its kind in the country.
Notes
The recent historical work by Tessa Boase 'Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather'
Aurum Press London 2018 covers the personalities of those involved in the early days of the (R)SPB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Emily
1855 births
1936 deaths
English philanthropists
English environmentalists
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds people