Louise de Kiriline Lawrence (née Flach; January 30, 1894 – April 27, 1992) was a naturalist, author, and

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

. She was a frequent contributor to the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

magazine ''Audubon''.

Early life

Louise de Kiriline Lawrence was born Louise Flach on January 30, 1894, in Svensksund,

Vikbolandet Vikbolandet is a large peninsula east of Norrköping city in Östergötland, Sweden. The area is limited by Bråviken to the north, Slätbaken to the south and the Baltic Sea to the east. The biggest population center is Östra Husby with a ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, to Hillevid Neergaard and Sixten Flach. Her father Sixten was a trained naturalist. He helped to establish the bird sanctuary on

Stora Karlsö Stora Karlsö is an island off the west coast of Gotland, Sweden; part of Eksta socken. It is mostly known for its rich birdlife with large colonies of Common murre, common guillemot, and flora. Stora Karlsö is a nature reserve, the second oldest ...

, an island west of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. Louise's early life was one of wealth and social connections. Her godmother and namesake was Princess Louise of Denmark. At the age of 18, she was presented at court to

Gustav V Gustaf V (Oscar Gustaf Adolf; 16 June 1858 – 29 October 1950) was King of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until his death in 1950. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxe ...

of Sweden. Visitors to the Flach estate included well-known Swedish naturalists, among them

Bruno Liljefors Bruno Andreas Liljefors (; 14 May 1860 – 18 December 1939) was a Swedish artist. He is perhaps best known for his nature and animal motifs, especially with dramatic situations. He was the most important and probably most influential Swedish wil ...

Career

De Kiriline Lawrence trained as a nurse and was employed by the Danish Red Cross during World War I. One of her patients in a Denmark camp hospital was a Russian officer, Lt. Gleb Nikoleyevich Kirilin; they married in 1918. He returned to Russia to fight with the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

in the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

, and she followed him there in 1919. After several weeks, the married couple was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and separated. Louise, after her release, visited Gleb in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. In June 1919, Gleb and other officers were transferred and Louise lost contact with him. Gleb Kirilin disappeared in Siberia where, according to accounts, he was executed. Keeping up hope that Gleb would be found, Louise worked as a nurse in Russia for several years while she searched for him, including work with European Student Relief. In 1927 de Kiriline Lawrence emigrated to Canada and continued to work as a nurse, joining the outpost service of the

Canadian Red Cross Society The Canadian Red Cross Society () Stationed in rural northern Ontario, she became well known as the nurse to the

Dionne quintuplets The Dionne quintuplets (; born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood. The Dionn ...

during the first year of their lives. For her work with the quints, she received a

King George V Silver Jubilee Medal The King George V Silver Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession of King George V. Issue This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir by King George V to commemorate his Silver J ...

. She retired from nursing in 1935, and lived in a cabin in Northern Ontario. She met Leonard Lawrence, a carpenter, and married him in 1939. By this time she had begun a new career as an

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and nature writer.

Percy A. Taverner Percy Algernon Taverner (June 10, 1875 – May 9, 1947) was a Canadian ornithologist and architect. https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v065n01/p0085-p0106.pdf He was born Percy Algernon Fowler in Guelph, Ontario in 1875. When h ...

encouraged her to band birds;

Doris Huestis Speirs Doris Louise Huestis Speirs (née, Huestis; also known as Doris Huestis Mills; 7 October 1894 – 24 October 1989) was a Canadian ornithologist, artist and poet. The "Doris Huestis Speirs Award" is an annual prize bestowed by the Society of Can ...

and

Margaret Morse Nice Margaret Morse Nice (December 6, 1883 – June 26, 1974) was an American ornithologist, ethologist, and child psychologist who made an extensive study of the life history of the song sparrow and was author of ''Studies in the Life History of the S ...

also served as mentors to de Kiriline Lawrence. From 1948, she conducted a 15-year correspondence with

Alexander Skutch Alexander Frank Skutch (May 20, 1904 – May 12, 2004) was a naturalist and writer. He published numerous scientific papers and books about birds and several books on philosophy. He is best remembered ornithologically for his pioneering work on ...

, with whom she shared interests in natural history, field observation, and writing accessible to the general public. W. Earl Godfrey of the National Museum of Canada was also an early mentor. The pair corresponded from 1947 until at least 1959, exchanging information, observations, and specimens. Godfrey acknowledged de Kiriline Lawrence's contributions in his field guide, ''The Birds of Canada'' (1966). She is recognized for her study of the

red-eyed vireo The red-eyed vireo (''Vireo olivaceus'') is a small American songbird. It is somewhat warbler-like but not closely related to the New World warblers (Parulidae). Common across its vast range, this species is not considered threatened by the IUCN. ...

, which identified the songbird as capable of producing 22,197 distinct calls in a single day. She published nearly twenty scientific papers in ''

The Auk ''Ornithology'', formerly ''The Auk'' and ''The Auk: Ornithological Advances'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official publication of the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It was established in 1884 and is published quarterly. ...

'', ''

The Wilson Bulletin ''The Wilson Journal of Ornithology'' (until 2006 ''The Wilson Bulletin'') is a quarterly scientific journal published by the Wilson Ornithological Society. Both the society and its journal were named after American ornithologist Alexander Wilson ...

'', and '' The Canadian Field-Naturalist'' and more than 40 articles for Audubon and other popular magazines. De Kiriline Lawrence carried out the majority of her scientific work on her property, located outside of

North Bay, Ontario North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. North Bay developed as a railroad centre, and its airport was an important military ...

. Working from the most northerly bird banding station in Ontario, de Kiriline Lawrence made significant contributions to the knowledge of the northern limits of many North American species, chief among them

red crossbill The red crossbill or common crossbill (''Loxia curvirostra'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, which enable them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other ...

, ''Loxia curvirostra''. Her observations and collecting constitute the earliest nest records for this species, as well as an early record of the ''L. c. bendirei'' subspecies for Ontario.

Later life and death

Louise de Kiriline Lawrence died on April 27, 1992, in

Legacy and recognition

In 1954, de Kiriline Lawrence became the first Canadian woman to be named an Elective Member of the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

. She received an honorary LL.D. from

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

in 1970. In 2014, the Nipissing Naturalists Club established an annual Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Nature Festival. In 2016, the Club, in partnership with Ontario Heritage Trust, placed a plaque in honor of Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, in Nipissing District. Laurentian University awards five yearly scholarships named for de Kiriline Lawrence.

Works

* * Illustrated by Thoreau MacDonald. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1988, . * * * * Illustrated by Glen Loates. Reissued by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1968 and by Natural Heritage Books, 1987, . * Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1986, . * Published in Toronto by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1977. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1987, . * Illustrated by Aletha Karstad. Reissued by Natural Heritage Books, 1989, .

Awards

*The

Burroughs Medal The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural his ...

, 1969, for ''The Lovely and the Wild'' *The Sir Charles G. D. Roberts Special Award, 1969, for ''The Lovely and the Wild'' *Francis H. Kortright Outdoor Writing Award, 1980, for ''To Whom the Wilderness Speaks'' *Doris Huestis Speirs Award, for outstanding lifetime contributions to Canadian ornithology, from the

Society of Canadian Ornithologists The Society of Canadian Ornithologists, or Société des Ornithologistes du Canada, is an ornithological non-profit organization serving Canada’s ornithological community. It was founded in 1983, and is a member of the Ornithological Council. Th ...

, 1991

References

Bibliography

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