![First admission of lady Fellows to the Linnean Society of London](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/First_admission_of_lady_Fellows_to_the_Linnean_Society_of_London.jpg)
Mary Anne Stebbing FLS (''née'' Saunders; 11 September 1845 – 21 January 1927) was a
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
and
botanical illustrator
Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...
.
She was among the first women to be admitted to the
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
.
Personal life
![Linnean Society of London First Formal Admission of Women Fellows](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Linnean_Society_of_London_First_Formal_Admission_of_Women_Fellows.jpg)
Stebbing was the daughter of botanist and
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
William Wilson Saunders
William Wilson Saunders FRS (4 June 1809 – 13 September 1879) was a British insurance broker, entomologist and botanist.
Saunders was an underwriter at Lloyd's of London. He served as president of the Entomological Society from 1841 to 18 ...
. Growing up she was involved in gathering, identifying and sketching botanicals for her father, as well as caring for the garden.
Her husband,
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing
The Reverend Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing FRS, FLS (6 February 1835, London – 8 July 1926, Royal Tunbridge Wells) was a British zoologist, who described himself as "a serf to natural history, principally employed about Crustacea". Educated i ...
described her family as a “very nest of naturalists” in his autobiography. She met her husband through the Holmesdale Natural History Club which had been set up by her father.
They married in 1867 and as a wedding gift Mary presented him with a volume of orchids she had drawn herself with the note “to my dear husband”.
Following their marriage they moved to Torquay, Cornwall, before moving to Tunbridge Wells in 1877.
On their golden anniversary they spent a portion of the day drawing together.
T.R.R. Stebbing passed away in July 1926, and Mary Anne died on 21 January 1927 in
Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...
. She was buried in
Rusthall.
Work
Stebbing sought to illustrate British flora in water colour.
Her early work has been described as focusing on aesthetics, more closely resembling a flower painter than a botanical illustrator.
Much of this early work was destroyed in a house fire in 1881.
Her style changed in her later work, her sketches became more detailed including multiple sections of the plants and notes, for example on the location the specimen was found.
She has been described as a “serious and skilled botanical illustrator”, praised for recording her subjects faithfully to include “abnormality and infection” instead of idealising them.
A collection of 14 of her illustrations are held at the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...
.
In addition to her own work, Stebbing in credited with assisting in her husband’s work.
She helped him to classify species
and assisted with sketches for his books on Crustacea.
Despite this, her husband published all his works under his name only and Stebbing never published any research under her own name.
Admittance to the Linnaean Society
On January 19, 1904, Stebbing, alongside 10 others, was one of the first women to be admitted to the Linnaean society.
Lord Crisp, the husband of one of the other female Fellow being admitted, Lady Crisp, commissioned a painting of the event.
In the original painting Stebbing was a central figure, however Lord Crisp objected to this, initially stating “Naturally if I pay £300 for a picture, I should prefer that another Fellow’s wife should not be the selected figure!”, and later implying Stebbing lacked scientific merit; “we must surely have at the table a lady Fellow who has done something, not one without a record.”.
Several newspapers commented on the picture, for example The World commented “the picture was rendered somewhat comic by the figure
tebbingin blue plush in the foreground”.
When the picture was eventually presented to the Linnaean society in 1919, Stebbing had been painted over and replaced with an empty chair.
Although there is no official record of attendance, Stebbing is thought to have regularly attended meetings of the society.
See also
*
Timeline of women in science
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women f ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stebbing, Mary Anne
1845 births
1927 deaths
British women scientists
Botanical illustrators
British botanists