Rebecca Hey (née Roberts), also known as Mrs Hey, (1797–1859) was an English botanical artist and poet.

Biography

Rebecca Hey was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and baptised at St. Peter on 21 April 1797. She was the third daughter of merchant Thomas Roberts and Esther Lucy. She married William Hey III (1796-1875) in 1821. He was an apothecary-surgeon, who became principal surgeon at

Leeds General Infirmary Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Its previous name The General Infirmary at Leeds is still ...

in 1830, and with other medical practitioners set up the

Leeds School of Medicine The School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Leeds, in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The School of Medicine was founded in 1831. The School of Medicine now forms part of the University's Faculty of Medicine an ...

in 1831. William Hey was one of the original 300 Fellows of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

in 1843.

Rebecca Hey's first book was called ''The Moral of Flowers,'' which was an encyclopaedia of English flowers. Each article was written by her and was preceded by a colour engraving of a painting of the flower by artist William Clark, former draughtsman and engraver of the

London Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

. In the preface Hey credits the authors Sir J. E. Smith and Mr Drummond for the botanical information included in the descriptions. ''Moral of Flowers'' focuses on flower poems that convey religious and moral messages, with a modest amount of botanical information including flowers' scientific names. Hey’s purpose is to “draw such a moral from each flower that is introduced as its appearance, habits, or properties might be supposed to suggest". The book was popular and was reprinted in 1835 and 1849. Hey's next book was an encyclopaedia of trees, this time using her own paintings as well as her poems. Her works were originally published anonymously. Her final publication ''Holy Places, and Other Poems'' focused more on religion and the proceeds from the book went to Special Missions in India.

Selected works

* ''The Moral of Flowers'' (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, 1833) * ''Sylvan Musings; or The Spirit of the Woods'' (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1837) * ''Recollections of the Lakes, and Other Poems'' (London: Tilt & Bogue, 1841) * ''Holy Places, and Other Poems'' (London: J. Hatchard, 1859)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hey, Rebecca 1797 births 1859 deaths English poets English women poets Botanical illustrators English artists Artists from Leeds Writers from Leeds 19th-century English women artists