Eliza Brightwen née Elder (30 October 1830 – 5 May 1906) was a Scottish naturalist and author. She was

self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...

, and many of her observations were made in the grounds of ''The Grove'' in

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

, the estate outside London which she shared with her husband during his lifetime and where she lived as a widow. She was described in 1912, as "one of the most popular naturalists of her day".

Personal life

Eliza Elder was born in 1830 in

Banff, Aberdeenshire Banff ( gd, Banbh) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is the county town of the ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

to Margaret and George Elder, and she had three other siblings. Her mother died in 1837 and her father died in 1853. She was adopted, after her mother died, by her uncle, Alexander Elder, co-founder of Smith, Elder & Co. Elder moved to

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

to live with her uncle, and then to

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

. She did not receive a

formal education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

. She expressed interest in natural history as a child and described her youth as "extremely lonely and quiet". In 1855 she married George Brightwen, a banker who then ran a successful business of his own. The couple moved to

and lived in a house called Elderslie, in

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow re ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Brightwen suffered from health problems, and had a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

in 1872. She lived as a

recluse A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin ''recludere'', which means "shut up" or "sequester". Historically, the word referred to a Christian hermit's total isolation from th ...

for 10 years, with little to no contact with her husband and friends. She rarely left the house and did not read. When George Brightwen died in 1883 she emerged from reclusiveness, to be active intellectually and physically, but continued to suffer from body pains for the rest of her life. She still rarely left ''The Grove''. Brightwen lived in Stanmore until she died in May 1906. The house, The Grove, had an estate of 170 acres (69 hectares), where she did much of her research. The couple renovated the house to a design carried out by

Brightwen Binyon Brightwen Binyon, FRIBA, (30 May 1846 – 21 September 1905) was a British architect. Life He was born at Headley Grange, Victoria Park, Manchester, the son of Edward Binyon (1791–1855), a sugar refiner and tea dealer, and his wife Jane née ...

. She turned the billiard room into a museum after her husband's death. Eliza Brightwen was a

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 ...

and attended church regularly. She died childless, and is buried at a church in Stanmore.

Work

Brightwen did much of her research on location in the woods and grounds of her home, The Grove. She started writing about her work when she was sixty. In 1890, she published ''Wild Nature Won by Kindness,'' about animal life. She became well known as a naturalist. In 1892, she published her second book, ''More about Wild Nature,'' followed by ''Inmates of my House and Garden,'' in 1895. It is considered her master work. She published a total of six publications during her lifetime. She socialized with

Philip Henry Gosse Philip Henry Gosse FRS (; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of ma ...

(whose second wife, also named Eliza Brightwen, was her husband's sister),

William Henry Flower Sir William Henry Flower (30 November 18311 July 1899) was an English surgeon, museum curator and comparative anatomist, who became a leading authority on mammals and especially on the primate brain. He supported Thomas Henry Huxley in an imp ...

, William Hooker, and

James Paget Sir James Paget, 1st Baronet FRS HFRSE (11 January 1814 – 30 December 1899) (, rhymes with "gadget") was an English surgeon and pathologist who is best remembered for naming Paget's disease and who is considered, together with Rudolf Virc ...

. She also wrote about the concept of "home museums," as written in ''More about Wild Nature.'' The concept of home museums stems from her own home museum at The Grove. On her death, a collection of

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s were published titled ''Last Hours with Nature.'' An

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

was also published, with an

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

by her nephew

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

Bibliography

* *Brightwen, Eliza. '' More about Wild Nature.'' (1892) *Brightwen, Eliza. '' Inmates of my House and Garden.'' (1895) *Brightwen, Eliza. '' Glimpses into Plant Life.'' (1898) *Brightwen, Eliza. '' Rambles with Nature Students.'' (1899) *Brightwen, Eliza. '' Quiet Hours with Nature.'' (1903) *Brightwen, Eliza. ''The Life and Thoughts of a Naturalist'' (autobiographical writings, journal, etc. introduced by

, edited by W. Chesson, 1909)''Women Writers 1795–1927, Part I: A–F'' London: Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers, 2017. *Eliza Brightwen. ''Eliza Brightwen, naturalist & philanthropist ; an autobiography.'' Edited by W. H. Chesson, with introduction and epilogue by Edmond Gosse. New York: American Tract Society (1909)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brightwen, Eliza 1830 births 1906 deaths 19th-century naturalists 20th-century naturalists Scottish naturalists Scottish women scientists People from Banff, Aberdeenshire People from Stanmore Women naturalists Scottish women writers 19th-century Scottish women 19th-century Scottish scientists 19th-century British women writers 20th-century British women writers