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The Life of Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter may be best known as the creator of charming characters like Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggy Winkle, but, as is true in most lives, she was in reality many other things as well. A product of Victorian times, she far surpassed society's expectations of women of her era and class. Beatrix was an accomplished botanical illustrator, a sheep breeder and farmer, a wife, and a conservationist greatly devoted to her home, the English Lake District.

Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866 in South Kensington in London.  Her father, Rupert Potter, although educated as a barrister, spent his days at Gentlemen's clubs and rarely practised. Her mother spent her time visiting or receiving visitors. Both parents lived on incomes (inheritances) from their parents. Her younger brother Bertram was sent away to private school, but Beatrix was raised by nannies and governesses and having little contact with other people she was often alone. Beatrix Potter always loved animals and whenever possible, she smuggled mice, rabbits and hedgehogs into the house. When she came of age, her parents appointed her their housekeeper and discouraged any intellectual development, instead requiring her to supervise the household. An uncle attempted to introduce her as a student at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, but she was rejected because she was female.

The young Miss Potter was 16, when she first visited the Lake District with her parents.  They stayed at Wray Castle, on the west shore of Windermere and she immediately fell in love with the area.  For the next 21 years, the Potters holidayed in the Lake District, Beatrix loved Derwentwater; and often stayed at Lingholm, under Catbells, where she would watch squirrels in the woods and rabbits in the vegetable gardens of the big house and where she made many sketches of the landscape.

When she went back to London Beatrix made greetings cards of her pictures, and started a book. Frederick Warne published 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' in 1902, which was originally written in the form of a letter sent to a five-year-old invalid boy, Noel, in 1893, and based on the activities of a real rabbit.

She now had an income from her books, Peter Rabbit having already sold some 50000 copies and in 1905 she bought Hill Top, a little farm in Sawrey in the Lake District, for the next eight years she busied herself writing more books, and in that time she wrote thirteen successful volumes, many of which reflected her life in The Lake District, at Hill Top and in the village of Sawrey.  Within a decade, her books sold in the millions.

In 1909 Beatrix Potter bought another farm in The Lake Disrict, Castle Farm, opposite Hill Top, became her main Lakeland base. Seven of her books are based in or around Hill Top. Tom Kitten and Samuel Whiskers lived there. Hill Top is still as it was then, and is now the most visited literary shrine in the Lake District.
In all Beatrix Potter wrote 23 books. These were published in a small format, easy for a child to hold and read. Her writing efforts abated around 1920 due to poor eyesight, though her last major work, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, was published in 1930.

In 1909, she had bought a nearby, larger property, Castle Farm, to add to Hill Top's farming acreage. The solicitors with whom she made the transaction were W. Heelis & Co, including one partner named William Heelis. He kept his eye on her various farms and buildings and eventually they were married to the disapproval of Potter’s parents, who thought a mere country solicitor was beneath their daughter’s station.

She wasn't without support, however.  Her brother, Bertram, encouraged her to do what she wanted and Beatrix and William married in Kensington in 1913 and spent their honeymoon in Sawrey.

The couple farmed–Herdwick sheep and Beatrix Potter worked in the fields with the men. In the 30s and 40s, her Herdwick Sheep won many prizes at national shows. Mrs Heelis, as she was now known, learned to train sheep dogs, and she loved folk dancing. She bred prize pigs, too, which helped in the creation of her character, Pigling Bland.

She had been a friend of one of the founders of the National Trust, and throughout the remaining years of her life, she remained committed to the ideals of the National Trust. As William always knew in advance what cottages or parcels of land were up for sale, she kept acquiring properties to protect them from development. Beatrix believed that the Trust was critical for the protection of the Lake District.

When she died on 22 December 1943, Beatrix Potter left fourteen farms (including Penny Hill Farm in Eskdale),  and 4000 acres of land to the National Trust, together with her flocks of Herdwick sheep. The National Trust now owns 91 hill farms, many of which have a mainly Herdwick landlord's flock with a total holding of about 25000 sheep. This was her gift to the nation, to ensure that the beauty of the Lake District would remain unspoiled for all to enjoy.

Academy Award winning actress Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor star in Miss Potter; a film about Beatrix Potter and The English Lake District.

Millgillhead is a Sensational 18th Century Country House, chosen by location managers to feature in the 2006 film Miss Potter. 

• Please click here for more information on Beatrix Potter  and the Miss Potter film
• Please click here for more on Beatrix Potter’s Lake District

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