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Etta Lemon

For the bookEtta Lemon: the Woman Who Saved the Birds,seeMrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather.

Margaretta"Etta"Louisa LemonMBE(néeSmith;22 November 1860 – 8 July 1953) was an English birdconservationistand a founding member of what is now theRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds(RSPB). She was born into anevangelicalChristian family inKent,and after her father's death she increasingly campaigned against the use ofplumageinhatmakingwhich had led to billions of birds being killed for their feathers. She founded theFur, Fin and Feather FolkwithEliza PhillipsinCroydonin 1889, which two years later merged withEmily Williamson'sManchester-basedSociety for the Protection of Birds(SPB), also founded in 1889. The new organisation adopted the SPB title, and the constitution for the merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who became its legal adviser. Etta married Frank Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary of the SPB, a post she kept until 1904, when the society became the RSPB.

Etta Lemon
MBE
A middle-aged Victorian woman.
Aslady mayoressof Reigate in 1913
Born
Margaretta Louisa Smith

(1860-11-22)22 November 1860
Hythe, Kent,England
Died8 July 1953(1953-07-08)(aged 92)
Redhill, Surrey,England
Burial placeReigatecemetery
Known forFounding member ofRSPB
Spouse
Frank Lemon
​
​
(m.1892; died 1935)​

The Lemons led the RSPB for more than three decades, although Etta's conservatism, authoritarian management and opposition to scientificornithologyincreasingly led to clashes with the organisation's committee. She was pressured to resign from her leadership role in 1938, aged 79. During her tenure, theImportation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 1921restricted the international trade in feathers, but did not prevent their being sold or worn.

Lemon was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empirein 1920 for her management of the Redhill War Hospital during theFirst World War.She worked for many other organisations, including theRoyal Earlswood Hospital,theWomen's National Anti-Suffrage League,and the localRed Crossbranch. Lemon was one of the first four female honorary members of theBritish Ornithologists' Union(BOU) admitted in 1909, although she never considered herself to be anornithologist.She died atRedhillaged 92 in 1953 and was buried next to her husband atReigatecemetery.

Early life

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Margaretta Louisa Smith was born on 22 November 1860 inHythe, Kent,to William Elisha Smith and Louisa Smith (néeBarclay). William Smith was a captain ofmusketryin the Royal Sherwood Fusiliers, later to become theSherwood Foresters,and wasadjutantat the musketry training school in Hythe. Etta was the oldest of three children, followed by her brother Edward and sister Woltera Mercy. Etta's mother had a stillborn baby in 1866 anddied giving birthin 1867, along with the newborn child. Her father married 26-year-old Mary Anne Wollaston later in the same year. Etta and Mercy (the names that the sisters preferred to be called) initially lived with their father and stepmother at their new home inBlackheath,then a Kenitsh village ten km to the south-east of London. At about this time, Captain Smith left the army. From 1868 until his death in 1899, he served as honorary secretary of the Evangelisation Society, which aimed to promote thegospelin hard-to-reach situations.[1][2]

Etta was soon sent to Hill Houseboarding schoolinBelstead,Suffolk,run by Maria Umphelby—another evangelical Christian—and remained there until she was 16. She returned briefly to Blackheath before being sent to afinishing schoolinLausanne,Switzerland, where she became fluent in French.[1]Her brother Edward went to study medicine atCambridge.He later took on the name Barclay-Smith and served as a professor ofanatomy.[3]

After returning to Blackheath aged 18, Etta joined her father in his evangelical work, writing pamphlets and accompanying him on daily train journeys to London, where she learned to speak in public at evangelical meetings. On these journeys, they often met William Lemon and his son, both lawyers. The younger Lemon shared Etta's views oncruelty to animalsand the practice of using birds inhat-making(then called millinery).[4]

The feather trade

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Great egretshowing the breeding season plumes used inhatmaking
A 1911Puckcartoon showing how plumed hats resulted in the demise ofsnowy egrets

A major threat to birds from the late eighteenth century[a]up to just after theFirst World Warwas the demand for feathers to decorate women's hats. Although some were obtained fromfarmed ostriches,huge numbers of wild birds were killed for the millinery trade, many of which wereegrets,leading to the trade term "aigrette" for such plumes.[b]Many other species were also used in fashion, ranging fromhummingbirdstostorksandcranes.[5]

Between 1870 and 1920, 18,400 tonnes (20,300 tons) of wild bird feathers were imported into the UK, and since 150–300 birds were needed for 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of their decorative breeding plumes, this implied that billions of birds were killed to meet the British demand alone. Shooting breeding birds effectively led to the failure of their eggs and chicks to survive, causing actual losses to be much higher.[5]At its peak, the British trade was worth £20 million annually, around £204 million at 2021 prices.[6]

Anti-plume movements

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Smith was inspired by Scottish naturalistEliza Brightwen'sWild Nature Won by Kindness(1890) on the killing of birds for theplumetrade.[c]At church she would see women who were wearing feathered hats, and send them a note explaining how birds were killed to make them. Together with the wildlife activistEliza Phillips,[d]in 1889 she founded the all-womenFur, Fin and Feather Folkat Phillips's home inCroydonto campaign against the plume trade.[2][9]Other early members included the wealthy, unmarried Catherine Hall, and the 15-year-old Hannah Poland, a fish merchant's daughter.[10]Members pledged not to wear the feathers of any bird not killed for food, excepting the ostrich, which was farmed for its plumes.[11][12]The organisation had a subscription of two pence, and in its first year its membership was nearly 5,000.[11]

TheFur, Fin and Feather Folksociety merged in 1891 with theSociety for the Protection of Birds(SPB), also founded in 1889 byphilanthropistEmily WilliamsonatDidsbury,Manchester.The SPB was also all-female, and had similar objectives and the same subscription rate.[11]The amalgamation was brokered by theRoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(RSPCA) which did not itself wish to take up the plumage cause; as a moderate mainstream organisation, it was politic for it to keep some distance from what was seen as an extremist movement.[13]Although the new organisation adopted the SPB title, in practice the London group provided most of its administration. The constitution for the newly merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who also served as its legal advisor. Etta married Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary, a post she kept until 1904.[2]In 1898 she was elected a Fellow of theZoological Society of London.[14]

The SPB had its own office in London by 1897, and sent more than 16,000 letters and 50,000 leaflets; it had 20,000 members by the following year.[9]Although the organisation was founded as all-female, the nature writerWilliam Henry Hudsonwas associated with Smith and Phillips from the start,[10]and generous donations came fromornithologistsincluding ProfessorAlfred Newton,who gave oneguinea,Lord Lilford,president of theBritish Ornithologists' Union,andJ. A. Harvie-Brown,who both donated £10.[e]Prominent men were also enlisted as speakers or supporters. These includedBrooke Foss Westcott,Bishop of Durham,the politicianSir Edward Greyand the soldierLord Wolseley.[15]

Two earlier campaigning organisations founded in 1885, the Selborne League and thePlumage League,had amalgamated in the following year as theSelborne Society,[16]but were soon outstripped by the SPB because of the latter organisation's extensive network of local branches[17]and its single-issue focus.[18]

RSPB

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Main article:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Winifred, Duchess of Portland,painted byPhilip de Lászlóin 1912

From 1891 to her death in 1954, the president of the SPB wasWinifred Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland.Teetotaler,vegetarian and a supporter of many humanitarian causes, she was important to the society because of her aristocratic connections.[19]She was asMistress of the RobestoQueen Alexandra,[20]consort ofEdward VII,and herDukewasMaster of the Horse,both roles that placed the couple close to the monarchy. The duchess left Etta Lemon to deal with much of her correspondence on bird matters.[19]

In 1904, the queen gave her approval for the SPB to be incorporated byRoyal Charterand become theRoyal Society for the Protection of BirdsRSPB.Lemon could not continue as honorary secretary since the charter excluded women from leading the organisation.[21]She therefore conducted the society's daily business as the honorary secretary of the society's publishers and watchers committees. Her previous position was taken up by Frank Lemon, and the couple remained in their posts for the next 31 years.[2]In 1913, Lemon arranged forlighthousesbe fitted with perches formigrating birdsto rest on, and established a system of "watchers" to monitor vulnerable bird breeding sites.[22]

A bill to control the trade in feathers was unsuccessfully introduced in parliament in 1908.[23]Feathers were among the luxury items whose import was banned from February 1917 for the duration of the First World War.[24]In July 1919, Lemon and the Duchess of Portland delivered a letter signed by 150 men, including celebrities such asH. G. WellsandThomas Hardy,to the president of theBoard of Trade,Sir Auckland Geddes,asking that the war-time restriction on the importation of plumage should be continued until legislation was passed. Geddes replied that the import restriction would continue "as long as possible" and that he "hoped" that the bill would be passed early in 1920.[25]TheImportation of Plumage (Prohibition) Actwas passed in 1921 and receivedroyal assenton 1 April 1922.[26]The Act had limited effect, since it only banned the import of feathers, not the sale or wearing of plumes.[27]

Frank Lemon died suddenly in April 1935, aged 76, and Etta took over his role as honorary secretary.[27]When the secretary of the RSPB, Linda Gardiner, retired in 1935, there was a proposal to replace her with a man, apparently to give the society greater acceptability. This idea was opposed by the two women assistant secretaries Beatrice Solly and Lemon's niecePhyllis Barclay-Smith.Lemon did not support the women assistants' plea for gender equality, and when they threatened to resign, she accepted their resignations, and did not give their names when she mentioned their departure in the society's magazine.[2][28]

Lemon soon came under scrutiny inThe Fieldwhere an editorial in 1936 questioned the Society's inaction on cage birds, its gambling onreal estateinvestment, its high expenditure, and its elderly management. This led to the establishment of a six-member committee headed byJulian Huxleyof the Zoological Society of London that proposed changes in the management which included fixed terms for elected members. These rules came into effect in 1960, well after Lemon's death.[2][28]By 1938, the 79-year-old Lemon had lost much of her influence. The post of honorary secretary had been abolished, and practices she disapproved of, such asbird ringingand close photography, had been adopted by the RSPB, whereas she felt that her watchers were undervalued. She bowed to the inevitable and submitted her resignation from the committee to the Duchess of Portland in the same year.[29]

Other activities

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Royal Earlswood Hospitalin 2010

Apart from the anti-plumage organisations, the other mass female-based movement at the turn of the century waswomen's suffrage,spearheaded in the UK byEmmeline Pankhurst'sWomen's Social and Political Union.[30]Many of the conservative and religious leaders of the SPB were opposed to women's suffrage, and manysuffragetteswore plumed hats as a badge of identity. An 1896 SPB pamphletA Woman's Questionwritten byBlanche Atkinsonand distributed by Lemon noted that the wearing of plumes by women was a good reason to deny the right to vote: "if women are so empty-headed and stupid that they cannot be made to understand the cruelty of which they are guilty in that matter, they certainly prove themselves to be unfit to be voters, and to enter the learned professions on equal terms with men."[31]Lemon became a committee member of theWomen's National Anti-Suffrage Leaguefounded in 1908.[6][32]

Lemon also worked with theRoyal Earlswood HospitalinRedhill, Surrey,one of the first establishments to cater specifically for people withdevelopmental disabilities,[33]and the Crescent House Convalescent Home,Brighton.[2][34]

In 1911, Frank Lemon becamemayorofReigate,and as lady mayoress, Etta became involved in his civic duties,[35]including organising a Christmas party for 100 children.[36]She was aquartermasterof the localRed Crossbranch, member of theworkhouseboard of guardians,and treasurer of the Children's Care Association.[37]

In 1917, during the First World War, theBritish Armyrequisitioned Redhill workhouseinfirmaryas a war hospital, and Lemon, now 57, was appointed as its commandant in charge of 50 staff and 80 patients. She raised funds for a recreation room, rest chairs and 100 feeding cups for her patients.[37]She was made anMBEin 1920 in recognition of her work at the hospital,[2]and in the following year she was appointed as ajustice of the peace,thereby becoming one of Reigate's first two womenmagistrates.[38]

Lemon died at Redhill on 8 July 1953 aged 92, and was buried next to her husband at St Mary's Church Cemetery, Reigate. Her estate was valued atprobateat £13,770 5s5d.[2][29][f]

Recognition and legacy

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Lemon was one of the first four female honorary members of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU), admitted in 1909;[39]the others were theDuchess of Bedford,Dorothea BateandEmma Turner.[39]Despite her election to this previously all-male organisation, Lemon never considered herself an ornithologist. She saw professional ornithologists as largely unsupportive of her cause, and since much BOU activity at the time involved egg-collecting and killing birds for study and for their skins, she saw them as part of the problem she was trying to solve.[2][40]

Lemon's selflessness won her the admiration of many, particularly her watchers and the soldiers from the war hospital,[41]but her conservatism and authoritarian methods earned her the nickname of "The Dragon" at the RSPB.[42]Perhaps due to this, recognition of her work decreased after her death, but from 2018 her reputation began to be rehabilitated. Her picture now hangs in the RSPB headquarters and she is featured on itswebsite.[43]In 2021,Nature's Home,the RSPB magazine, published an article commemorating the women who founded the society, Lemon, Williamson, Phillips and Winifred Portland.[44]

Publications

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  • Lemon, Margaretta L. (1895)."The Bird of Paradise".Nature.52(1339): 197.Bibcode:1895Natur..52..197L.doi:10.1038/052197f0.ISSN1476-4687.

Notes

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  1. ^Legend attributes the start of the fashion toMarie Antoinette.[5]
  2. ^"Osprey" was an alternative term, althoughthese birdswere unlikely to be a significant source of feathers.[5]
  3. ^Brightwen quotedH. Stacy Marksin a footnote in her chapter "How to Observe Nature":[7]

    Many people regarding birds in but three aspects—as things to be either eaten, shot, or worn.... No natural history of a bird is complete without recording where the last specimen was shot; and should a rare bird visit our shores, the hospitality which we accord to the foreign refugee is denied, and it is bound to be the victim of powder and shot. The fashion of wearing birds or their plumage as part of ladies' attire, threatens to exterminate many beautiful species, such as the humming-birds of South America, the glossy starlings of Africa, and the glorious Impeyan pheasant of the Himalayas, with many other species.
  4. ^When she died, Phillips' will left half her estate, valued at more than £100,000 (equivalent to £8,564,250 in 2023), "for the protection of and relief of suffering of beasts and birds".[8]
  5. ^At 2021 rates, £10 is equivalent to about £4,500, and a guinea nearly £500.[15]
  6. ^About £393,100 at 2020 prices calculated usingMeasuringWorth(relative value £ UK purchasing power).

References

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  1. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 36–38.
  2. ^abcdefghijHammond, Nicholas (2004). "Lemon [née Smith], Margaretta Louis (1860–1953)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53037.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  3. ^Cave, A. J. E. (1945)."Prof. E. Barclay-Smith".Nature.156(3953): 136–137.Bibcode:1945Natur.156..136C.doi:10.1038/156136b0.ISSN0028-0836.
  4. ^Boase (2021) pp. 44–46.
  5. ^abcdCocker (2013) pp. 131–133.
  6. ^abBoase (2021) pp. iix–x.
  7. ^Brightwen (1890) p.225.
  8. ^"Local Wills".Norwood News.13 October 1916. p. 5.Retrieved31 July2021.
  9. ^abBurt, Jonathan."Phillips [née Barron], Eliza [known as Mrs Edward Phillips] (1822/3–1916)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50752.Archivedfrom the original on 28 October 2021.Retrieved31 July2021.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  10. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 54–58.
  11. ^abcClarke (2004) p. 10.
  12. ^Cocker (2013) pp. 16–18
  13. ^Boase (2021) p. 66.
  14. ^A list of the Fellows and honorary, foreign, and corresponding members and medallists of the Zoological Society of London. Corrected to May 31st, 1910.Zoological Society of London. 1910. p. 81.
  15. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 82–83.
  16. ^Clarke (2004) pp. 8–9.
  17. ^Clarke (2004) p. 13.
  18. ^Clarke (2004) p. 18.
  19. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 88–90.
  20. ^"Issue 28768".The London Gazette.28 October 1913.Archivedfrom the original on 2 September 2021.Retrieved17 August2021.
  21. ^Boase (2021) pp. 150–153.
  22. ^Boase (2021) p. 239.
  23. ^Boase (2021) p. 179.
  24. ^Boase (2021) p. 247.
  25. ^Boase (2021) pp. 256–257.
  26. ^"RSPB history 1900–1920".Our History.RSPB.Archivedfrom the original on 26 January 2007.Retrieved4 August2021.
  27. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 272–273.
  28. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 274–277.
  29. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 278–279.
  30. ^Boase (2021) pp. 154–155.
  31. ^Ward-Viarnes, Véronique (2018)."La Royal Society for the Protection of Birds: acteurs et stratégies pour une protection des oiseaux en Grande-Bretagne, 1891–1930".Revue française de civilisation britannique(in French).23(3).doi:10.4000/rfcb.2546.ISSN0248-9015.Archivedfrom the original on 24 August 2021.Retrieved24 August2021.
  32. ^Boase (2021) pp. 174–178.
  33. ^"Royal Earlswood Hospital, original building (blocks 13–21)".List Entry Summary.English Heritage.Archivedfrom the original on 6 August 2021.Retrieved6 August2021.
  34. ^Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives. Report, April 1946.Redhill: Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives. 1946.
  35. ^Boase (2021) pp. 207–208.
  36. ^Boase (2021) pp. 212–213.
  37. ^abBoase (2021) pp. 246–248.
  38. ^Boase (2021) p. 254.
  39. ^abMountfort, Guy (1959)."One hundred years of the British Ornithologists' Union".Ibis.101(1): 8–18.doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1959.tb02352.x.
  40. ^Boase (2021) p. 59.
  41. ^Boase (2021) pp. 281–282.
  42. ^Boase (2021) p. 271.
  43. ^Boase (2021) p. 310.
  44. ^Boase, Tessa (2021). "Campaigns".Nature's Home.autumn/summer: 30–32.

Cited texts

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