Who was Emily Williamson?
Emily Williamson was born Emily Bateson, 17 April 1855 at Highfield, Lancaster. She was co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with Eliza Phillips in 1891.
Life and Work
At the age of 27, she married solicitor Robert Wood Williamson (son of the curator of Manchester Natural History Museum). The couple had no children, but put their energies into creating a large Alpine garden at The Croft, their home in Didsbury – today, Fletcher Moss Gardens.
She was co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with Eliza Phillips in 1891.
Emily was still the Vice President of the RSPB when she died in 1936 at Campden Hill Gate, Kensington.
The photograph of Emily Williamson was kindly provided by the RSPB.
Despite the links between the two women, the awkward truth is that Emily’s cause – to end the use of threatened species’ feathers as fashion accessories – meant she was occasionally rubbed the wrong way by the suffragettes. Feathers, and especially feathers in hats, were part of the suffragettes’ “brand” - indeed, images of Emmeline Pankhurst often show her wearing a hat trimmed with an ostentatious plume.
Emily's great nephew was the eminent animal ethologist, the late
Professor Patrick Bateson, Fellow of the Royal Society.
He had no idea of the family connection, until author Tessa Boase got in touch, asking if there was perhaps a photograph.