Plaque unveiled for Lancaster woman who founded RSPB

Monday, 17 April 2023 12:06

A Lancaster woman who founded the RSPB has been honoured with a special plaque in Williamson Park.

Emily Williamson was born in Lancaster on this day (April 17) in 1855. In 1889, she founded the all-female Society for the Protection of Birds, which was later to become the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The green plaque was unveiled at the Quernmore Road entrance over the weekend by zoologist and bird scientist Dr Melissa Bateson, Emily Williamson’s great great niece, opposite Emily’s actual birthplace.

This follows on from a campaign by Lancaster Civic Vision to erect Green Heritage Plaques to commemorate some of the many Lancaster women who have made important changes for the good of the area, the country, and in some cases like Emily, internationally.

The unveiling was preceded by a talk about Emily in the Ashton Memorial, where there were displays about her life and how her work continues.

Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB said, “I am delighted that we are able to honour Emily Williamson’s legacy in this way and that we are able to take a moment to reflect on the history of our incredible organisation and the inspirational women who started it all.

‘’I hope that as well as honouring Emily, this plaque inspires a new generation, willing to protect nature and revive our world.”

Dr Melissa Bateson, Emily Williamson’s great, great niece, said: “It was an extraordinary coincidence for me to discover that I am the great, great niece of the woman that founded the RSPB, as I have loved birds since I was a small child.

‘’As a woman involved in the scientific study of birds, I feel a very strong connection with Emily and am hugely proud of what she managed to achieve and the legacy she has left.”

When she was 34, Emily was so horrified by the fashion for feathered hats that she launched a campaign to halt the plumage trade. She invited her friends to tea, and asked them to sign a pledge to wear no feathers. And so the Society for the Protection of Birds was born.

All of its members were women.

In 1921, following a 30 year campaign, the Plumage Act was passed, ending the trade in exotic bird skins.

Vulnerable species began to recover. And the RSPB moved onto other campaigns and issues.

Between 1870 and 1920, bird skins were imported to Britain by the ton for the plumage trade. At its Edwardian peak, the trade was worth some £20 million a year (around £200 million in today’s money).

Emily Williamson bravely called out the insatiable slaughter of birds for millinery. She pushed back against the relentless tide of fashion. Together with Eliza Phillips and Etta Lemon, she grew her fledgling Society for the Protection of Birds to become, eventually, the UK’s largest conservation charity: the RSPB.

There is also a campaign that is ongoing to erect a statue of Emily at her former home in Fletcher Moss Park, Manchester, where she lived when she founded the RSPB.

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