30 Facts About Etta Lemon

Margaretta "Etta" Louisa Lemon was an English bird conservationist and a founding member of what is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Etta Lemon was born into an evangelical Christian family in Kent, and after her father's death she increasingly campaigned against the use of plumage in hatmaking which had led to billions of birds being killed for their feathers.

Etta Lemon may have been part of the Fur, Fin and Feather Folk with Eliza Phillips in Croydon and Catherine Victoria Hall in London in 1889, which two years later merged with Emily Williamson's Manchester-based Society for the Protection of Birds, founded in 1889.

Etta Lemon was pressured to resign from her leadership role in 1938, aged 79.

Etta Lemon was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1920 for her management of the Redhill War Hospital during the First World War.

Etta Lemon worked for many other organisations, including the Royal Earlswood Hospital, the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League, and the local Red Cross branch.

Etta Lemon was one of the first four female honorary members of the British Ornithologists' Union admitted in 1909, although she never considered herself to be an ornithologist.

Etta Lemon died at Redhill aged 92 in 1953 and was buried next to her husband at Reigate cemetery.

Etta Lemon was the oldest of three children, followed by her brother Edward and sister Woltera Mercy.

Etta Lemon's mother had a stillborn baby in 1866 and died giving birth in 1867, along with the newborn child.

Etta Lemon's father married 26-year-old Mary Anne Wollaston later in the same year.

Etta Lemon returned briefly to Blackheath before being sent to a finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she became fluent in French.

Etta Lemon later took on the name Barclay-Smith and served as a professor of anatomy.

The younger Lemon shared Etta's views on cruelty to animals and the practice of using birds in hat-making.

The constitution for the newly merged society was written by Frank Etta Lemon, who served as its legal advisor.

Etta Lemon was as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Alexandra, consort of Edward VII, and her Duke was Master of the Horse, both roles that placed the couple close to the monarchy.

Etta Lemon therefore conducted the society's daily business as the honorary secretary of the society's publishers and watchers committees.

In 1913, Etta Lemon arranged for lighthouses be fitted with perches for migrating birds to rest on, and established a system of "watchers" to monitor vulnerable bird breeding sites.

Frank Lemon died suddenly in April 1935, aged 76, and Etta took over his role as honorary secretary.

Etta 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.

Etta Lemon soon came under scrutiny in The Field where an editorial in 1936 questioned the Society's inaction on cage birds, its gambling on real estate investment, its high expenditure, and its elderly management.

Etta Lemon bowed to the inevitable and submitted her resignation from the committee to the Duchess of Portland in the same year.

Etta Lemon worked with the Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, one of the first establishments to cater specifically for people with developmental disabilities, and the Crescent House Convalescent Home, Brighton.

In 1911, Frank Lemon became mayor of Reigate, and as lady mayoress, Etta became involved in his civic duties, including organising a Christmas party for 100 children.

Etta Lemon was a quartermaster of the local Red Cross branch, member of the workhouse board of guardians, and treasurer of the Children's Care Association.

Etta Lemon raised funds for a recreation room, rest chairs and 100 feeding cups for her patients.

Etta Lemon was made an MBE in 1920 in recognition of her work at the hospital, and in the following year she was appointed as a justice of the peace, thereby becoming one of Reigate's first two women magistrates.

Etta Lemon died at Redhill on 8 July 1953 aged 92, and was buried next to her husband at St Mary's Church Cemetery, Reigate.

Etta Lemon was one of the first four female honorary members of the British Ornithologists' Union, admitted in 1909; the others were the Duchess of Bedford, Dorothea Bate and Emma Turner.

Etta Lemon's selflessness won her the admiration of many, particularly her watchers and the soldiers from the war hospital, but her conservatism and authoritarian methods earned her the nickname of "The Dragon" at the RSPB.