19 Facts About Isabella Bird

Isabella Bird was the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Isabella Bird was born on 15 October 1831 in Boroughbridge Hall, Yorkshire, the home of her maternal grandmother and her father's first curacy after taking orders in 1821.

Isabella Bird's parents were Rev Edward Bird and his second wife, Dora Lawson.

From early childhood, Isabella Bird was frail, suffering from a spinal complaint, nervous headaches, and insomnia.

The doctor recommended an open-air life, and consequently, Isabella Bird learned to ride in infancy, and later to row.

Isabella Bird's only education came from her parents: her father was a keen botanist who instructed Bird in flora, and her mother taught her daughters an eclectic mix of subjects.

Isabella Bird's first publication at the age of 16 was a pamphlet addressing free trade versus protectionism, after which she continued writing articles for various periodicals.

Isabella Bird continued to suffer from unspecified ailments resulting in lassitude and insomnia.

Isabella Bird left Britain again in 1872, going initially to Australia, which she disliked, and then to Hawaii, her love for which prompted her second book.

Isabella Bird then moved on to Colorado, where she had heard the air was excellent for the infirm.

At home, Isabella Bird again found herself pursued, this time by Dr John Bishop, an Edinburgh surgeon in his thirties.

Isabella Bird got interested in Japan through John Francis Campbell's "My Circular Notes, 1876", and asked the advice of Colin Alexander McVean, former chief surveyor of Japan's Survey Office, in February 1878, then went travelling again, this time to Asia: Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaya.

When her sister Henrietta Amelia Isabella Bird died of typhoid in 1880, Isabella Bird accepted John Bishop's marriage proposal.

Isabella Bird was elected to membership of the Royal Photographic Society on 12 January 1897.

Isabella Bird was buried with her family in Dean Cemetery in the west of the city.

Isabella Bird was planning another trip to China at the time of her death.

The first biography of Isabella Bird was written by Anne M Stoddart and published in 1907.

Isabella Bird was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.

In December 2022, BBC Two broadcasts a television programme which dedicated to Isabella Bird called Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip presented by Ruby Wax who undertook a road trip to retrace her steps in Colorado with Mel B and Emily Atack.