Fanny Macleay

Frances Leonora "Fanny" Macleay (9 November 1793 – 8 August 1836) was an English-born Australian botanical illustrator, and member of the prominent Macleay family.

Early life Macleay was born on 9 November 1793 in London, England to Alexander Macleay and Elizabeth "Eliza" Macleay (née Barclay). Her father worked in the British civil service, taking up a position of Secretary of the Transport board. Of her many brothers and sisters, Fanny was closest to her brother William, who she wrote to often throughout her life.

While she grew up in an intellectual household, Macleay was not afforded the same kind of education as her older brother, and often bemoaned the ineptitude of her governesses in her letters to him. Her father, a noted entomologist and Fellow of the Linnean Society, encouraged his daughters to learn botany, entomology, zoology, and ornithology from the books in his library.

Of the many skills she learned as a girl, Macleay loved most to draw. Alexander sent Fanny for lessons with the French natural history artist Pelletier, to better improve her drawing to assist with his scientific collections. Her drawings and still-life paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1816, 1819, and 1824. She became good friends with the Governor's wife, Eliza Darling, who tried unsuccessfully to arrange a match between Fanny and her brother, Henry Dumaresq.

At the behest of Eliza, Fanny and her sisters helped to establish and take positions at the newly opened Female School of Industry. The institution was intended to take young girls living in poverty and educate them to become domestic servants.

Relationship to Robert Brown Macleay first met the botanist Robert Brown as a young girl, when in 1814 he was invited to stay at her family's country house at Tilbuster Lodge.

The newly married couple honeymooned at Brownlow Hill for only three weeks before Fanny fell ill, her stomach pains and heart palpitations requiring her to be looked after at home by family.

Her father Alexander, was devastated by her death. His work suffered as a consequence, and he would be ousted from office by his political enemies the following year. Of their relationship, Eliza said "She had been his Companion in his pursuits."