Fanny Osborne

Fanny Osborne (, 29 January 1852 – 12 March 1934) was a New Zealand botanical illustrator. She was born in Auckland in 1852. A collection of her paintings of Great Barrier Island plants was published in 1983.

Early life Osborne was born in Auckland, on 29 January 1852, the second child of thirteen born, to Neill Malcolm and Emilie Malcolm. Neill had been a barrister at the Inner Temple, London, but lost his inheritance due to a poor decision by a trustee, and gave up his law career. Malcolm married Emilie Monson Wilton, the daughter of a retired army colonel in 1848, and they emigrated to New Zealand two years later, arriving on the SS Victory in February 1850. in 1983 by Jeanne Goulding of the Auckland Museum, whose botany department holds the largest collection of Osborne's works.

Death Osborne was widowed on 9 January 1920, aged 82, in Auckland. Towards end of her life she was crippled with arthritis, and moved to the mainland to live with her daughters Constance and Winifred only reluctantly, when she was aged 77. Osborne died in Auckland on 12 March 1934 and is buried on Great Barrier Island. Osborne had 13 children. Her daughter Lilian Gibbard became a noted painter of wildflowers. Son Charles Osborne was a naturalist and conchologist, and kept a shell museum. Son Cedric Osborne was known for his skill with inlaid wood, and created two panels depicting native flowers, which were presented to the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh as a wedding present from the people of New Zealand.