Isabella Bird

Isabella Lucy Bishop (; 15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904) was an English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Alongside fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler, she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in modern-day Kashmir. She was the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Early life Bird was born on 15 October 1831 at Boroughbridge Hall in Yorkshire. In 1842, they moved again to St Thomas's in Birmingham after her father's opposition to Sunday labour led to a decline in his congregation. A further move followed in 1848, when the family lived for a time in Eastbourne before settling in Wyton. Isabella's first publication at age 16 was a pamphlet addressing free trade versus protectionism. She continued writing articles for various periodicals. published by John Murray. Murray became both her long-term publisher and a close personal friend.

Early international journeys (1872–1873) Isabella Bird wearing Manchurian clothing from a journey through China. 350x350px Bird left Britain again in 1872, going initially to Australia, which she disliked, and then to Hawaii (known in Europe as the Sandwich Islands), her love for which prompted her second book (published in 1875). While there, she climbed Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

She then moved on to Colorado, where she had heard the air was excellent for the infirmed. Dressed practically and riding not sidesaddle but frontwards like a man (though she threatened to sue the Times for saying she dressed like one), she covered over 800 miles in the Rocky Mountains in 1873. Her letters to her sister, first printed in the magazine The Leisure Hour,

Featured in journals and magazines for decades, Bird had become a household name. In 1890 she became the first woman to be awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 1892 she became the first woman allowed to join the Royal Geographical Society. She was elected to membership of the Royal Photographic Society in 1897. Her final great journey took place in 1897, when she travelled up the Yangtze and Han rivers. She then went to Morocco, where she travelled among the Berbers and had to use a ladder to mount her black stallion, a gift from the sultan. Edinburgh on 7 October 1904. She was buried with her family in Dean Cemetery. The grave lies in the small curved southern section, near the small path which divides it in two. She was planning another trip to China at the time of her death.

Awards, honours and recognition

Awarded the Royal Order of Kapiolani by King Kalākaua of Hawaii, 1881 Became the first woman admitted as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1892

Commemoration and historical memory

The Life of Isabella Bird, Mrs Bishop, the first biography by Anne M. Stoddart, published 1907 Funded a clock tower at Tobermory, Isle of Mull, in memory of her sister Henrietta; designed by Edward Whymper

Cultural and creative representations

Appears as a character in Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls, 1982 Central figure in the manga Isabella Bird in Wonderland (Fushigi no Kuni no Bird), with a bilingual edition beginning 2018 Featured in the BBC Two programme Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip, December 2022 Subject of Outlandish, a stage production in Hawaii dramatizing her encounters in Hilo, including with King Lunalilo, 2025 Included in Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology, 2006

Works Bird's published works reflect her extensive travels across North America, the Pacific, and Asia, as well as her ongoing contributions to periodical literature.

Britain and Europe (regional observation and travel writing)

"A Lady's Winter Holiday in Ireland". Murray's Magazine. March 1888. Notes on Old Edinburgh. 1869. "Pen and Pencil Sketches Among the Outer Hebrides". The Leisure Hour. 1866.

East Asia (major late-career works)

Chinese Pictures: Notes on Photographs Made in China. New York: C. L. Bowman. 1900. Korea and Her Neighbours. 1898. The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. J. Murray. 1899. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: Travels of a Lady in the Interior of Japan. 1879.

Middle East and Central Asia (expeditions and political observation)

Among the Tibetans. Revell. 1894. Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan. 1891. "Notes on Morocco". Monthly Review. 1901. "A Pilgrimage to Mount Sinai". The Leisure Hour. January 1886. "The Shadow of the Kurd". Contemporary Review. May 1891.

North America and the Atlantic world (early travels and social commentary)

The Aspects of Religion in the United States of America. 1859. The Englishwoman in America. John Murray. 1856. "The Two Atlantics". The Leisure Hour. September 1876.

Pacific and Hawaii (missionary observation and colonial encounters)

"Australia Felix: Impressions of Victoria and Melbourne". The Leisure Hour. March 1877. "Christianity in the Hawaiian Islands". The Sunday Magazine. August 1875. "Heathenism in the Hawaiian Islands". The Sunday Magazine. July 1875. Six Months in the Sandwich Islands, amongst the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes. 1874. The Hawaiian Archipelago. 1875.

Southeast Asia (regional travel accounts)

"Sketches in the Malay Peninsula". The Leisure Hour. January 1883. The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1883.

General and reflective works (synthesis, commentary, and religious writing)

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. London: John Murray, 1879 (many later editions) --do.-- London: Virago Press, 1982 (facsimile of 1st ed.) "Keble and His Hymns". The Sunday Magazine. December 1872. "Notes on Travel". The Leisure Hour. December 1879. "The Proverbs of the New Testament". The Sunday Magazine. October 1871.