Hannah Poland

Last updated

Hannah Poland (later Lemel; 18 May 1873 - 16 February 1942) was an English bird conservationist, founding Secretary and first Honorary Member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB). [1]

Biography

The first SPB annual report in 1891 records Poland as having “previously shewn [sic] an active interest in the work." As secretary, hers was the first recorded official address for the new Society - 29 Warwick Road (now Warwick Avenue, London), Maida Hill, London. [2]

Newspapers reporting on the first year of the SPB in 1891 state that “Hannah Poland of Warwick Rd Maida Vale is secretary, is doing some very useful work”. The following year further newspapers report “Miss Hannah Poland, who had taken over the secretaryship from Mrs. Williamson, was succeeded by Mrs. F. E. Lemon”. [3] Her RSPB obituary notes that the original register of members of 15 November 1889, handwritten by Hannah Poland, was left to the RSPB by her son when she died. In 1905 she became the first Honorary Member of the RSPB “In recognition of her work for the cause of bird protection in the early days”. Her obituary continues: "Records of the early work of the Bird Protection Society show what a devoted and untiring secretary Miss Poland proved herself to be. It was at her solicitation that Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, became President of the Society in 1891, and it is noteworthy that the membership role increased very considerably during the two years of her secretaryship." [4]

Having married Isidor Lemel in 1906, Hannah died at home at 17 Hallswelle Road in north London on 16 February 1942 leaving a few personal items to family and friends, including a presentation copy of Birds and Man by William Henry Hudson to her sister Esther, and everything else to her only child, Sidney Lemel, except for a framed black and white drawing of an original membership card which she left to the RSPB. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Society for the Protection of Birds</span> Charitable organisation focused on the conservation of birds and other wildlife in the UK

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment through public awareness campaigns, petitions and through the operation of nature reserves throughout the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabella Bird</span> English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist (1831–1904)

Isabella Lucy Bishop 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 also the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisa Stevenson</span>

Louisa Stevenson was a Scottish campaigner for women's university education, women's suffrage and effective, well-organised nursing. She was the co-founder of Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Dougall</span> English broadcaster and ornithologist (1913–1999)

Robert Neill Dougall was an English broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer. He started his career in the BBC's accounts department before moving on to become a radio announcer for the BBC Empire Service in 1934. Dougall covered the first three years of the Second World War for the corporation, before resigning in 1942 to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Service.

Lucy Faithfull, Baroness Faithfull, OBE was a British social worker and children's campaigner. She founded the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, the only nation-wide UK child protection charity working to prevent child sexual abuse.

George Waterston OBE FRSE FZS LLD was a 20th-century Scottish stationer, ornithologist and conservationist. From 1949 to 1954 he owned the remote Scottish island, Fair Isle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Conder</span> British ornithologist

Peter Conder, OBE was a British ornithologist and conservationist known predominantly for his contribution as Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Axon</span> English librarian andantiquary

William Edward Armytage Axon was an English librarian, antiquary and journalist for the Manchester Guardian. He contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography under his initials W. E. A. A. He was also a notable vegetarianism activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warwick Avenue, London</span>

Warwick Avenue is a residential avenue in the Little Venice area of Maida Vale, London. Its southern end is situated adjacent to Paddington Basin, to the north of Paddington station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Louisa Turner</span> English ornithologist and photographer (1867–1940)

Emma Louisa Turner or E L Turner was an English ornithologist and pioneering bird photographer. Turner took up photography at age 34, after meeting the wildlife photographer Richard Kearton. She joined the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) in 1901, and by 1904 she had started to give talks illustrated with her own photographic slides; by 1908, when aged 41, she was established as a professional lecturer.

Ida Phyllis Barclay-Smith was a British ornithologist and editor of the Avicultural Magazine. She led the International Council of Bird Preservation. In 1958, she became the first woman to receive an MBE for work in conservation, and was made CBE for 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etta Lemon</span> English bird conservationist (1860–1953)

Margaretta "Etta" Louisa Lemon was an English bird conservationist and a founding member of what is now the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). She 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. She founded the Fur, Fin and Feather Folk with Eliza Phillips in Croydon in 1889, which two years later merged with Emily Williamson's Manchester-based Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB), also founded in 1889. The new organisation adopted the SPB title, and the constitution for the merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who became its legal adviser. Etta married Frank Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary of the SPB, a post she kept until 1904, when the society became the RSPB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Williamson</span> English philanthropist and co-founder of RSPB

Emily Williamson, was an English philanthropist. She was co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) with Eliza Phillips in 1891. The society started as the Plumage League; it became the Society for the Protection of Birds, and was granted 'Royal' status in 1904. In 1891 she also established the Gentlewomen's Employment Association in Manchester.

Eliza Phillips was an English animal welfare activist and co-founder of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. She was the RSPB's vice president and publications editor.

Annie Letitia Massy was a self-taught marine biologist, ornithologist, and an internationally recognised expert on molluscs, in particular cephalopods. She was one of the founders of the Irish Society for the Protection of Birds in 1904. Many of the details of her life are unknown which is attributed to the fact that she is often described as a shy and retiring person, with no known photograph of her in existence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Perry Lowe</span> American poet

Martha Perry Lowe was an American writer of poetry and prose, as well as a social activist and organizer. She supported women's rights, temperance, education, and Unitarian organizations. Born in New Hampshire in 1829, her parents were General Justus Perry and Hannah Wood. She was a descendant of William Wood, the supposed author of New England's Prospects, who left England and settled in Concord in 1638. At the age of 15, Lowe was sent to Sedgwick's School for Young Ladies. After her graduation, she spent a winter in the West Indies, and the following year was passed in Madrid with her brother, who was a member of the Spanish legation. In 1857, she married the Rev. Charles Lowe who died in 1874, and at the time of his death was a member of the Somerville school committee. In 1871, when the family went to Europe, Lowe corresponded regularly for the Liberal Christian. In Somerville, she was connected with the Unitarian Review. She was the author of several books of prose and poetry; the most noted ones include The Olive and the Pine, Love in Spain, and a Memoir of Charles Lowe. She was interested in many public and private philanthropies, but her chief interests were in the public schools. She was among the first to advocate the teaching of cooking and sewing, and at her suggestion a sum of money was raised for that purpose. She was one of the founders of the Educational Union in Somerville, one of whose duties was a regular visitation of the schools by its members. She was a member of the Society of American Authors of New York, the Authors' Club of Boston, the Woman's Education Association, and the Unitarian Church Temperance Society, as well as an honorary member of the Castilian Club, of the Heptorean Club, of the Teachers' Annuity Guild, honorary president of the Woman Suffrage League, a director of the Massachusetts Suffrage Association, president of the Woman's Alliance of the First Unitarian Church, and a member of the Cambridge Branch of the Indian Association. She died in Massachusetts in 1902.

<i>Mrs Pankhursts Purple Feather</i> 2018 history book about bird protection

Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: Fashion, Fury and Feminism – Women's Fight for Change is a 2018 book by Tessa Boase about Etta Lemon and her campaign against the use of feathers in millinery which led to the foundation of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This campaign is compared and contrasted to Emmeline Pankhurst's campaign for women's suffrage in Britain, which it pre-dated. Ironically Etta Lemon was an anti-suffragist and anti-feminist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Ward (suffragist)</span> Cambridge-based Irish suffragist (1851–1933)

Mary Jane Ward, known to her friends as "Minnie", was a Cambridge-based Irish suffragist, lecturer and writer. In spite of her lack of formal schooling, she was accepted to study at Newnham Hall, Cambridge, in 1879 becoming the first woman to pass the moral sciences tripos examination with first class honours. She lectured at the college, and remained associated with it for many years.

Leyla Belyalova is an Uzbek academic and ecologist. For her work to promote and protect Uzbekistan's ecosystems, she was recognised by the BBC as one of its 100 Women in 2018.

Catherine Victoria Hall was an English animal welfare activist. She was a co-founder and the first treasurer of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. She was also a supporter of the Women's Police Service and a pioneer of the Homes of Rest for Horses and Dogs at Battersea.

References

  1. Bird Notes and News, RSPB, 1942
  2. Society for the Protection of Birds, Annual Report, 1891
  3. Cheltenham Chronicle, 3 Oct 1891
  4. Bird Notes and News, RSPB, 1942
  5. Will of Hannah Lemel, 8 May 1934 (Probate 14 July 1942)