Another woman adventurer, this time from the Victorian era.

Isabella Lucy Bird was born on October 15th, 1831 in Yorkshire. Her father was a curate, and, because of his ill health, the family moved often during her childhood. A few of their relocations were also due to his views, which were considered controversial at the time and either caused outspoken anger or his congregation to dwindle.

Bird was a frail child who suffered from a spinal complaint, frequent headaches and insomnia. Instead of having her confined to her bed, doctors recommended she spend her life outdoors. And so, she learned to ride at a young age and to row.

Her parents were completely in charge of her education. She learned botany from her father, who was a keen botanist, and her mother taught Bird and her sister, Henrietta, a diverse mix of subjects. An avid reader, her unusual upbringing fed her intelligence and curiosity about the world around her.

Bird published her first article when she was sixteen, a pamphlet addressing ‘Free Trade v Protectionism’.

She continued to suffer various ailments despite the family spending time in different parts of the country in an attempt to improve her health. Finally, doctors advised a sea voyage.

In 1854, she accompanied her cousins to their family home in America, the start of her travelling life. Her letters to her family formed the basis for her first book, ‘An Englishwoman in America’, published in 1856.

After her father died in 1858, Bird, her sister and mother moved to Edinburgh, which became her home for the rest of her life.

Bird enjoyed a few short trips during this time until 1872, when she travelled to Hawaii, referred to by Europeans as the Sandwich Islands. She’d actually been heading to New Zealand from San Francisco but decided to disembark in Hawaii, where she stayed for six months.

It was in Hawaii that Bird learned to ride astride, which alleviated the backaches she’d suffered from riding side-saddle. She also climbed at least a couple of the islands’ volcanic peaks.

From Hawaii, Bird returned to San Francisco and travelled – alone, on horseback! – to Lake Tahoe, the Rocky Mountains, and Colorado. Her many adventures are recorded in her fourth and, possibly, her most famous book, ‘A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains’.

Back home in Edinburgh, Bird was courted by a surgeon, Dr John Bishop. During this time, she developed an interest in Japan. In 1878, she travelled there, heading to the northernmost part of Hokkaido. She stayed with the Ainu tribe, the original, non-Japanese, inhabitants of the islands.

Her experiences in Japan were the subject of her book, ‘Unbeaten Tracks in Japan’, published in 1880.

From Japan, she travelled to Hong Kong, Saigon, and Singapore. She spent five weeks travelling through the Malayan Peninsula.

On her return home in 1880, she found her books about Hawaii and the Rocky Mountains had secured her fame. Sadly, shortly after her return, her sister, Henrietta, died from typhoid.

The doctor who’d tended her was the same John Bishop who’d earlier courted Bird. This time, Bird accepted his marriage proposal and the couple were wed in February 1881. Their happy marriage was cut tragically short in 1886 when John Bishop died.

Bird was left with a sizeable amount of disposable income and resolved to do more with her life, viewing her earlier travels as amateurish affairs.

Already in her 50s, she decided to study medicine. And in 1889, she travelled to India, beginning her life as a missionary.

In Srinagar, she worked with Fanny Jane Butler to build the first hospital in the region, the John Bishop Memorial Hospital, funded by monies left in her late husband’s will for this purpose. The hospital provided necessary medical care for Indian women who, up until then, had had little access to medical care of any kind.

As a quick aside, Dr Fanny Jane Butler was not only one of the first female doctors to travel to India, she was the first fully trained doctor from England to do so.

From India, Bird travelled to Persia, Kurdistan, and Turkey.

On her return to England in 1881, Bird met with Prime Minister William Gladstone and addressed a Parliamentary committee on the persecution of Christians in Kurdistan.

As she’d been featured in journals and magazines for decades, and was also well-known for her books, Isabella Bird became the first woman to be awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1890.

Two years later, she became the first woman allowed to join the Royal Geographical Society and was elected to membership of the Royal Photographic Society in 1897.

Isabella Bird wearing a Manchurian gown (Wikipedia)

Not one to sit still for long, Bird set off again in 1897. She first went to Japan and then to Korea. After a few months, she was forced to leave when the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and Japan occupied Korea.

From Korea, she went to the Yangtze River in China in 1896. These were not safe times for Westerners in China; she was, at separate times, attacked by a mob and stoned. Undeterred, she travelled into the mountains bordering Tibet.

On her return to Britain, she wrote ‘The Yangtze Valley and Beyond’, which was published in 1900.

Her final trip was to Morocco in 1901. She travelled among the Berbers and was gifted a black stallion by the Sultan – she had to use a ladder to mount the horse.

A few months after her return from Morocco, she fell ill.

Isabella Bird died at her home in Edinburgh on October 7th, 1904. Remarkably, despite being in her 70s, she’d been planning another trip to China when she died.

I’m in awe of this woman. Despite her chronic ill-health and the constraints of the time, she forged her own path, allowing readers to discover the world via her words and photographs.

(Image - South China Morning Post - interesting article with more images) — (Image - ***South China Morning Post*** - interesting article with more images)

Isabella Bird - Remarkable Victorian Adventurer