Isabella Lucy Bird Context Flashcards
When and where was Isabella born?
On the 15th of October 1831 in Boroughbridge.
What was Isabella’s education like?
Home schooled by her parents: she was an avid reader, where she had access to books- she enjoyed expressing herself through writing.
What was Isabella’s occupation?
An English explorer (pioneer for female travel around the globe), writer, photographer, and naturalist.
What illness(s’) did Isabella suffer from ?
She suffered from a spinal condition and neuralgia (with severe headaches etc.) unable to move or socialise.
How was Isabella’s sicknesses get treated and what did the doctor recommend she did.
Her sicknesses were treated with outdoor activity, so she began travelling at 23 after the doctors recommendation and never stopped- it was the catalyst for her adventures.
How many years dis she travel for?
She travelled extensively between the ages of 23 and 70.
What age did she go on her first international journey?
23
True or false: She writ an extensive amount of Literature on her travels.
True
Who did she found the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar (in modern-day Kashmir) with?
Fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler.
She was also the first woman to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal _____________ Society.
Geographical
What hobby did she have when she was younger?
She was an accomplished horse-rider, becoming one of the first women to sit astride a horse rather than side saddled.
When did Isabella die?
The 7th of October 1904, Edinburgh (lifespan in the Victorian era was shorter).
What BBC radio programme is she the subject of?
Great Lives – Meg Rosoff on Isabella Bird.
Who was the letter addressed to?
Her sister called Henrietta.
What was the purpose of the letter?
To update, catch up, and document trip to her sister, as well as to reassure her and gossip.
What book was the letter taken from?
‘A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains’ by Isabella Lucy Bird.
When and where was the book written/published?
Written in September 1873 in Hawaii and published in Leisure Hour (1878/9), then later as a book.
How old was she when she writ ‘A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains’?
42
What was the genre of the text?
A letter
What was the mode of the text?
Written
Is it planned/edited?
The text would be semi-planned, there was no intention for publishing.
Who was the text’s intended audience?
The primary audience was her sister, Henrietta. There is sense that there was a secondary audience potentially in mind seeing as she had published writing like this before (not entirely obvious).
