Emily Williamson (the Victorian woman who founded RSPB)

England has a rich history of wildlife conservation, and many of the forebearers were women, often a time when when they were not even allowed to vote.

Emily Williamson (above) was the Victorian woman who co-founded the RSPB.

Read our posts on creating safe havens for garden birds, and how to stop birds flying into windows.

The RSPB was founded in 1889 by a small group of women activists, campaigning against the feather trade. Back in late Victorian times, the main threat to birds was not climate change or habitat loss, but hat-makers demanding feathers to adorn the tops. This was sending many species (including little Egrets) almost extinct.

The campaign rapidly grew, and soon (a bit like today when shops say they won’t sell fur), hat-makers everywhere were refusing to sell headwear with bird feathers.

Emily Williamson and others founded the society, granted a royal charter in 1904. She invited fellow female conservationists to her home in Didsbury (Manchester) to sign a pledge to wear no feathers, to help her favourite species (the great crested grebe) from being hunted to extinction for its plumage. She called the activities of the hat trade ‘murderous millinery’.

Her letters to the British Ornithologists’ Union were ignored, so this is why she co-founded the RSPB (originally called the ‘Fur, Fin and Feather Folk of Croydon!’ And in 1921, an act was passed to ban the import of exotic bird skins.

Emily and her solicitor husband Robert Wood had no children, so put their energies into a large Alpine garden near their home, which today is Fletcher Moss Park, a haven for local wildlife.

Emily also founded a local training college for nurses to help babies, a Gentlewoman’s employment association and a loan training fund to help fund education for women.