December 22: On This Day in World History … briefly
Potter's books continue to sell throughout the world in many languages with her stories being retold in song, film, ballet, and animation, and her life depicted in a feature film and television film.
1943: Peter Rabbit’s creator dies
Beatrix Potter, creator of Peter Rabbit and many other well-loved children’s book characters, died on December 22, 1943. Born an only child of wealthy, Miss Potter was never sent to school and as a result led a lonely life as a child. To amuse herself, she taught herself to draw and paint small natural objects. Her first book, the ‘Tale of Peter Rabbit’ was written for the son of her former governess in 1893, in the form of letters. Beatrix Potter illustrated the book herself and went on to write many more books.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, follows mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he is chased about the garden of Mr McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother, who puts him to bed after dosing him with tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, son of Potter’s former governess Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901 after several publishers’ rejections, but was printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902. The book was a success and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages and with 45 million copies sold, it is one of the best-selling books of all time.
Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Though Potter was typical of women of her generation in having limited opportunities for higher education, her study and watercolours of fungi led to her being widely respected in the field of mycology. In her thirties, Potter self-published the highly successful children’s book ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’. Following this, Potter began writing and illustrating children’s books full-time.
In all, Potter wrote thirty books; the best known being her twenty-three children’s tales. With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, in 1905 Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a village in the Lake District which at that time was in Lancashire. Over the following decades, she purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape. In 1913, at the age of 47, she married William Heelis, a respected local solicitor from Hawkshead. Potter was also a prize-winning breeder of Herdwick sheep and a prosperous farmer keenly interested in land preservation. She continued to write and illustrate, and to design spin-off merchandise based on her children’s books for British publisher Warne, until the duties of land management and her diminishing eyesight made it difficult to continue.
Potter died of pneumonia and heart disease on December 22, 1943 at her home in Near Sawrey at the age of 77, leaving almost all her property to the National Trust. She is credited with preserving much of the land that now constitutes the Lake District National Park.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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