Today our group did things a little differently. We met early as normal, but for the second time on this trip we stayed in the building, heading into Marylebone Hall to attend a lecture in a classroom. Our guest today was Andrew P. Wiltshire, who greeted everyone with a handshake and a, "hi, I'm Andrew." Mr. Wiltshire has given many speeches about Beatrix Potter, her code writing, and the family friend Leslie Linder who broke the code and published Beatrix Potter's journals.
Over the course of his lecture, Mr. Wiltshire discussed Beatrix Potter's life, including her family background, childhood, education, and upbringing. Her code writing began in her young teens and continued on over the years, concealing her thoughts on family friends, relations, trends at the time, and other such items that could have gotten her in trouble should anyone be capable of reading it. By breaking the code and translating her journal, this offered not just an insight to the mindset of a famous author, but also another view on that time period and the people she came in contact with. On top of her famous stories, her code writing, and her beautiful art style, Beatrix Potter was also scientific and did independent research along with her art.
One part that struck me during this lecture was a story about Beatrix Potter attempting to submit a paper on mycology to the Kew Research Center, which was headed by known misogynist William Thistleton. Potter's paper has been lost to time (whether accidentally or not), however Mr. Wiltshire noted that scientists looking at Potter's mycological research felt that should she have continued with support, she may have discovered penicillin well before the world wars, saving countless lives. This continues a theme we find throughout history, where oppression of one group hurts all groups yet still occurs so those in power can keep the status quo.
After discussing Beatrix Potter, Mr. Wiltshire went on to discuss researching Leslie Linder and his sister Enid Linder. He made many points about connections: their connections with the Potters, his connections with them, his connections with Kew, and Potter's connections with Kew. We will be seeing Mr. Wiltshire again in a couple days for our tour of Kew Gardens, and I am sure he will have many fun tales to tell us at that time!
Note: Because of the nature of copyrighted materials, I did not take photos during today's lecture. Instead I have included links to publicly available websites and images.
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