Isabella Bird

15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904

Isabella Bird (1831-1904) was an English traveler, writer, and naturalist whose journeys took her to America, Hawaii, Japan, Persia, Tibet, Korea, and China. Her vivid travel books, including A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, made her famous, and in 1892 she became one of the first women elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

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Life events

Born in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England
15 October 1831

Isabella Lucy Bird was born the daughter of a clergyman and suffered from spinal problems and ill health throughout her youth.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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First voyage to North America
1854

Sent abroad by her doctor for her health, Bird visited relatives in Canada and toured the United States, producing her first book, The Englishwoman in America (1856).

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Traveled to Australia, Hawaii, and the Rocky Mountains
1872 – 1873

Bird spent months climbing volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands and then rode some 800 miles through the Colorado Rockies, experiences behind her celebrated book A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Journeyed through the interior of Japan
1878

Bird traveled from Tokyo through northern Honshu to Hokkaido, visiting the Ainu people, and recounted the trip in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (1880).

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Dr. John Bishop
8 March 1881

Bird married the Edinburgh physician John Bishop; he died only five years later, after which she trained in nursing and resumed her travels.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Traveled through Persia, Kurdistan, and Armenia
1890 – 1891

Bird accompanied a British survey party from Baghdad to Tehran and continued alone through western Persia and Kurdistan, founding mission hospitals in memory of her husband and sister.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
1892

Bird was among the first women elected fellows of the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Journeyed up the Yangtze River into western China
1896 – 1897

In her sixties Bird traveled thousands of miles through Korea and up the Yangtze into Sichuan, publishing The Yangtze Valley and Beyond in 1899.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Edinburgh, Scotland
7 October 1904

Bird died in Edinburgh shortly before her 73rd birthday, reportedly still planning a return journey to China.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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