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Happy birthday to #entomologist Margaret Fountaine (1862-1940), here in my #linocut with many #butterflies from her collection.
Her posthumous books featured her "wild and fearless life," but she was also a trailblazing famous #Victorian #lepidopterist, published in The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variations, expert on tropical butterflies, discovering, documenting, breeding & gathering specimen in 60 countries, …
talented scientific illustrator, lectured internationally & bequeathed 22,000 specimens to the Norwich Castle Museum. She became the only female fellow in the Royal Entomological Society in 1898.
The eldest of 7 kids, her Norwich clergyman father died when she was 15. The next year, she began keeping a diary. At 27 the death of a wealthy uncle gave her freedom few could enjoy. She toured France & Switzerland by bike with her sister, then settled in Milan. In 1895 she saw the immense
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butterfly collection of Henry John Elwes, FRS. Butterfly collecting was not uncommon for Victorian ladies, but Margaret realized this could be her life's purpose. Unlike hobbyists she sought to document & breed species & travel tracking elusive species through Europe, Africa, South America, Indian, Australia & S Pacific.
Much of this work was done in partnership with Damascus dragoman (a sort of local fixer/interpreter/guide) Khalil Neimy, 15 years her junior.
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He declared his love for her, & they spent many tumultuous years together. She shared her knowledge freely with entomologists & though not dedicated to writing up her scientific results, her reputation was such that she was invited to join the prestigious Linnean Society in 1912.
WWI hit & her investments plummeted in value; for 1st time she needed to earn money as a cataloguer then got collection commissions. Neimy confessed he was secretly married & died before he divorced in 1928.
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His loss & her sister’s hit her hard. But, she began to receive professional recognition & find herself the star of entomological gatherings. She died butterfly net in hand at 77 in Trinidad, likely of a heart attack, discovered by a local monk.
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Find my portrait of her here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1421349950/lino-block-print-portrait-of-victorian