The life and times of Beatrix Potter
July 28, 1866 Helen Beatrix Potter is born at 2, Bolton Gardens, London SW5 1872 Birth of her only sibling, Bertram 1875 At nine, she fills a sketchbook with butterflies, caterpillars and birds
1881 At 15, she begins a secret journal, in a code of her own devising
1882 The Potter family (right) takes its first Lake District holiday
1883–85 Annie Carter (later Moore) becomes Potter’s governess. In time, three of Potter’s tales begin as ‘story letters’ to her former governess’s children
1885 Potter is given her first pet rabbit, Benjamin
1887 She contracts rheumatic fever 1890 She sells her first drawings, which are used as images on greetings cards September, 1893 Potter sends Noel and Eric Moore letters telling the stories that become The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Jeremy Fisher
1895 She sells a series of drawings, A frog he would a-wooing go, to publisher Ernest Nister; these are printed the following year
1896 The Potters holiday in Near Sawrey, where the author will later settle 1901 Potter sends Norah Moore a letter with the story that becomes The
Tale of Squirrel Nutkin December, 1901 She privately publishes
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (below)
October, 1902 The Tale of Peter Rabbit is published in an edition of 8,000 copies by Frederick Warne; a further 20,000 copies are printed before the end of the year. The following year, Warne releases The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and remains Potter’s publisher until her death
1905 Potter accepts Norman Warne’s proposal in July; he dies the following month. Grief-stricken, she buys a Lake District farm, Hill Top in Near Sawrey, but continues to live mostly in London with her parents 1909 Potter buys her second Lake District farm, Castle Farm
1913 At the age of 47, Potter marries Cumbrian solicitor William Heelis and settles in Castle Cottage, close to Hill Top 1921 First foreign language (French) editions of Potter’s ‘little books’
1927 She joins a campaign to preserve Windermere from developers
1943 Potter is elected president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association December 22, 1943 Potter dies of bronchitis, complicated by heart problems