The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
An Evening with Beatrix and Charlie
Birnam Arts Centre June 11
MOST PEOPLE have heard of Beatrix Potter, the writer of children’s stories. But do you recognise the name of Charlie McIntosh the rural postman from Inver, near Dunkeld. These two very different individuals, brought together by a common interest in fungi, met in Birnam and subsequently exchanged letters and specimens over a number of years.
Amongst the evidence for the contact between Beatrix and the lesser known naturalist Charlie is a series of 24 watercolours of fungi donated to Perth Museum and Art Gallery by Charlie. In the 1980s these were identified by Dr Mary Noble as being the work of Beatrix Potter, who had holidayed in Perthshire in the 1870-90s. They had been sent to Charlie by Beatrix in the 1890s as part of their shared interest in fungi.
And now, for the first time, these watercolours and letters will be on display at Birnam Arts Centre at a special exhibition called Beatrix the Botanist.
In the 1970s Dr Mary Noble was interested in the life of Charlie McIntosh and approached his niece Miss Elizabeth McIntosh, who lived in Dunkeld, for more information about him. She had inherited a parcel, which had remained unopened for 50 years and gave it to Mary Noble to look through. Included in the parcel were the 12 letters about fungi from Beatrix to Charlie which form part of this exhibition. Elizabeth McIntosh subsequently donated the letters to the National Library of Scotland.
Two letters from Charlie to Beatrix on the same topic survive in theArmitt collection in Ambleside. Both the watercolours and the letters cover the period from their first meeting in 1892 to 1897 when Beatrix’s scientific paper on the reproduction of fungi was not accepted for publication by the Linnean Society in London.
This exhibition is the first time that the watercolours and letters have been seen alongside each other and in the place where Beatrix and Charlie were brought together by their shared interest and curiosity about their natural surroundings.
Both Beatrix and Charlie had already studied and recorded the natural world around them in Perthshire; Beatrix and her brother Bertram collecting specimens during their holiday at Dalguise and Charlie on his long tramps as postman.
Both had to learn the hard way. Charlie as a working man had limited time and resources available for study, until he met and was helped by members of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science. Beatrix, although she had the material advantages, was not, as a woman, taken seriously by the male scientific establishment in London, and often her questions were left unanswered.
Before they met, Rupert Potter (Beatrix’s father) had sent Charlie two volumes by the Rev Stevenson, an authority on fungi, and Beatrix had started to try to draw fungi from an aesthetic rather than scientific point of view.
Although they were aware of this mutual interest it took until the last days of the Potters’ 1892 holiday in Birnam before they met, possibly through the efforts of local photographer AF McKenzie. Beatrix’s journal records of Charlie: “He was certainly pleased with my drawings and his judgement speaking to their accuracy in minute botanical points gave me infinitely more pleasure than that of critics who assume more and know less.” It was agreed Charlie should send specimens to Beatrix in London and she sent drawings for his comments on their accuracy .
Beatrix’s interest in the correct scientific representation grew as she studied the same book her father had sent to Charlie.
The collection and drawing of specimens was a major feature of her 1893 Dunkeld holiday with four drawings from Eastwood but, as it was likely they could discuss their findings in person, no correspondence between Beatrix and Charlie survives from this fruitful period of work.
A final Scottish holiday in the Borders in 1894 resulted in more collecting; as mentioned in her journal: “was overtaken with funguses . . . exasperating to leave”, followed by more correspondence with Charlie who was able to advise her how to depict the fungi showing the details needed for identification.
After a holiday in the Lake District in 1895, when they continued in contact, Beatrix’s studies became more focused, recording the reproduction of fungi spores in microscopic detail and in 1896 she persuaded her uncle to take her to visit the experts at Kew.
However, when she presented her theories on the reproduction of fungi backed up by her drawings, the staff became defensive. They could not answer her questions and despite the fact that she was making new discoveries in this field she was dismissed to read basic text books.
In 1897, as she worked on her paper for presentation to the scientific institution, the Linnean Society, more letters full of questions were sent to Charlie. However, disappointment followed, as when her uncle presented the paper, which as a woman Beatrix was not allowed to do or even be present, it was merely noted and not accepted for publication.
In her final surviving letter to Charlie she reports this with a complete lack of emotion but she did not continue her work and there is no trace of her paper.
After five years of close collaboration Beatrix and Charlie now went their separate ways. Beatrix produced her famous children’s books with Perthshire the inspiration for many of the characters, such as the Dalguise washerwoman Kitty Macdonald for Mrs Tiggywinkle and maybe even Charlie himself for Mr McGregor.
Charlie meanwhile, perhaps encouraged by his contact with someone who shared his interests and appreciated his knowledge, entered the most productive phase of his life, producing articles for the transactions of Perthshire Society of Natural Science from 1898 to 1918, leading excursions between 1904 and 1921 and donating a large collection of fungi specimens to Perth museum.
A talk is being held at Birnam Arts Centre on June 11, which will include background information and readings from their letters, illustrated by some of Beatrix’s own photographs taken on her holiday in the area. For more information visit www.birnaminstitute.
com