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Fearless World Traveler by Laurie Lawlor5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() “To her delight, the Kew Gardens officials accepted.” “Sadly,” Lawlor observes, “in many cases her paintings are the only remaining record of rare species that are now extinct.”Īs Marianne’s paintings accumulated, she wanted to share them, and offered to donate them to the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, as well as to construct a special gallery in a quiet part of the gardens to house them. “An early conservation pioneer, Marianne wrote about the alarming devastation she encountered – clear-cut forests, rampant invasive species, and water pollution.” Wherever she went, she painted, sometimes for twelve hours a day, to record what she observed. ![]() She visited fifteen countries in fourteen years and saw every continent except Antartica. She traveled around the world twice, by herself. Her father died in 1869 – Marianne was forty – and only then did she begin to pursue her own dreams in earnest. Marianne, age 24, promised to take care of her father, which she did for the next fourteen years, never marrying but supervising his household and serving as his travel companion. Her plans were interrupted, however, in 1855 when Marianne’s mother died. She decided to teach herself about botany whether her family would support it or not. ![]() Her family, the author notes, just wanted her to find a rich husband.īut shy Marianne hated the social scene with its rigid conventions. Then she discovered a passion for botany. Marianne North, the eldest of three children, was born on Octoin Hastings, England to a prosperous land-owning family.Īt first Marianne wanted to devote her life to music. ![]()
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