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{{Short description|British botanical artist and hostess}}
{{Short description|British botanical artist and hostess (1810–1884)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Lady Margaret Herschel
| name = Lady Herschel
| image = Margaret Herschel00.jpg
| image = Margaret Herschel00.jpg
| image_size =
| image_size =
| caption = by [[Alfred Edward Chalon]]
| caption = Portrait by [[Alfred Edward Chalon]]
| birth_name = Lady Margaret Brodie Stewart
| birth_name = Margaret Brodie Stewart
| birth_date = 1810
| birth_date = 1810
| birth_place =
| birth_place =
| death_date = 1864
| death_date = 1884
| death_place =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| death_cause =
| other_names =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| known_for =
| education =
| education =
| employer =
| employer =
| occupation = artist and hostess
| occupation = {{hlist|Artist|hostess}}
| spouse = [[John Herschel]]
| spouse = [[John Herschel]]
| partner =
| partner =
| children =
| children =
| parents =
| parents =
| relatives =
| relatives =
| signature =
| signature =
| website =
| website =
| footnotes =
| footnotes =
| nationality = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]
| nationality =
}}
}}
'''Lady Margaret Brodie Stewart''' became '''Margaret Herschel''' (1810–1864) was a British botanical artist and hostess. While she was in South Africa she and her husband made dozens of botanical paintings of wild flowers which they brought back to Europe for study. Her husband was one of the leading scientists in Victorian Britain.
'''Margaret,''' '''Lady Herschel''' ([[née]] '''Brodie Stewart'''; 1810–1884) was a British [[botany|botanical]] artist and hostess. While she was in [[Cape Colony]], she and her husband made over a hundred botanical paintings of wild flowers, which they brought back to Europe for study. Her husband was one of the leading scientists of [[Victorian era|Victorian Britain]].


==Life==
==Life==
Lady Margaret Brodie Stewart was born in 1810.<ref name=trinity>{{Cite web |title=Herschel, Margaret Brodie (1810–1884), wife of Sir John Herschel – archives.trin.cam.ac.uk |url=https://archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/herschel-margaret-brodie-1810-1884-nee-stewart-wife-of-sir-john-herschel |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=archives.trin.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> Her father was Alexander Stewart DD, a Scottish Presbyterian minister and Gaelic scholar.<ref name="ODNB" />
Margaret Brodie Stewart was born in 1810.<ref name=trinity>{{Cite web |title=Herschel, Margaret Brodie (1810–1884), wife of Sir John Herschel – archives.trin.cam.ac.uk |url=https://archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/herschel-margaret-brodie-1810-1884-nee-stewart-wife-of-sir-john-herschel |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=archives.trin.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> Her father was Alexander Stewart DD, a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[Presbyterian]] minister and [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] scholar.<ref name="ODNB" />


She married Sir [[John Herschel]] on 3 March 1829<ref name="ODNB" /> at St. Marlyebone Church in London. Through her husband she met intellectual women like the mathematician [[Mary Somerville]], who visited Margaret and John's house regularly, and the novelist [[Maria Edgeworth]].<ref name=Winterburn2021>{{Cite book |last=Winterburn |first=Emily |title=The Palgrave handbook of women and science since 1660 |date=2022 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3-030-78973-2 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Claire Gwen |location=Cham |chapter=Astronomy, Education From and the Herschel Family: Caroline to Constance |editor-last2=Martin |editor-first2=Alison E. |editor-last3=Wolf |editor-first3=Alexis}}</ref>{{rp|251}} This led Margaret to seek out a friendship with John's aunt the astronomer [[Caroline Herschel]], where Margaret sought to learn about Caroline's scientific career.<ref name="Winterburn2021" />{{rp|253}}
She married her cousin [[John Herschel]] on 3 March 1829.<ref name="ODNB" /> in Edinburgh


As her children grew older and the household had more domestic staff, Margaret spent more time studying. She studied German and algebra, and supported her husband in his work. She also ensured that both her sons and daughters received equally solid educations, although the girls were not able to go away to school at eleven or attend university like their brothers.<ref name="Winterburn2021" />{{rp|256-257}}
⚫
== Visit to South Africa ==
⚫
[[File:The Ship ‘Mount Stewart Elphinstone’ Offshore.jpg|left|thumb|The Ship ‘Mount Stewart Elphinstone’ Offshore by [[William Adolphus Knell]]]]
⚫
Her husband had his own inherited money and he paid £500 for passage on the S.S. ''Mountstuart Elphinstone''. She and her husband and their three children and her husband's 20 inch telescope departed from [[Portsmouth]] on 13 November 1833.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite book |last=Crowe |first=Michael J. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-13101 |title=Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, first baronet (1792–1871), mathematician and astronomer |date=2004-09-23 |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/13101}}</ref>


⚫
== Visit to Cape Colony ==
The voyage to South Africa was made so that her husband could catalogue the stars, [[nebula]]e, and other objects of the [[Southern Skies|southern skies]].<ref name=HersNAH/> They arrived in [[Cape Town]] on 15 January 1834 and set up a private {{convert|21|ft|m|abbr=on}} telescope at Feldhausen at [[Claremont, Cape Town|Claremont]], a suburb of [[Cape Town]]. Her husband collaborated with [[Thomas Maclear]], the Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope and the two families became close friends.
⚫
[[File:The Ship ‘Mount Stewart Elphinstone’ Offshore.jpg|left|thumb|''The Ship ‘Mount Stewart Elphinstone’ Offshore'' by [[William Adolphus Knell]]]]
⚫
[[File:Disa cornuta00.jpg|thumb|''[[Disa cornuta]] (L.) Sw.'' by Margaret & John Herschel]]
⚫
The voyage to Cape Colony was made so that her husband could catalogue the stars, [[nebula]]e, and other objects of the [[Southern Skies|southern skies]].<ref name=HersNAH/> Her husband had his own inherited money and he paid £500 for passage on the S.S. ''Mountstuart Elphinstone''. Together with their three children they departed from [[Portsmouth]] on 13 November 1833.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB |last=Crowe |first=Michael J. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-13101 |title=Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, first baronet (1792–1871), mathematician and astronomer |date=2004-09-23 |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/13101|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> They arrived in [[Cape Town]] on 15 January 1834 and chose to live at Feldhausen, an old estate in [[Claremont, Cape Town|Claremont]], a suburb of Cape Town, where her husband set up a private {{convert|21|ft|m|abbr=on}} [[telescope]]. He collaborated with [[Thomas Maclear]], the Astronomer Royal at the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and the two families became close friends.
⚫
Herschel and her husband between 1834 and 1838 produced 131 botanical illustrations showing Cape flora. They used a [[camera lucida]] to obtained outlines of the specimens and Margaret dealt particularly with the details. Their portfolio had been intended as a personal record, and despite the lack of floral dissections in the paintings, their accuracy made them valuable. They were later published.<ref name=feld/>


⚫
[[File:Gladiolus caryophyllaceus by John and Margaret Herschel.jpg|thumb|''[[Gladiolus caryophyllaceus]] '' by Margaret & John Herschel]]
As their home during their stay in the Cape, the Herschels had selected 'Feldhausen' ("Field Houses"),<ref name=feld/> an old estate on the south-eastern side of [[Table Mountain]].
⚫
Herschel and her husband between 1834 and 1838 produced 131 botanical illustrations showing Cape flora. They used a [[camera lucida]] to obtained outlines of the specimens and Margaret dealt particularly with the details. Their portfolio had been intended as a personal record, and despite the lack of floral dissections in the paintings, their accuracy made them valuable. 112 of their <!--132 or 131?--> flower studies were collected and published as ''Flora Herscheliana'' in 1996.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Brian |last2=Rourke |first2=John |title=Flora Herscheliana. Sir John and Lady Herschel at the Cape, 1834 to 1838 |publisher=The Brenthurst Press |date=1996 |location=Johannesburg |isbn=9780909079550| language=en}} The book also includes work by [[Charles Davidson Bell]] and Thomas Bowler.</ref>


When [[The Voyage of the Beagle|HMS ''Beagle'']] called at [[Cape Town]], Captain [[Robert FitzRoy]] and the young naturalist [[Charles Darwin]] visited Herschel on 3 June 1836. Later on, Darwin would be influenced by Herschel's writings in developing his theory advanced in ''[[The Origin of Species]]''.<ref>John Herschel, ''Physical Geography'' (1861), p. 12.</ref>
When [[The Voyage of the Beagle|HMS ''Beagle'']] called at Cape Town, Captain [[Robert FitzRoy]] and the young naturalist [[Charles Darwin]] visited Herschel on 3 June 1836. Later on, Darwin would be influenced by Herschel's writings in developing his theory advanced in ''[[The Origin of Species]]''.<ref>John Herschel, ''Physical Geography'' (1861), p. 12.</ref>


They returned to England in 1838, where her husband became a [[Herschel baronets|baronet]], of Slough in the County of Buckingham and she became Lady Margaret Herschel.<ref name=HersNAH>{{cite web |title=Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, 1792–1871, astronomer |work=[[NAHSTE]] project |publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]] |url=http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0327.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510211707/http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0327.html |archive-date=10 May 2007 }}</ref>
They returned to England in 1838, where her husband became a [[Herschel baronets|baronet]], of [[Slough]] in the County of Buckingham and she became Lady Margaret Herschel.<ref name=HersNAH>{{cite web |title=Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, 1792–1871, astronomer |work=[[NAHSTE]] project |publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]] |url=http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0327.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510211707/http://www.nahste.ac.uk/isaar/GB_0237_NAHSTE_P0327.html |archive-date=10 May 2007 }}</ref>


==Death and legacy==
==Death and legacy==
She died in 1864 and some of her letters are in Trinity College<ref name=trinity/> and others are the [[British Library]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vol. II. (ff. 209).Margaret Brodie Herschel, wife of Sir J F W Herschel: Letters to,: 1830–1846.Astronomy: Letters of Miss C. L. Herschel rel. to: 182... – British Library |url=https://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=IAMS_VU2&search_scope=default_scope&docId=IAMS040-001986105&fn=permalink |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=searcharchives.bl.uk}}</ref>
Lady Margaret Herschel died in 1884. Besides the posthumus publication ''Flora Herscheliana'', some of her letters are in Trinity College<ref name=trinity/> and others are in the [[British Library]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vol. II. (ff. 209). Margaret Brodie Herschel, wife of Sir J. F. W. Herschel: Letters to,: 1830–1846. Astronomy: Letters of Miss C. L. Herschel rel. to: 182... – British Library |url=https://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=IAMS_VU2&search_scope=default_scope&docId=IAMS040-001986105&fn=permalink |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=searcharchives.bl.uk}}</ref>

112 of the 132 known flower studies by Margaret and her husband were collected and published as ''Flora Herscheliana'' in 1996. The book also included work by [[Charles Davidson Bell]] and Thomas Bowler.<ref name=feld>{{Cite web |title=Flora Herscheliana: Sir John and Lady Herschel at the Cape: 1834 – 1838 |url=https://www.nhbs.com/flora-herscheliana-book |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=www.nhbs.com |language=en}}</ref>


==Private life==
==Private life==
She had married her cousin [[John Herschel]] on 3 March 1829<ref name="ODNB" /> in Edinburgh, and they had the following children:<ref name="Burke1914">{{cite book
She had married her cousin [[John Herschel]] on 3 March 1829<ref name="ODNB" /> in Edinburgh, and they had nine daughters and three sons:<ref name="Burke1914">{{cite book
| last1 = Burke
| last1 = Burke
| first1 = Sir Bernard
| first1 = Sir Bernard
Line 70: Line 69:
| title-link = Burke's Peerage
| title-link = Burke's Peerage
}}</ref>
}}</ref>
[[File:John and Margaret Herschels daughters in c 1860.png|thumb|Constance Anne Herschel, Lady Lubbock; Caroline Emilia Mary Herschel, Lady Hamilton-Gordon; Margaret Louisa Herschel; Isabella Herschel; Francisca ('Fancy') Herschel; Matilda Rose Herschel<ref name=daughters/>]]
[[File:John and Margaret Herschels daughters in c 1860.png|thumb|The Herschel daughters in the 1860s (from left to right): Constance Anne, Caroline Emilia Mary, Margaret Louisa, Isabella Herschel, Francisca ('Fancy'), and Matilda Rose (unknown photographer)<ref name=daughters/>]]
# Caroline Emilia Mary Herschel (31 March 1830 – 29 January 1909),<ref name=daughters/> who married the soldier and politician [[Alexander Hamilton-Gordon (British Army general)|Alexander Hamilton-Gordon]]
# Caroline Emilia Mary Herschel (31 March 1830 – 29 January 1909),<ref name=daughters/> who married the soldier and politician [[Alexander Hamilton-Gordon (British Army general)|Alexander Hamilton-Gordon]]
# Isabella Herschel (5 June 1831 – 1893)
# Isabella Herschel (5 June 1831 – 1893)
Line 77: Line 76:
# Prof. [[Alexander Stewart Herschel]] (1836–1907), FRS, FRAS<ref name=trinity/>
# Prof. [[Alexander Stewart Herschel]] (1836–1907), FRS, FRAS<ref name=trinity/>
# Col. [[John Herschel the Younger|John Herschel]] FRS, FRAS, (1837–1921) surveyor
# Col. [[John Herschel the Younger|John Herschel]] FRS, FRAS, (1837–1921) surveyor
# Maria Sophia Herschel (1839–1929)<ref name=trinity/> married Henry Hardcastle<ref>{{Cite web |title=Isabella Herschel; Maria Sophia Hardcastle (née Herschel); Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw174355/Isabella-Herschel-Maria-Sophia-Hardcastle-ne-Herschel-Sir-John-Frederick-William-Herschel-1st-Bt |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=www.npg.org.uk |language=en}}</ref>
# Maria Sophia Herschel (1839–1929)<ref name=trinity/>
# Amelia Herschel (1841–1926)<ref name=trinity/> married Sir [[Thomas Francis Wade]],<ref name=daughters/> diplomat and sinologist
# Amelia Herschel (1841–1926)<ref name=trinity/> married Sir [[Thomas Francis Wade]],<ref name=daughters/> diplomat and sinologist
# Julia Herschel (1842–1933) married on 4 June 1878 to Captain (later [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]]) [[John Maclear|John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear]]
# Julia Herschel (1842–1933) married on 4 June 1878 to Captain (later [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]]) [[John Maclear|John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear]]
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Lady Margaret Brodie}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herschel, Margaret}}
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1864 deaths]]
[[Category:1864 deaths]]
[[Category:Painters]]
[[Category:British painters]]
[[Category:People from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Herschel family]]

{{Improve categories|date=January 2023}}
{{Improve categories|date=January 2023}}

Latest revision as of 22:50, 30 May 2024

Lady Herschel
Portrait by Alfred Edward Chalon
Born
Margaret Brodie Stewart

1810
Died1884
Occupations
  • Artist
  • hostess
SpouseJohn Herschel

Margaret, Lady Herschel (née Brodie Stewart; 1810–1884) was a British botanical artist and hostess. While she was in Cape Colony, she and her husband made over a hundred botanical paintings of wild flowers, which they brought back to Europe for study. Her husband was one of the leading scientists of Victorian Britain.

Life

[edit]

Margaret Brodie Stewart was born in 1810.[1] Her father was Alexander Stewart DD, a Scottish Presbyterian minister and Gaelic scholar.[2]

She married Sir John Herschel on 3 March 1829[2] at St. Marlyebone Church in London. Through her husband she met intellectual women like the mathematician Mary Somerville, who visited Margaret and John's house regularly, and the novelist Maria Edgeworth.[3]: 251  This led Margaret to seek out a friendship with John's aunt the astronomer Caroline Herschel, where Margaret sought to learn about Caroline's scientific career.[3]: 253 

As her children grew older and the household had more domestic staff, Margaret spent more time studying. She studied German and algebra, and supported her husband in his work. She also ensured that both her sons and daughters received equally solid educations, although the girls were not able to go away to school at eleven or attend university like their brothers.[3]: 256–257 

Visit to Cape Colony

[edit]
The Ship ‘Mount Stewart Elphinstone’ Offshore by William Adolphus Knell

The voyage to Cape Colony was made so that her husband could catalogue the stars, nebulae, and other objects of the southern skies.[4] Her husband had his own inherited money and he paid £500 for passage on the S.S. Mountstuart Elphinstone. Together with their three children they departed from Portsmouth on 13 November 1833.[2] They arrived in Cape Town on 15 January 1834 and chose to live at Feldhausen, an old estate in Claremont, a suburb of Cape Town, where her husband set up a private 21 ft (6.4 m) telescope. He collaborated with Thomas Maclear, the Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope and the two families became close friends.

Gladiolus caryophyllaceus by Margaret & John Herschel

Herschel and her husband between 1834 and 1838 produced 131 botanical illustrations showing Cape flora. They used a camera lucida to obtained outlines of the specimens and Margaret dealt particularly with the details. Their portfolio had been intended as a personal record, and despite the lack of floral dissections in the paintings, their accuracy made them valuable. 112 of their flower studies were collected and published as Flora Herscheliana in 1996.[5]

When HMS Beagle called at Cape Town, Captain Robert FitzRoy and the young naturalist Charles Darwin visited Herschel on 3 June 1836. Later on, Darwin would be influenced by Herschel's writings in developing his theory advanced in The Origin of Species.[6]

They returned to England in 1838, where her husband became a baronet, of Slough in the County of Buckingham and she became Lady Margaret Herschel.[4]

Death and legacy

[edit]

Lady Margaret Herschel died in 1884. Besides the posthumus publication Flora Herscheliana, some of her letters are in Trinity College[1] and others are in the British Library.[7]

Private life

[edit]

She had married her cousin John Herschel on 3 March 1829[2] in Edinburgh, and they had nine daughters and three sons:[8]

The Herschel daughters in the 1860s (from left to right): Constance Anne, Caroline Emilia Mary, Margaret Louisa, Isabella Herschel, Francisca ('Fancy'), and Matilda Rose (unknown photographer)[9]
  1. Caroline Emilia Mary Herschel (31 March 1830 – 29 January 1909),[9] who married the soldier and politician Alexander Hamilton-Gordon
  2. Isabella Herschel (5 June 1831 – 1893)
  3. Sir William James Herschel, 2nd Bt. (9 January 1833 – 1917),
  4. Margaret Louisa Herschel (1834–1861), an accomplished artist
  5. Prof. Alexander Stewart Herschel (1836–1907), FRS, FRAS[1]
  6. Col. John Herschel FRS, FRAS, (1837–1921) surveyor
  7. Maria Sophia Herschel (1839–1929)[1] married Henry Hardcastle[10]
  8. Amelia Herschel (1841–1926)[1] married Sir Thomas Francis Wade,[9] diplomat and sinologist
  9. Julia Herschel (1842–1933) married on 4 June 1878 to Captain (later Admiral) John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear
  10. Matilda Rose Herschel (1844–1914), a gifted artist, married William Waterfield (Indian Civil Service)[9]
  11. Francisca Herschel (1846–1932)
  12. Constance Anne Herschel (1855–20 June 1939)[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e "Herschel, Margaret Brodie (1810–1884), wife of Sir John Herschel – archives.trin.cam.ac.uk". archives.trin.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Crowe, Michael J. (23 September 2004). "Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, first baronet (1792–1871), mathematician and astronomer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13101. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b c Winterburn, Emily (2022). "Astronomy, Education From and the Herschel Family: Caroline to Constance". In Jones, Claire Gwen; Martin, Alison E.; Wolf, Alexis (eds.). The Palgrave handbook of women and science since 1660. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-78973-2.
  4. ^ a b "Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, 1792–1871, astronomer". NAHSTE project. University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 10 May 2007.
  5. ^ Warner, Brian; Rourke, John (1996). Flora Herscheliana. Sir John and Lady Herschel at the Cape, 1834 to 1838. Johannesburg: The Brenthurst Press. ISBN 9780909079550. The book also includes work by Charles Davidson Bell and Thomas Bowler.
  6. ^ John Herschel, Physical Geography (1861), p. 12.
  7. ^ "Vol. II. (ff. 209). Margaret Brodie Herschel, wife of Sir J. F. W. Herschel: Letters to,: 1830–1846. Astronomy: Letters of Miss C. L. Herschel rel. to: 182... – British Library". searcharchives.bl.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  8. ^ Burke, Sir Bernard; Burke, Ashworth P. (1914). "Herschel: Sir William James Herschel, 2nd Bart.". A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (76th ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. pp. 1004–1005. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Constance Anne (née Herschel), Lady Lubbock; Caroline Emilia Mary (née Herschel), Lady Hamilton-Gordon; Margaret Louisa Marshall (née Herschel); Isabella Herschel; Francisca ('Fancy') Herschel; Matilda Rose Waterfield (née Herschel) – National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Isabella Herschel; Maria Sophia Hardcastle (née Herschel); Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
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