Feathered women and persecuted birds: The struggle against the plumage trade, c. 1860-1922

Rural History

Volumn 11, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 57-73

  Moore Colyer, R J ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0011002228     PISSN: 09567933     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0956793300001904     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. A. Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (London, 1998), p. 37.
2. In, A. Haynes, 'Murderous Millinery', History Today, June 1982, 26.
3. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1868, pp. 108-9.
4. Sharpe held his post until 1942. The Society became 'Royal' in 1904 as the scope of its work widened beyond a mere concern for the plumage trade. For details see J. Sheail, Nature in Trust: the History of Nature Conservation in Britain (London, 1976), pp. 4-5; R. Tomalin, W. H. Hudson: A Biography (London, 1982), p. 141.
5. Sharpe held his post until 1942. The Society became 'Royal' in 1904 as the scope of its work widened beyond a mere concern for the plumage trade. For details see J. Sheail, Nature in Trust: the History of Nature Conservation in Britain (London, 1976), pp. 4-5; R. Tomalin, W. H. Hudson: A Biography (London, 1982), p. 141.
6. The Times, 28th December, 1897. Ironically the Duchess of York wore an 'aigrette' of feathers at an RSPCA prize giving in 1895, while Queen Alexandra eventually abandoned feathers in 1906, two years after the SPB achieved its Royal Charter. As late as 1920, Queen Mary, notorious for her hats, wore egret feathers at a royal garden party notwithstanding that she and the King were patrons of the RSPCA (see Haynes p. 30).
7. The Times, 31st December, 1897.
8. The Times, 20th October, 1893.
9. The Times, 22nd April, 1911.
10. The Times, 25th December, 1897.
11. The Times, 17th October, 1893.
12. The Times, 27th December, 1897.
13. The Times, 18th August, 1911; 10th March, 1914.
14. The Times, 18th August, 1911; 10th March, 1914.
15. Report and Minutes of Evidence of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Importation of Plumage Prohibition Bill , 1908, Cd 136, Q 93.
16. The Times, 16th March, 1920.
17. Cd 137, Q 259.
18. Cd 137, Q 234.
19. The Times, 5th July, 1920.
20. During the course of the debate on the second reading of the Plumage Bill in 1920 a petition was presented with the signatures of 2286 plumage workers who urged that no legislation be passed until a Bill were drafted which protected both the birds and their livelihood (Hansard, 30th April, 1920).
21. J. Buckland, 'The Plumage Bill in relation to the British Empire', United Empire, September 1913, 70.
22. Cd 137, Q 221.
23. Ibid, Q 260-3.
24. Ibid, Q 235.
25. S. L. Bensusan, 'Bird Preservation and the Plumage Trade', Outlook , 32, 8th November, 1913, 637-8. In 1910 the International Ornithological Congress had passed a resolution affirming the need for laws prohibiting the importation of plumage into European countries.
26. The Times, 23rd October, 1913.
27. The Times, 5th July, 1920.
28. The Times, 16th January, 1920. The contemporary London Directory includes firms of Mosbacher, Kuppervasser, Laufer, Podgurzer and Heymans among the more prominent feather brokers and merchants.
29. Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, 11 + 12, GeoV, 1921.
30. Cd 137, Q 506-10.
31. Ibid, Q 351.
32. Ibid, Q 526.
33. 'Britannicus', 'The Plumage Bill', Outlook, 45, 19th June, 1920, 688.
34. Cd 137, Q 70-3, 426-30, 446-53.
35. Ibid, Q 314-5.
36. The Times, 6th March, 1914.
37. 'A Correspondent', 'The Plumage Bill', Outlook, 45, 12th June, 1920.
38. The Times, 5th July, 1920.
39. The Times, 6th March, 1920.
40. The Times, 14th May, 1906. Buckland sunk a great deal of his time and much of his personal capital into the abolitionist cause and as his funds became progressively depleted he was obliged in 1911 to make a public appeal for financial aid (The Times, 30th March, 1911).
41. The Times, 14th May, 1906. Buckland sunk a great deal of his time and much of his personal capital into the abolitionist cause and as his funds became progressively depleted he was obliged in 1911 to make a public appeal for financial aid (The Times, 30th March, 1911).
42. Buckland, 'The Plumage Bill', pp. 714-5.
43. W. H. Hudson, who had been friendly with Massingham for some years, wrote in February 1920, 'Young Massingham is, I know, a tremendously energetic person - he and his wife both write to me occasionally and he is now fighting for a law to exclude feathers from our markets - in which I'm with him heart and soul'. (E. Garnett (ed), Letters from W. H. Hudson to Edward Garnett (London, 1925), p. 197). Having started the Plumage Bill Group after a campaign in The Spectator, Massingham spent many months trying to drum up public support and obtain funds. By Autumn 1919, progress was palpable and he wrote excitedly to Maude Royden of the importance of non-stop public agitation and the need for pressure to be applied to the Board of Trade (London Guildhall University MSS, GB 106/7/AMR/S/1).
44. Poems about Birds (London, 1922), p. 15.
45. Birds of the Seashore (London, 1931).
46. The system operated such that less than six and no more than twelve months notice was given to the trade in respect of scheduled birds so that traders and brokers could notify clients and dispose of existing stock (The Times, 4th March, 1914).
47. S. L. Bensusan, 'Birds and the Plumage Trade', The Nineteenth Century and After, LXXIV(2), 1913, 1067-9; 'Bird Preservation and the Plumage Trade', Outlook, 32, 8th November, 1913, 637-8.
48. S. L. Bensusan, 'Birds and the Plumage Trade', The Nineteenth Century and After, LXXIV(2), 1913, 1067-9; 'Bird Preservation and the Plumage Trade', Outlook, 32, 8th November, 1913, 637-8.
49. The Times, 18th January, 1909.
50. Cd 137, Qs 53-6.
51. Ibid, Q 192.
52. Buckland, 'The Plumage Trade', p. 722.
53. The Times, 26th March, 1920.
54. The Times, 21st April, 1911.
55. The Times, 18th January, 1898.
56. Buckland, 'The Plumage Trade', p. 716.
57. The Times, 23rd March, 1920.
58. The counter-argument of the plumage interests that since large numbers of parakeets and parrots in India were regularly slaughtered to protect rice crops, their carcasses may as well be sold as left to rot, was virtually disregarded (The Times, 4th January, 1898; Cd 137, Qs 260-3). I am reliably informed by Professor William Haresign that the roseate cockatoo (the 'Galah') is at present the main predator of wheat in Western Australia. The collection and export of its eggs, however, is totally prohibited.
59. Hansard, 9th March, 1914.
60. The Times, 30th July, 1914.
61. The Times, 15th July, 1914.
62. The Times, 4th June, 1920.
63. The Times, 11th and 16th June, 1920.
64. The Times, 26th October, 1920.
65. The Times, 6th and 7th May, 1921.
66. At the time of the passing of the Act, only ostrich and eider duck were on the schedule. By 1951 another nine species were included.
67. The Times, 11th May, 1921.
68. P. Barclay-Smith, 'The Trade in Bird Plumage', UFAW, Courier, Autumn 1957, 9-12.