Isabella Lucy Bishop (née Bird; 15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904) was an English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Alongside fellow Englishwoman Fanny Jane Butler, she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar in modern-day Kashmir. She was the first woman to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Early life
Bird was born on 15 October 1831 at Boroughbridge Hall in Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Dora Lawson and the Rev. Edward Bird, a clergyman. She had a younger sister, Henrietta Amelia Bird.
Bird spent much of her childhood moving between parishes as her father took up new clerical posts. In 1832, the family relocated to Maidenhead and two years later to Tattenhall in Cheshire, where her sister Henrietta was born. In 1842, they moved again to St Thomas's in Birmingham after her father's opposition to Sunday labour led to a decline in his congregation. A further move followed in 1848, when the family lived for a time in Eastbourne before settling in Wyton.
From an early age, Bird was known for her independence and outspokenness. At age six, she reportedly confronted the local MP, Sir Malpas de Grey Tatton Egerton, during an election campaign, asking whether he had complimented her sister in order to win her father's vote.
Education
Her only education came from her parents: her father was a keen botanist who instructed Bird in flora, and her mother taught her daughters an eclectic mix of subjects. Bird became an avid reader. However, her "bright intelligence, [and] an extreme curiosity as to the world outside, made it impossible for her brain and her nature generally to be narrowed and stiffened by the strictly evangelical atmosphere of her childhood". Isabella's first publication at age 16 was a pamphlet addressing free trade versus protectionism. She continued writing articles for various periodicals.
