Did you know Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, sixth Duchess of Portland, was president of the RSPB for more than 60 years? Join us for a museum talk with author and conservationist Conor Mark Jameson to discover more.
In the late Victorian and early 20th century, it was common for women to wear feathers and even entire birds on their hats, as fashions grew bigger and wilder every year. Plumes were also used in military regalia. This put many rare bird species at risk of extinction. Most were killed in the nesting season (leaving nestlings to starve) when their plumage was at its brightest.
Determined to protect these birds, a group of women joined forces to take on this global industry, creating what would later become the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Come along to this museum talk to hear more about the role Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck played in swaying the tide of fashion – and saving the birds.
Conor Mark Jameson
Conor Mark Jameson is an award-winning writer and natural historian. He is the author of the recently published biography Finding W. H. Hudson. His other books include Silent Spring Revisited, Looking for the Goshawk, and Shrewdunnit – a collection of his published writings. He is Ugandan-born Scots-Irish, now living in Norfolk.
Top image: Portrait of Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1863-1954) by Sir James Jebusa Shannon, 1889. © Harley Foundation, The Portland Collection
