Conservationist Emily Williamson (1855-1936) began the bird protection campaign that triumphed with the Plumage Act of 1921, but this wasn’t before ruffling some feathers amongst male ornithologists in Victorian society. In the 1880s, when Emily began her mission to save birds from the plumage trade, it was believed that no woman could be a serious ornithologist: The British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) was exclusively the preserve of men until 1909. Now, to mark the centenary of the Plumage Act, Emily Williamson is to be awarded posthumous membership of the BOU.

It was when the British Ornithologists’ Union ignored Emily’s letters to take a stand against ‘murderous millinery’ – the cruel fashion for lavishly feathered and birded hats – she vowed out of anger to form her own, all female organisation. The Society for the Protection of Birds was founded over teacups at Emily Williamson’s home, in Didsbury. All of its members were women. The Victorian male ornithologists might have sneered, but this little society would steadily grow to become the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB); now the UK’s largest conservation charity.

Granting Emily posthumous membership of the BOU is one of the ways that steps are being taken to acknowledge Emily’s forgotten legacy, in a campaign that is being led by the Emily Williamson Statue Campaign in partnership with the RSPB. On Thursday 1 July it will reveal the final shortlisted designs for a statue that will eventually stand in the grounds of Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury, where Emily’s former home can still be found.

Juliet Vickery, President of the British Ornithologists’ Union, says, “To mark the centenary of the Plumage Act, and in support of efforts to recognise the achievements of Emily Williamson, the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) is conferring posthumous membership upon Emily, who was refused membership in the 1890s, at a time when it was believed that no woman could be a serious ornithologist.

“The BOU accepted its first female members in 1910. We do not know how many other women were refused membership in the previous 52 years and hope that this posthumous membership will act as a form of recognition of them all. How things have changed since the 1890s! Half of the BOU’s Council members are women, including the President, Honorary Secretary and three out of six committee chairs.”

Melissa Bateson, Emily’s great great niece and a professor of Ethology at Newcastle University with a specialism in starlings, is part of the Emily Williamson Statue Campaign. Melissa says, “I only discovered relatively recently that Emily—a Bateson by birth—was my great great aunt. It feels like an extraordinary coincidence that both my father—the eminent ethologist Professor Sir Patrick Bateson, FRS—and I made our careers studying the behavioural biology of birds without knowing about Emily and her achievements. We clearly have birds in our blood! I am extraordinarily proud to be one of her descents and I am delighted that she is finally being given the recognition that she deserves for her important role in avian conservation.”

Ensuring that Emily’s legacy is explored and her story inspires conservationists of the future, to have a statue standing in the spot where her campaigning began is seen as a powerful symbol. The design of Emily’s statue will be placed in the hands of one of four shortlisted female sculptors: Clare Abbatt, Billie Bond, Laury Dizengremel and Eve Shepherd. Each are exploring a different aspect of Emily’s story and it will be down to a public vote to decide which one is chosen. They will be unveiled as maquettes (miniature versions of their proposed sculptor design) in a public event at Fletcher Moss Park on Thursday 1 July following which they will be touring key RSPB reserves around the country and then go on display at Manchester Art Gallery during October. The design that has been chosen will be announced in November 2021.