Editing Beatrix Potter (section)

==Biography==

===Early life ===
[[File:Potter about 1874.JPG|thumb|upright=0.7|Potter aged eight, {{Circa|1874}}]]

Potter's family on both sides were from the [[Manchester]] area.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 10</ref> They were English [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]],<ref>Lear 2007, p. 9</ref> associated with dissenting [[Protestantism|Protestant]] congregations, influential in 19th-century Britain, that affirmed the oneness of God and that rejected the doctrine of the Trinity. Potter's paternal grandfather, [[Edmund Potter]], from [[Glossop]] in [[Derbyshire]], owned what was then the largest [[calico]] printing works in England, and later served as a Member of Parliament.<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 10–14</ref>

Potter's father, Rupert William Potter (1832–1914), was educated at [[Harris Manchester College, Oxford|Manchester College]] by the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] philosopher [[James Martineau]].<ref name="telegraph.co.uk">{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Tim|title=Mandrake-The Duchess of Cambridge is related to Potter, who once gave the Middleton family her own original hand-painted illustrations|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/10980599/Kate-Middleton-is-related-to-Beatrix-Potter.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|page=8|date=22 July 2014|access-date=16 August 2014|archive-date=16 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616211600/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/10980599/Kate-Middleton-is-related-to-Beatrix-Potter.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Judy|title=Beatrix Potter – Artist, Storyteller|url=http://www.e-reading.co.uk/bookreader.php/1007152/Taylor_-_Beatrix_Potter_Artist,_Storyteller_and_Countrywoman.html|publisher=Frederick Warne|year=1996|access-date=15 January 2014|archive-date=16 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116190017/http://www.e-reading.co.uk/bookreader.php/1007152/Taylor_-_Beatrix_Potter_Artist,_Storyteller_and_Countrywoman.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He then trained as a [[barrister]] in London. Rupert practiced law, specialising in [[equity (legal concept)|equity]] law and [[conveyancing]]. He married Helen Leech (1839–1932) on 8 August 1863 at Hyde Unitarian Chapel, [[Gee Cross]]. Helen was the daughter of Jane Ashton (1806–1884) and John Leech, a wealthy cotton merchant and shipbuilder from [[Stalybridge]]. Helen's first cousins were siblings [[Lupton family|Harriet Lupton]] (''née'' Ashton) and  [[Thomas Ashton, 1st Baron Ashton of Hyde]]. It was reported in July 2014 that Potter had personally given a number of her own original hand-painted illustrations to the two daughters of Arthur and Harriet Lupton, who were cousins to both Beatrix Potter and [[Catherine, Princess of Wales]].<ref name="telegraph.co.uk"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Evening Mail |first1=NW |title=Cumbria author Beatrix Potter link to Prince George revealed |url=http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/cumbria-author-beatrix-potter-link-to-prince-george-revealed-1.1149744 |date=21 July 2014 |newspaper=North-West Evening Mail |access-date=16 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728105712/https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/cumbria-author-beatrix-potter-link-to-prince-george-revealed-1.1149744 |archive-date=28 July 2014 }}</ref>

[[File:Young Beatrix.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Potter aged fifteen with her [[English Springer Spaniel|springer spaniel]], Spot]]
Potter's parents lived comfortably at 2 Bolton Gardens, [[West Brompton]], London, where Helen Beatrix was born on 28 July 1866 and her brother Walter Bertram on 14 March 1872.<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 13–24</ref> The house was destroyed in [[the Blitz]]. Bousfield Primary School now stands where the house once was. A blue plaque on the school building testifies to the former site of the Potter home.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beatrix Potter's London|url=https://londonist.com/2016/01/beatrix-potter-s-london|website=Londonist.com|date=26 January 2016|access-date=19 September 2017|archive-date=31 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031134324/https://londonist.com/2016/01/beatrix-potter-s-london|url-status=live}}</ref> Both parents were artistically talented,<ref>Lear 2007, p. 21</ref> and Rupert was an adept amateur photographer.<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 35–36</ref><ref>Rupert Potter was a member of the Photographic Society, later [[Royal Photographic Society]] from 1869 until 1912. Information from Michael Pritchard, Director-General / [http://www.rps.org www.rps.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402035959/http://www.rps.org/ |date=2 April 2014 }}, 13 May 2014.</ref> Rupert had invested in the stock market, and by the early 1890s, he was extremely wealthy.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 19. Rupert came into his father's estate over the course of several years, 1884, 1891 and 1905. The Potters were comfortable but they did not live exclusively on inherited wealth; Lane, (1946) ''The Tale of Beatrix Potter'' 1946, p. 1</ref>

Beatrix Potter was educated by three governesses, the last of whom was Annie Moore (''née'' Carter), just three years older than Potter, who tutored Potter in German as well as acting as [[lady's companion]].<ref>Lear 2007, p. 55</ref> She and Potter remained friends throughout their lives, and Annie's eight children were the recipients of many of Potter's picture letters. It was Annie who later suggested that these letters might make good children's books.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 142; Lane, 1978, ''The Magic Years of Potter Potter''. Lane depicts Potter's childhood as much more restricted than either or Potter's two later biographers. Taylor, ''Beatrix Potter: Artist Story Teller'', Ch 1.; Lear, 2007, pp. 25–48;  Beatrix Potter, ''The Journal of Beatrix Potter: From 1881–1897''.</ref>

[[File:Wray Castle, Windermere.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|In 1882, Potter's stay at [[Wray Castle]] on the banks of [[Windermere|Lake Windermere]] during a family holiday began her long association with the English [[Lake District]].]]
She and her younger brother Walter Bertram (1872–1918) grew up with few friends outside their large extended family. Her parents were artistic, interested in nature, and enjoyed the countryside. As children, Potter and Bertram had numerous small animals as pets which they observed closely and drew endlessly. In their schoolroom, Potter and Bertram kept a variety of small pets—mice, rabbits, a hedgehog and some bats, along with collections of butterflies and other insects—which they drew and studied.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 31, pp. 37–44, p. 458nn15</ref> Potter was devoted to the care of her small animals, often taking them with her on long holidays.<ref>Judy Taylor, Joyce Irene Whalley, Anne Stevenson Hobbs and Elizabeth Battrick, (1987) ''Beatrix Potter, 1866–1943: The Artist and Her World'', pp.9–17, 35–48; Lear, pp. 25–48.</ref> In most of the first fifteen years of her life, Potter spent summer holidays at [[Dalguise]], an estate on the [[River Tay]] in [[Perthshire|Perthshire, Scotland]]. There she sketched and explored an area that nourished her imagination and her observation.<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 26–8, 51</ref> Her first sketchbook from those holidays, kept at age 8 and dated 1875, is held at and has been digitised by the [[Victoria and Albert Museum|Victoria & Albert Museum, London]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=V&A · Beatrix Potter's first sketchbook, aged 8 |url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/beatrix-potters-first-sketchbook-aged-8 |access-date=11 May 2022 |website=Victoria and Albert Museum |language=en}}</ref> Potter and her brother were allowed great freedom in the country, and both children became adept students of [[natural history]]. In 1882, when Dalguise was no longer available, the Potters took their first summer holiday in the [[Lake District]], at [[Wray Castle]] near [[Windermere|Lake Windermere]].<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 51–2</ref> Here Potter met [[Hardwicke Rawnsley]], vicar of Wray and later the founding secretary of the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]], whose interest in the countryside and country life inspired the same in Potter and who was to have a lasting impact on her life.<ref>Potter, ''The Journal, 1885–1897''</ref><ref>Lear 2007, pp. 52–3</ref>

{{multiple image|align=left
 | footer    = [[Lingholm]] country house (where Potter spent her summer holidays from 1885 to 1907) and a statue of [[Peter Rabbit]] on the house grounds. Lingholm kitchen garden inspired Mr. McGregor's garden in the Peter Rabbit stories. With its connection to Potter, Lingholm was [[Listed building#England and Wales|listed Grade II]] on the [[National Heritage List for England]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lingholm given grade II historic listing by English Heritage |url=https://thelingholmestate.co.uk/house |publisher=The Lingholm Estate |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105183220/https://thelingholmestate.co.uk/house |archivedate=5 November 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{NHLE|num=1413920|desc=Lingholm|access-date=10 May 2023|mode=cs2}}</ref>
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At about the age of 14, Potter began to keep a diary, written in a simple [[substitution cipher]] of her own devising. Her ''Journal'' was important to the development of her creativity, serving as both sketchbook and literary experiment. In tiny handwriting, she reported on society, recorded her impressions of art and artists, recounted stories and observed life around her.<ref>Lear 2007, pp.49–51 ''cf.'' also p. 463nn1</ref> The ''Journal'', deciphered and transcribed by Leslie Linder in 1958, does not provide an intimate record of her personal life, but it is an invaluable source for understanding a vibrant part of British society in the late 19th century. It describes Potter's maturing artistic and intellectual interests, her often amusing insights into the places she visited, and her unusual ability to observe nature and to describe it. Started in 1881, her journal ends in 1897 when her artistic and intellectual energies were absorbed in scientific study and in efforts to publish her drawings.<ref>Potter, "The Journal, 1885–1897"</ref> Precocious but reserved and often bored, she was searching for more independent activities and wished to earn some money of her own while dutifully taking care of her parents, dealing with her especially demanding mother,<ref>Lear 2007, p. 94 also ''cf.'' p. 474nn55</ref> and managing their various households.

===Scientific illustrations and work in mycology===
[[File:Beatrix Potter- Mycology. Source- Armitt Museum and Library.jpg|thumb|Beatrix Potter: reproductive system of ''[[Hygrocybe coccinea]]'', 1897]]
In the [[Victorian era]], women of her class were privately educated and rarely went to university. Potter's parents encouraged her higher education, but the social norms of the time limited her academic career within Britain's institutions.<ref>Taylor, ''Artist, Storyteller'', pp. 59–61; Elizabeth E. Battrick, (1999) ''Beatrix Potter: The Unknown Years''; Lynn Barber, (1980) ''The Heyday of Natural History'', Brian Gardiner, "Breatrix Potter's Fossils and Her Interests in Geology", The Linnean, 16/1 (January 2000), 31–47; Lear 2007, pp. 76–103; Potter, ''Journal, 1891–1897''.</ref>

Beatrix Potter was interested in every branch of natural science except [[astronomy]].<ref>Lear 2007, p. 98</ref> [[Botany]] was a passion for most [[Victorian era|Victorians]], and [[nature study]] was a popular enthusiasm. She collected fossils,<ref>Brian G. Gardiner, "Beatrix Potter's fossils and her interest in Geology," ''The Linnean: Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London'' 16/1 (January 2000), pp. 31–47</ref> studied [[archeology|archaeological]] artefacts from London excavations, and was interested in [[entomology]]. In all these areas, she drew and painted her specimens with increasing skill. By the 1890s, her scientific interests centred on [[mycology]]. First drawn to fungi because of their colours and evanescence in nature and her delight in painting them, her interest deepened after meeting Charles McIntosh, a revered naturalist and amateur mycologist, during a summer holiday in Dunkeld in [[Perthshire]] in 1892. He helped improve the accuracy of her illustrations, taught her [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]], and supplied her with live specimens to paint during the winter. <onlyinclude>{{#invoke:transcludable section|main|section=Scientific illustrations and work in mycology|text=Curious as to how fungi reproduced, Potter began microscopic drawings of fungus spores (the [[agaric]]s) and in 1895 developed a theory of their [[germination]].<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 81–103</ref> Through the connections of her uncle [[Henry Enfield Roscoe|Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe]], a chemist and [[vice-chancellor (education)|vice-chancellor]] of the [[University of London]], she consulted with botanists at [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Kew Gardens]], convincing [[George Edward Massee|George Massee]] of her ability to germinate spores and her theory of [[F1 hybrid|hybridisation]].<ref>Lear 2007, p. 117</ref> She did not believe in the theory of [[symbiosis]] proposed by [[Simon Schwendener]], the German mycologist, as previously thought; instead, she proposed a more independent process of reproduction.<ref>M.A. Taylor and R.H. Rodger, eds. (2003) ''A Fascinating Acquaintance: Charles McIntosh and Beatrix Potter''; Taylor, et al. (1987) ''Artist and Her World'', pp. 71–94; Lear 2007, pp. 104–129; Nicholas P. Money, "Beatrix Potter, Victorian Mycologist", ''Fungi''. 2:4 (Fall 2009); Roy Watling, "Helen Beatrix Potter: Her interest in fungi", ''The Linnean: Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London'', 16/1 (January 2000), pp. 24–31.</ref>}}</onlyinclude>

Rebuffed by [[William Turner Thiselton-Dyer|William Thiselton-Dyer]], the Director at Kew, because of her sex and amateur status, Potter wrote up her conclusions and submitted a paper, ''On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae'', to the [[Linnean Society]] in 1897. It was introduced by Massee because, as a woman, Potter could not attend proceedings nor read her paper. She subsequently withdrew it, realising that some of her samples were contaminated, but continued her microscopic studies for several more years. Her work is only now being properly evaluated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beatrix Potter and the Linnean Society|url=http://www.linnean.org/index.php?id=104|publisher=Linnean Society|access-date=1 November 2011|archive-date=9 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109195118/http://linnean.org/index.php?id=104|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Lear 2007, pp. 104–25</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linnean.org/Resources/LinneanSociety/Documents/Publications/The-Linnaen/Lin%20Vol%2016_%20no%201_%20Jan%202000.pdf |last=Watling |first=Roy |title=Helen Beatrix Potter: Her interest in fungi |work=The Linnean: Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London |volume=16 |issue=1 |date=January 2000 |pages=24–31 |author-link=Roy Watling |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513210936/https://www.linnean.org/Resources/LinneanSociety/Documents/Publications/The-Linnaen/Lin%20Vol%2016_%20no%201_%20Jan%202000.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2013 }}</ref> Potter later gave her other mycological and scientific drawings to the [[Armitt Library|Armitt Museum and Library]] in Ambleside, where mycologists still refer to them to identify fungi. There is also a collection of her fungus paintings at the [[Perth Museum and Art Gallery]] in Perth, Scotland, donated by Charles McIntosh. In 1967, the mycologist [[Walter Philip Kennedy Findlay|W. P. K. Findlay]] included many of Potter's beautifully accurate fungus drawings in his ''Wayside & Woodland Fungi'', thereby fulfilling her desire to one day have her fungus drawings published in a book.<ref>Walter Philip Kennedy Findlay, (1967) ''Wayside & Woodland Fungi''</ref> In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexism displayed in its handling of her research.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 125, p.482nn58</ref>

===Artistic and literary career===
[[File:Peter Rabbit first edition 1902a.jpg|thumb|upright|First edition, 1902]]
Potter's artistic and literary interests were deeply influenced by fairy tales and fantasy. She was a student of the classic fairy tales of Western Europe as well as stories from the [[Old Testament]], [[John Bunyan]]'s ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]'' and [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]]'s ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''. She grew up with ''[[Aesop's Fables]]'', the fairy tales of the [[Brothers Grimm]] and [[Hans Christian Andersen]], [[Charles Kingsley]]'s ''[[The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby|The Water Babies]]'',<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 30–1</ref> the folk tales and [[Scottish mythology|mythology of Scotland]], the [[German Romanticism|German Romantics]], [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]],<ref>Lear 2007, p. 95. She liked to memorise his plays by heart.</ref> and the romances of [[Sir Walter Scott]].<ref>Lear 2007, p. 35. Beatrix said she learnt to read "on" Scott</ref> As a young child, before the age of eight, [[Edward Lear]]'s ''[[:s:The Book of Nonsense|A Book of Nonsense]]'', including the much-loved ''[[The Owl and the Pussycat]]'', and [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Alice in Wonderland]]'' had made their impression, although she later said of ''Alice'' that she was more interested in [[John Tenniel|Tenniel]]'s illustrations than what they were about.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 34</ref>

The ''[[Brer Rabbit]]'' stories of [[Joel Chandler Harris]] had been family favourites, and she later studied his ''[[Uncle Remus]]'' stories and illustrated them.<ref>Lear 2007, p.131. She began eight ''Uncle Remus'' drawings in the same year 1893 she began writing the ''Peter Rabbit'' picture letters to Noel Moore, completing the last in 1896.</ref> She studied book illustration from a young age and developed her own tastes, but the work of the picture book triumvirate [[Walter Crane]], [[Kate Greenaway]] and [[Randolph Caldecott]], the last an illustrator whose work was later collected by her father, was a great influence.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 33</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Toads' Tea Party |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1311941/the-toads-tea-party-drawing-beatrix-potter/ |access-date=9 October 2022 |work=V&A Museum}}</ref> Her earliest illustrations focused on traditional rhymes and stories like ''[[Cinderella]]'', ''[[Sleeping Beauty]]'', ''[[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]'', ''[[Puss in Boots]]'', and ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]''.<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 127–8</ref> However, most often her illustrations were fantasies featuring her own pets: mice, rabbits, kittens, and guinea pigs.<ref>Taylor, et al., ''The Artist and her World,'' pp. 49–70;  Potter, ''Journal, 1884–1897''; Humphrey Carpenter (1985), ''Secret Gardens: The Golden Age of Children's Literature.''</ref>

In her teenage years, Potter was a regular visitor to the art galleries of London, particularly enjoying the summer and winter exhibitions at the [[Royal Academy]] in London.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 47-8. [[J. M. W. Turner]] was the first artist to impress her.</ref> Her ''Journal'' reveals her growing sophistication as a critic as well as the influence of her father's friend, the artist [[Sir John Everett Millais]], who recognised Potter's talent of observation. Although Potter was aware of art and artistic trends, her drawing and her prose style were uniquely her own.<ref>Taylor, ''Artist, Storyteller,'' pp. 70–95; Taylor, ed. 1989, ''Beatrix Potters Letters''.</ref>

[[File:Beatrix Potter 'Toads Tea-party' c.1905 Bk of Rhymes (1917).jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Potter illustration, "Toad's Tea Party", {{Circa|1905}}, which appears in her ''[[Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes]]'', 1917]]
As a way to earn money in the 1890s, Potter printed [[Christmas cards]] of her own design, as well as cards for special occasions. These were her first commercially successful works as an illustrator.<ref>{{cite news |title=Christmas cards designed by a young Beatrix Potter to go on display |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/christmas-cards-designed-by-a-young-beatrix-potter-to-go-on-display-41166546.html |access-date=9 October 2022 |work=Belfast Telegraph}}</ref> Mice and rabbits were the most frequent subject of her fantasy paintings. In 1890, the firm of Hildesheimer and Faulkner bought several of the drawings of her rabbit [[Benjamin Bunny]] to illustrate verses by [[Frederic Weatherly]] titled ''A Happy Pair''. In 1893, the same printer bought several more drawings for Weatherly's ''Our Dear Relations'', another book of rhymes, and the following year Potter sold a series of frog illustrations and verses for ''Changing Pictures'', a popular annual offered by the art publisher Ernest Nister. Potter was pleased by this success and determined to publish her own illustrated stories.<ref>Taylor, et al. 1987, pp. 107–148; Katherine Chandler, "Thoroughly Post-Victorian, Pre-Modern Beatrix." ''Children's Literature Quarterly''. 32(4): 287–307.</ref>

Whenever Potter went on holiday to the [[Lake District]] or [[Scotland]], she sent letters to young friends, illustrating them with quick sketches. Many of these letters were written to the children of her former governess Annie Carter Moore, particularly to Moore's eldest son Noel, who was often ill. In September 1893, Potter was on holiday at Eastwood in [[Dunkeld]], Perthshire. She had run out of things to say to Noel, and so she told him a story about "four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter". It became one of the most famous children's letters ever written and the basis of Potter's future career as a writer-artist-storyteller.<ref>Judy Taylor 1992, ''Letters to Children from Beatrix Potter''.</ref>

[[File:Beatrix Potter dummy manuscripts.jpg|thumb|left|Potter's dummy manuscripts of three of her books – designed to see how the printed book would look]]
In 1900, Potter revised her tale about the four little rabbits, and fashioned a dummy book of it – it has been suggested, in imitation of [[Helen Bannerman]]'s 1899 bestseller ''[[The Story of Little Black Sambo]]''.<ref>Stevenson, Laura C. "A Vogue for Small Books": The Tale of Peter Rabbit and its Contemporary Competitors" [http://www.lauracstevenson.org/avogueoflittlebooks.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322073135/http://www.lauracstevenson.org/avogueoflittlebooks.htm|date=22 March 2012}}</ref> Unable to find a buyer for the work, she published it for family and friends at her own expense in December 1901. It was drawn in black and white with a coloured frontispiece. Rawnsley had great faith in Potter's tale, recast it in didactic verse, and made the rounds of the London publishing houses. [[Frederick Warne & Co]] had previously rejected the tale but, eager to compete in the booming small format children's book market, reconsidered and accepted the "bunny book" (as the firm called it) following the recommendation of their prominent children's book artist [[L. Leslie Brooke]].<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 144–7</ref> The firm declined Rawnsley's verse in favour of Potter's original prose, and Potter agreed to colour her pen and ink illustrations, choosing the new [[Edmund Evans#Later work and retirement|Hentschel three-colour process]] to reproduce her watercolours.<ref name="Hobbs15">Hobbs 1989, p. 15</ref>

[[File:Tower Bank Arms.jpg|thumb|right|Potter used many real locations for her book illustrations. The Tower Bank Arms, Near Sawrey appears in ''The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck''.]]
On 2 October 1902, ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]'' was published and became an immediate success.<ref>Taylor 1996, p. 76</ref> It was followed the next year by ''[[The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin]]'' and ''[[The Tailor of Gloucester]]'', which had also first been written as picture letters to the Moore children. Working with [[Norman Warne]] as her editor, Potter published two or three little books each year: 23 books in all. The last book in this format was ''[[Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes]]'' in 1922, a collection of favourite rhymes. Although ''[[The Tale of Little Pig Robinson]]'' was not published until 1930, it had been written much earlier. Potter continued creating her little books until after the [[First World War]] when her energies were increasingly directed toward her farming, sheep-breeding, and land conservation.<ref>Judy Taylor 2002, ''That Naughty Rabbit: Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit'';  Lear 2007, pp. 207–247; Anne Stevenson Hobbs, ed. 1989, ''Beatrix Potter's Art: Paintings and Drawings''.</ref>

The immense popularity of Potter's books was based on the lively quality of her illustrations, the non-didactic nature of her stories, the depiction of the rural countryside, and the imaginative qualities she lent to her animal characters.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qdVTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA165|last=Kutzer|first=M. Daphne|title=Beatrix Potter: Writing in Code|page=165|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415943523|year=2002|access-date=8 July 2019|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205185527/https://books.google.com/books?id=qdVTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA165|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EvQcDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT99|last=Gristwood|first=Sarah|title=The Story of Beatrix Potter|page=99|publisher=[[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]]|isbn=978-1909881808|year=2016|access-date=8 July 2019}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Potter was also a canny businesswoman. As early as 1903, she made and patented a [[Peter Rabbit]] doll. It was followed by other merchandise over the years, including painting books, board games, wall-paper, figurines, baby blankets and china tea-sets. All were licensed by [[Frederick Warne & Co]] and earned Potter an independent income, as well as immense profits for her publisher.<ref>See Judy Taylor 2002, "That Naughty Rabbit"</ref>

In 1905, Potter and [[Norman Warne]] became unofficially engaged. Potter's parents objected to the match because Warne was "in trade" and thus not socially suitable. The engagement lasted only one month—Warne died of [[pernicious anaemia]] at age 37.<ref>Lear 2007, pp.198- 201</ref> That same year, Potter used some of her income and a small inheritance from an aunt to buy [[Hill Top Farm]] in [[Near Sawrey]], located {{convert|6|mi|adj=off}} west of Lake [[Windermere]] in the English [[Lake District]]. Potter and Warne may have hoped that Hill Top Farm would be their holiday home, but after Warne's death, Potter went ahead with its purchase as she had always wanted to own that farm and live in "that charming village".<ref>Lear 2007, p. 207</ref>

===Country life and marriage===
[[File:Hill Top - geograph.org.uk - 4007824.jpg|thumb|[[Hill Top, Cumbria|Hill Top]] in [[Near Sawrey]]&nbsp;– Potter's home from 1905 until her death in 1943, now owned by the [[National Trust]] and preserved as it was when she lived and wrote her stories there.<ref name="Hill Top"/>]]
[[File:Potterguests.jpg|thumb|Japanese tourists (pictured at Hill Top) are among the frequent visitors to Potter's home. Merchandisers in Japan estimate that 80% of the population have heard of Peter Rabbit.<ref>{{cite web|last=Williams |first=Francesca |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-24625202 |title=Peter Rabbit: Why the Japanese love Beatrix Potter| publisher= BBC News| website= BBC |date=13 November 2013 |access-date=8 June 2023}}</ref>]]
The tenant farmer John Cannon and his family agreed to stay on to manage the farm for her while she made physical improvements and learned the techniques of [[fell farming]] and of raising livestock, including pigs, cows and chickens; the following year she added sheep. Realising she needed to protect her boundaries, she sought advice from W.H. Heelis & Son, a local firm of solicitors with offices in nearby [[Hawkshead]]. With William Heelis acting for her, she bought contiguous pasture, and in 1909 the {{convert|20|acre|ha}} Castle Farm across the road from Hill Top Farm. She visited Hill Top at every opportunity, and her books written during this period (such as ''[[The Tale of Ginger and Pickles]]'', about the local shop in Near Sawrey and ''[[The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse]]'', a wood mouse) reflect her increasing participation in village life and her delight in country living.<ref>Taylor, ed., (2002) ''Beatrix Potter's Letters''; Hunter Davies, ''Beatrix Potter's Lakeland''; W.R. Mitchell, ''Potter: Her Life in the Lake District''.</ref>

{{Quote box|width=27%|align=left|quote="Hill Top is to be presented to my visitors as if I had just gone out and they had just missed me."|source=—Statement by Potter in her will to the National Trust.<ref name="Hill Top">{{cite news |title=Beatrix Potter's Hill Top house, the Lakes: 'It feels like a game of Potter I-spy' – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/jun/01/beatrix-potter-house-hill-top-lake-district-review |access-date=21 January 2024 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>}}
Owning and managing these working farms required routine collaboration with the widely respected William Heelis. By the summer of 1912, Heelis had proposed marriage and Potter had accepted; although she did not immediately tell her parents, who once again disapproved because Heelis was only a country solicitor. Potter and Heelis were married on 15 October 1913 in London at [[St Mary Abbots]] in [[Kensington]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dennison |first=Matthew |title=Over the hills and far away: the life of Beatrix Potter |date=2016 |publisher=Head of Zeus |isbn=978-1-78497-563-0 |location=London |pages=177}}</ref> The couple moved immediately to [[Near and Far Sawrey|Near Sawrey]], residing at Castle Cottage, the renovated farmhouse on Castle Farm, which was {{convert|34|acres|ha}} large. Hill Top remained a working farm but was now remodelled to allow for the tenant family and Potter's private studio and workshop. At last her own woman, Potter settled into the partnerships that shaped the rest of her life: her country solicitor husband and his large family, her farms, the Sawrey community and the predictable rounds of country life. ''[[The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck]]'' and ''[[The Tale of Tom Kitten]]'' are representative of Hill Top Farm and her farming life and reflect her happiness with her country life.<ref>John Heelis, (1999) ''The Tale of Mrs William Heelis&nbsp;– Beatrix Potter''; Lear, Ch. 13.</ref>

Her father, Rupert Potter, died in 1914, and with the outbreak of [[World War I]], Potter persuaded her mother to move to the Lake District, renting her a property in Sawrey. Finding life in Sawrey dull, Helen Potter soon moved to Lindeth Howe (now a 34-bedroomed hotel), a large house the Potters had previously rented for the summer in [[Bowness-on-Windermere|Bowness]], on the other side of Lake Windermere.<ref>{{cite book|last= McDowell|first= Marta|title=Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the classic children's tales|publisher=Timber Press|date=2013|pages=116|isbn=978-1604693638}}</ref> Potter continued to write stories for Frederick Warne & Co and fully participated in country life. She established a nursing trust for local villages and served on various committees and councils responsible for footpaths and other rural issues.<ref>Taylor et al. ''The Artist and Her World'', pp. 185–194; Taylor, ''Artist Storyteller'', pp. 105–144.</ref>

===Sheep farming===
Soon after acquiring Hill Top Farm, Potter became keenly interested in the breeding and raising of [[Herdwick|Herdwick sheep]], the indigenous fell sheep. In 1923 she bought a large sheep farm in the Troutbeck Valley called [[Troutbeck Park|Troutbeck Park Farm]], formerly a deer park, restoring its land with thousands of Herdwick sheep. This established her as one of the major Herdwick sheep farmers in the county. She was admired by her shepherds and farm managers for her willingness to experiment with the latest biological remedies for the common diseases of sheep, and for her employment of the best shepherds, sheep breeders, and farm managers.<ref>William Rollinson, (1981) ''How They Lived in the Lake District''; Susan Denyer, 1993 ''Herdwick Sheep Farming''; Geoff Brown, (2009) ''Herdwicks: Herdwick Sheep and the English Lake District''; Judy Taylor, ed., (1998) ''Beatrix Potter's Farming Friendship. Lake District Letters to Joseph Moscrop, 1926–1943''.</ref>

By the late 1920s, Potter and her Hill Top farm manager Tom Storey had made a name for their prize-winning Herdwick flock, which took many prizes at the local agricultural shows, where Potter was often asked to serve as a judge. In 1942 she became President-elect of the Herdwick Sheepbreeders' Association, the first time a woman had been elected, but died before taking office.<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 381–404</ref>

===Welsh language===
In one of her diary entries whilst travelling through Wales, Potter complained about the [[Welsh language]]. She wrote "[[Machynlleth]], wretched town, hardly a person could speak English", continuing "Welsh seem a pleasant intelligent race, but I should think awkward to live with... the language is past description."<ref>{{cite news |title=Keeping up with the Joneses |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/16/society |access-date=13 May 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=E3DC8P1jEYEC "The Journal of Beatrix Potter from 1881 to 1897"], By Beatrix Potter, Transcribed by Leslie Linder (Published by Warne, 1989)</ref>