Jane Wallas Penfold
Jane Wallas Penfold | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jane Penfold 1 November 1820 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal |
| Died | 9 February 1884 Castle Cary, Somerset |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation(s) | Naturalist, Illustrator |
| Spouse |
Captain William Withey Mathews
(m. 1847) |
| Children | 7, including Lloyd Mathews and Lady Estella Cave |
Jane Wallas Penfold (1 November 1820 - 9 February 1884) was an English naturalist and illustrator. She published Madeira: Flowers, Fruits and Ferns in 1845, which included a poem by William Wordsworth.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Penfold was born in Madeira to wine merchant William Penfold (1776–1835) and mother Sarah Penfold, née Gilbert. She had eight siblings. Her family acquired the Quinta da Achada wine estate on Madeira in the 19th century.[2]
Penfold married Captain William Withey Mathews (1821–1872) at the British Consulate in Madeira in March 1846, followed by a celebration at Castle Cary, Somerset, England on 26 July 1847. They had seven children survived to adulthood, including the botanical artist, Augusta Robley.[3] Penfold lived at Woolston Manor[4] and Crewkerne in Somerset.[5]
Botany
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Penfold introduced Salvia splendens (t.x.) to Madeira from a "small plant in England". By the 1860s it was "the principal ornamental shrub in most cottage gardens" on the island. The Portuguese used the petals to make a rose-coloured dye.[6]
Book
[edit]Penfold published Madeira: Flowers, Fruits and Ferns in 1845, including 20 plates of coloured illustrations by Penfold. It was published by Lovelle Augustus Reeve and was written "to gratify those visitors and residents who take an interest in [Madeiran] productions."[7] It included scientific descriptions of the plants by Rev. W L P Garnons.[8]
Wordsworth poem
[edit]William Wordsworth wrote a poem for Penfold on New Year's Day 1843.[9] Titled To a Lady in answer to a request that I would write her a poem upon some drawings that she had made of flowers in the Island of Madeira, which featured in her 1845 book.[10]
It begins:
FAIR LADY! Can I sing of flowers
That in Madeira bloom and fade.
I, who ne'er sate within their bowers
Nor through their sunny lawns have strayed.— William Wordsworth, Composed at the request of Jane Wallas Penfold, The Poems of William Wordsworth
It is thought that while Penfold didn't know Wordsworth personally, there may have been a Cumbrian family connection.[11] The poem also featured in the Knight edition of Poetical Works of William Wordsworth.
Madeira: Flowers, Fruits and Ferns also included a poem by Mrs Calverley Bewicke, Song of the Madeira Flowers.
Gallery
[edit]A selection of Penfold's illustrations from her 1845 book Madeira Flowers, Fruits and Ferns:
-
Geranium Anemonifolium -
The Custard Apple -
The Guava Fruit -
The Belladonna Lily -
Salvia Splendens -
-
The Ethiopian Richardia -
The Sceptre Isoplexis
References
[edit]- ^ Wise, Thomas James (1965). Two Lake Poets: Catalogue of printed books, manuscripts and autograph letters. London, UK: Dawsons of Pall Mall. p. 31.
- ^ Hoe, Susanna (2004). Madeira: Women, History, Books and Places. Oxford, UK: Holo. p. 129. ISBN 9780953773084.
- ^ "Strelitzia reginae. Canna-leaved strelitzia". doaks.org. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ "Death of Lady Cave". Western Gazette. Somerset, England. 1938-01-14. p. 13.
- ^ "Births". Illustrated London News. London, England. 1863-07-04. p. 14.
- ^ Britten, James (1919). "LXXV: Madeira Flowers". Journal of Botany and foreign. LVII: 97–99. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
- ^ Britten, James (1919). "LXXV: Madeira Flowers". Journal of Botany and foreign. LVII: 97–99. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
- ^ Graham Ackers (2010). "A Maderian Lady's Fern Paintings". Pteridologist (Vol. 5 No. 3 ed.). Kent, England: The British Pteridologist Society. p. 157.
- ^ Finch, Stanley (1982). Wordsworth's flowers. Carnforth, UK: Lunesdale Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 0946091005.
- ^ Wise, Thomas James (1965). Two Lake Poets: Catalogue of printed books, manuscripts and autograph letters. London, UK: Dawsons of Pall Mall. p. 31.
- ^ Graham Ackers (2010). "A Maderian Lady's Fern Paintings". Pteridologist (Vol. 5 No. 3 ed.). Kent, England: The British Pteridologist Society. p. 157.