Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds

Read the fascinating story of one of the greatest unsung figures of the nature conservation movement, founder of the RSPB and icon of early animal rights activism, Etta Lemon.

A heroine for our times, Etta Lemon campaigned for fifty years against the worldwide slaughter of birds for extravagantly feathered hats. Her legacy is the RSPB, grown from an all-female pressure group of 1889 with the splendidly simple pledge: Wear No Feathers. Etta’s long battle against ‘murderous millinery’ triumphed with the Plumage Act of 1921 – but her legacy has been eclipsed by the more glamorous campaign for the vote, led by the elegantly plumed Emmeline Pankhurst. This gripping narrative explores two formidable heroines and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers’ slums to high society, from the first female political rally to the rise of the eco-feminist, it restores Etta Lemon to her rightful place in history – the extraordinary woman who saved the birds.

ETTA LEMON was originally published in hardback in 2018 under the title of MRS PANKHURST’S PURPLE FEATHER. ‘A great story of pioneering conservation.’  KATE HUMBLE   ‘Quite brilliant. Meticulous and perceptive. A triumph of a book.’ CHARLIE ELDER ‘Shocking and entertaining. The surprising story of the campaigning women who changed Britain.” VIRGINIA NICHOLSON   ‘A fascinating and moving story, vividly told.’ JOHN CAREY   ‘A fascinating clash of two causes: rights for women and rights for birds to fly free not adorn suffragettes’ hats. An illuminating story, provocative, well-researched and brilliantly told.’ DIANA SOUHAMI