Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB

For over a hundred years no one thought too much about the origins of the RSPB, but among its founders was a woman in Didsbury opposed to the use of feathers in fashionable hats. Emily Williamson was outraged by the widespread slaughter of egrets and the crested grebe. She had tried to join the all-male British Ornithological Union, and when that failed she established her own Society for the Protection of Birds. Nominating Emily is Hannah Bourne-Taylor, author of Fledgling and Nature Needs You, which is about her own campaign for the introduction of swift bricks into all new buildings. Helping Hannah discover more about this little known life is author Tessa Boase, who discovered Emily's role; plus Beccy Speight the current head of the RSPB. Matthew Parris presents. The producer in Bristol for BBC Studios Audio in Miles Warde.

You can listen to Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB is an episode from Great Lives by BBC.

This episode is 27:32 long.

This episode was published on Jun 23, 2025.

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