Biography

British naturalist, artist and populariser of natural history from Colchester, Essex. She collected with her first husband, T.E. Bowdich in Ghana until his death in 1824. Widowed and penniless she turned to writing as a career, her publications including accounts of their exploration and more general articles on botany, taxidermy, icthyology, ornithology and she also published the Memoirs of Cuvier. She made further expeditions to West Africa, the first woman to make systematic plant collections in the region. Sarah married Robert Lee in 1829 and is sometimes referred to as 'Sarah Bowdich Lee' or 'Mrs R. Lee'. Her natural history and travel publications are partly under the surname Bowdich and partly under the surname Lee; most or possibly all collections are under the earlier name. Much of her own collections were lost at sea but some surviving material is at BM.

Biography

British naturalist, artist and populariser of natural history from Colchester, Essex. She collected with her first husband, T.E. Bowdich in Ghana until his death in 1824. Widowed and penniless she turned to writing as a career, her publications including accounts of their exploration and more general articles on botany, taxidermy, icthyology, ornithology and she also published the Memoirs of Cuvier. She made further expeditions to West Africa, the first woman to make systematic plant collections in the region. Sarah married Robert Lee in 1829 and is sometimes referred to as 'Sarah Bowdich Lee' or 'Mrs R. Lee'. Her natural history and travel publications are partly under the surname Bowdich and partly under the surname Lee; most or possibly all collections are under the earlier name. Much of her own collections were lost at sea but some surviving material is at BM.

Biography

British naturalist, artist and populariser of natural history from Colchester, Essex. She collected with her first husband, T.E. Bowdich in Ghana until his death in 1824. Widowed and penniless she turned to writing as a career, her publications including accounts of their exploration and more general articles on botany, taxidermy, icthyology, ornithology and she also published the Memoirs of Cuvier. She made further expeditions to West Africa, the first woman to make systematic plant collections in the region. Sarah married Robert Lee in 1829 and is sometimes referred to as 'Sarah Bowdich Lee' or 'Mrs R. Lee'. Her natural history and travel publications are partly under the surname Bowdich and partly under the surname Lee; most or possibly all collections are under the earlier name. Much of her own collections were lost at sea but some surviving material is at BM.