A Feather in Her Cap

Her purpose in these afternoon teas was to tell her society guests about the worldwide carnage of birds that provided every fashionable lady with hats flowing with ostrich and egret plumes, entire birds of paradise or sets of tiny, jewel-coloured hummingbirds, each wired separately so that they bobbed about as their wearer walked. In the late 19th century, London was the epicentre of the world feather trade, its docks receiving huge quantities of bird skins, heads, wings and an enormous array of feathers. At just one London sale in 1911 there were nearly 25,000 hummingbird skins, over 6,000 birds of paradise, 2,600 eagle skins and over 6,000 ounces of egret plumes, among other feathers. As a result of her afternoon tea meetings, Williamson co-founded the Society for the Protection of Birds. With limited political success, the SPB decided it should direct its energies instead to getting royal support for a ban: the SPB became the 'Royal' SPB - the RSPB, as it still is - on receipt in 1904 of a royal charter from Edward VII. Most British birds were already protected by a series of Acts, admittedly piecemeal, passed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Act prevented the importation into Britain of feathers, bird skins and bird parts. Williamson's drive, determination - and afternoon teas - ended a multi-million-pound global trade and put bird conservation on Britain's political map, where it has remained ever since.