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Isobel Wylie Hutchison
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Isobel Wylie Hutchison was a Scottish Arctic traveller and botanist. She also wrote poetry, books on her travels and articles in various geographic magazines. She painted many scenes from her adventures.
Early Life
[edit]Isobel was born on May 30th 1889, the third of five children at [1]Carlowrie Castle, Kirkliston ,(Photo of Carlowrie) Edinburgh. Her father was Thomas Hutchison (b 1841) and her mother was Jeanie Wylie (b 1857). Isobel received a typical education for a middle class Victorian girl being taught by a governess at home. Carlowrie was an ideal place to grow up with wonderful grounds and gardens to explore, play and hide. She was very active physically at croquet, tennis, archery, skating, hiking, cycling, Scottish country dancing and walking. Thomas taught her about botany and gardening. She also studied painting and pressing flower[2] Sadly her father died when Isobel was only ten years old and she missed him very much. However his legacy was very generous and so she was financially independent for the whole of her life. Isobel started writing while young. She kept diaries assiduously from 1903. [3] She seemed to have a definite flair for languages as she learnt German and Italian while young adding Gaelic, Greek and Hebrew in her early twenties and Danish, Icelandic, Greenlandic and some Inuit words during her travels.
Walking in Scotland
[edit]From her early years she had gone for long walks and would often walk to Edinburgh spurning the family car!! These walks reached 100 miles when she was twenty e.g. Blairgowrie to Fort Augustus (100 miles). Later on she went for long “Strolls” and wrote articles for the National Geographic Magazine afterwards.
War Years
[edit]In WWI she worked in the Red Cross writing letters for soldiers. She was very affected by it as Walter, her brother, was killed during 1915. In 1917 and 1918 she studied business training and marketing at Studley College as well as religious and language studies. Influenza swept through the college and some students died. She went through emotional problems while she was there.
Publishing
[edit]Even though in 1920 she had a mental breakdown she continued to have success with her publishing and this sustained her over this period. She continued to get a steady stream of poems published while keeping a diary and writing a novel. In 1921 the poems were received with acclaim by the Scotsman!! [4]Thus her legacy from her father was increased by the fees she received.6
Visit to the Middle East
[edit]In 1924 in common with the usual practice she went on a tour to Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Israel. She went with a female companion who was rather over protective and Isobel resolved in future to travel on her own. In later life she found men as companions much more preferable. She never married however. (Photo of Isobel with her dog at Carlowrie)
Arctic Adventures
[edit]It was really these journeys which got Isobel noticed as a traveller, writer and botanist
Jean-Baptiste August Étienne Charcot | |
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She first went to Iceland in 1924 initially as a holiday to Reykjavik but while she was there she was inspired by Jean-Baptiste Charcot, a famous French Arctic explorer with his motto of “Pourquoi Pas” –Why Not? This made her think of walking from Reykjavik to Akureri. This was unheard of particularly as a single woman but she completed the journey in 14 days. The National Geographic Magazine published a 30 page article on this on her return.
In 1927 she decided to go to Greenland journeying along the east coast with a short visit to part of the west coast. The following year she spent several months living on the west coast from August 1928 until August 1929. Most of the time she lived with Greenlanders in either small houses, huts, or tents, throughout the winter. She joined in enthusiastically with the lives of the people she lived with, travelling in canoes, fishing through the ice, skating in the moonlight and attending their church services. All this time she was writing poems, painting pictures and keeping diaries which she turned into travel books on her return to Scotland.
After reading a book on the American Arctic by Knud Rasmussen she decided to visit Alaska. She left Manchester on 3rd. May 1933 on a cargo boat. She travelled up the west coast of America by luxurious steamer to Alaska and then down the Yukon on a comfortable stern wheeler but when the travel became difficult because of the ice she had to fly the last part to Nome.[5] Then the boat she was going to use for her trip along the north coast was damaged and she had to travel in very small trading boats with three or four men in a single cabin. Finally she had to stay for seven weeks in a single roomed wooden cabin with a Bolshevik adventurer ,[6] Gus Masik . She got him to tell her his life story, to play his concertina and she then painted his portrait.(Photo of him playing concertina in cabin) [7] She arrived back safely in Scotland at the beginning of March and wrote books about these adventures. (Photo of Gus Masik with dog)
Her next plan was to try to visit Russia but the authorities were so slow in giving her permission that by the spring of 1936 she decided to visit the Aleutian Islands. This was to have been by a regular steamer but she managed to get on to a U.S. coastguard cutter Chelan through her Naval contacts, being classed as a “scientific researcher”. She was treated royally and was given a large well equipped cabin all to herself. She collected a large number of flowers and artifacts for the British Museum who paid her to do this. She obviously impressed the Captain and Officers (Photo of Ship's Crew) as they made her Admiral of the Bering Sea. (Photo of Admiral's Pennant) On her return to Scotland she wrote another book and an article for the National Geographic Magazine. Isobel carried on travelling for the rest of her life but never returned to the Arctic again except for two short visits to Greenland and the Lofoton Islands.
Chelan was a "Lake Class" design of Cutter
.
Non Arctic Adventures
[edit]1936 Japan, China, Trans Siberian Railway, Moscow, Poland, Berlin.
1938 Estonia
1946 Denmark
1948 “Stroll” Carlowrie to London
1950 “Stroll Innsbruck to Venice
1952 “Stroll” Edinburgh to John ‘o Groats
In the late 50’s she only made short journeys to Europe.
She also led a National Trust for Scotland Cruise to Fair Isle and St. Kilda.
In the 60’s she stopped travelling but when she was 65 she cycled from Carlowrie to Bettyhill.
Other Activities
[edit]She wrote six books of poems, seven books on her travels and twelve articles for the National Geographic Magazine. She had an article published in Nature. She gave over 500 lectures during the course of her life several of these on the BBC. The plants she collected during her life are stored in Kew gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and the British Museum. Some of the artifacts she collected are on display in the National Museum of Scotland, Cambridge University and the Scott Polar Institute. She died on February 20th 1982 at Carlowrie and is buried in the New Cemetary, Kirkliston.(Photo of her reading in her garden)
Academic Honours
[edit]She became a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1932 and later sat on the Council as Vice President. She was the Honorary Editor of the magazine for several years
She was awarded the Mungo Park Medal in 1934. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1936 Denmark gave her the Freedom Medal in 1946. The University of St. Andrew’s conferred on her the Degree of Doctor of Laws in 1949.
Paintings
[edit]She had pictures accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy in 1937 and also showed some in London the same year.
Correspondence and Charitable Work
[edit]She was a great letter writer and corresponded jwith many of the friends she made until the end of her life. She was also very generous and gave money to many of the churches and schools she had visited when they needed help.
References
[edit]- ^ Hoyle, p. 9.
- ^ Hoyle, p. 12.
- ^ Hoyle, p. 14.
- ^ Hoyle, p. 30.
- ^ Hutchison, Isobel (1934). North to the Rimed Ringed Sun. Blackie. p. 70.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Hutchison, Isobel (1934). North to the Rimed Ringed Sun. Blackie. p. 138.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Hutchison, Isobel (1935). Arctic Night's Entertainment. Blackie. p. iii.
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Primary
- Hutchison, Isobel (1934). North to the Rimed-Ringed Sun. '. London 1934 New York 1935: Blackie.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
- Hutchison, Isobel (1935). Arctic Night's Entertainments. '. Glasgow: Blackie.
- Hutchison, Isobel (1937). Stepping.Stones from Alaska to Asia. '. London: Blackie.
Secondary
- Hoyle, Gwyneth (2001). Flowers in the Snow. '. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-2403-6. OCLC 53687410.
Articles
[edit]NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
“Walking Tour across Iceland,” April 1928
“Riddle of the Aleutians,” December 1942
“Scotland in Wartime,” June 1943
“Wales in Wartime,” June 1944
“Bonnie Scotland, Post-war Style,” May 1946
“2000 Miles through Europe’s Oldest Kingdom,” February 1949
“A Stroll to London,” August 1950
“A Stroll to Venice,” September 1951
“Shetland and Orkney, Britain’s Far North,” October 1953
“From Barra to Butt in the Hebrides,” October 1954
“A Stroll to John o’Groat’s,” July 1956
“Poets’ Voices Linger in Scottish Shrines,” October 1957
Isobel had several other articles published in many journals and newspapers.
She gave over 500 lectures during the course of her life
The plants she collected during her life are stored in Kew gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and the British Museum.
Some of the artifacts she collected are on display in the National Museum of Scotland, Cambridge University and the Scott Polar Institute.