Isabella Bishop

Madoka Nagado (The University of the Ryukyus)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica E. Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Dates

Born 15 Oct 1831
Died 7 Oct 1904
Activity 1851-1904

Places

Born in England
Active in England; United States

Activities

Primary

Travel writer

Resources

Isabella Lucy Bird is one of the enduring names of nineteenth-century travel writing. Her journeys, often undertaken alone, took her across Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Japan, Malaya, Tibet, Persia, Korea, China, and the Sinai Peninsula. A pioneer among female explorers, she published nine major travel books, which were widely read in her own time and remain in print today.

Bird was born on 15 October 1831 at Boroughbridge Hall in North Yorkshire into a religious and comfortably situated family. Her father, the Reverend Edward Bird, was the son of Robert Bird and his second cousin, Lucy Wilberforce Bird. Her mother, Dora Bird (née Lawson), who taught Sunday School, was Edward’s second wife. The family had notable connections: among their relatives were William Wilberforce, the Yorkshire MP and instrumental abolitionist; the Evangelical novelist Charles Kingsley; an...

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3317 words

Citation: Nagado, Madoka. "Isabella Bishop". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 November 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=419, accessed 09 June 2026.]