Tour to Penzance via South Wales [Katherine Plymley, Part 7]

  • Women's Voices and Life Writing
You may need to log in to continue. Access the full document and its details.
Title
Tour to Penzance via South Wales [Katherine Plymley, Part 7]
Author
  • Plymley, Katherine
Document Type
  • Travel Journal
Date
6-15 Jun 1803
Biography
Katherine Plymley was a painter, naturalist and diarist, well known for minutely detailing her family’s involvement in the Abolitionist movement. Born in 1758 in Longnor, Shropshire, she was the eldest child of Joseph Plymley and Diana Flint, a member of the Shropshire gentry family, Corbett. Katherine and her sister Ann were educated at home and helped with Joseph’s apothecary business. The family’s social circle included the Darwins and the Wedgwoods. Katherine gained an interest in natural science and entomology, particularly in butterflies and moths; she reared, studied and made watercolour paintings of over 400 varieties of insects, documenting the life cycle of as many species as possible. Her written archive comprises 210 notebooks of study books, journals, and memoirs. Katherine never married, though she did help care for and educate her brother Joseph’s (who became archdeacon of Shropshire) 13 children. Katherine died in September 1829.
Copyright and Source Archive
Material sourced from Shropshire Archives