Evelyn Vida Baxter LLD

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FLS FZS MBE (29 March 1879 - 1 October 1959) was a Scottish

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

, and the first woman to receive

Union Medal of the British Ornithological Union The Union Medal is a medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, given "in recognition of eminent services to ornithology and to the Union and ornithology." From 2019 it is to be known as the "Janet Kear Union Medal", after Janet Kear, with a new ...

Life

Baxter was born on 29 March 1879 to John Henry Baxter and his wife at Gilston, Fife. She took an interest in natural history and especially in

bird migration Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

, and after being encouraged by Eagle Clarke in 1905, she and her life-long friend

Leonora Jeffrey Rintoul Leonora Jeffrey Rintoul FRSE (1878-1953) was a Scottish ornithologist and rare female member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In authorship she is known as L. J. Rintoul and is closely associated with her "constant partner" and co-author E. V. ...

(1878-1953) took up bird studies at the

Isle of May An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

. They studied the movements of birds for 20 years leading to several publications, including ''The Birds of Scotland'' in 1953. Baxter's obituary notes that in Rintoul, Baxter found "a kindred spirit and inseparable companion". With Rintoul, H F D Elder, and George Waterston, Baxter was one of the co-founders the

Scottish Ornithologists' Club The Scottish Ornithologists' Club (SOC) is a Scottish ornithological body, founded in March 1936 at the premises of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. As of 2008, the SOC has 2,200 members. The Club runs the Scottish Birds Records Committe ...

on 24 March 1936. The pair served jointly as President and then Honorary Presidents. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she volunteered with the

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the ...

while also teaching at Sunday school where she was known as "Miss Evie". For her wartime work she was awarded an MBE in 1945. Along with Rintoul, Baxter became, in 1951, the only non-graduates out of eight women Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She became the first woman Vice President of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (ornithology) around the world in order to understand their biology and aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry Baker ...

and received their Union Medal in 1959, the first woman to do so. In 1955 the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

awarded her the honorary of

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(LLD). She died at ''The Grove'', Kikton of Largo,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

Publications

All these works were co-written with

*''Report on Scottish ornithology in 1911, including migration'' (1912) *''The Birds of the Isle of May'' (1918) *''Some Breeding Scottish Duck'' (1922) *''The Geographical Distribution and Status of Birds in Scotland'' (1928) *''A vertebrate fauna of Forth'' (1935) *''Birds of Scotland'' (1953)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, EV Scottish ornithologists British women ornithologists 1879 births 1959 deaths Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Scottish women scientists Scottish science writers 20th-century Scottish women writers Scottish naturalists People from Fife