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 ...
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
. Her work '' Feathered World'' would lead her to be the first women editor, owner and/or publisher outside of the traditional 'Woman's' magazine sphere.
Life
Ethel Harriet Garrett was born on the 28 January 1861, in
Dum Dum
Dum Dum is a city and a municipality in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Author ...
, India. The eldest child of Newson Dunnell Garrett, an Anglo-Indian officer in the
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
, and Elizabeth Kate Louisa Jane. She was niece of both the suffragette
Millicent Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English political activist and writer. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897–1919 led Brita ...
and the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon,
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (9 June 1836 – 17 December 1917) was an English physician and suffragist. She is known for being the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon and as a co-founder and dean of the London School o ...
, as well a cousin
Philippa Fawcett
Philippa Garrett Fawcett (4 April 1868 – 10 June 1948) was an English mathematician and educator. She was the first woman to obtain the top score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams. She taught at Newnham College, Cambridge, and at the n ...
, the first woman
Senior Wrangler
The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain".
Specifically, it is the person who achiev ...
Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the City of London#Boundary, western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City,Society for the Employment of Women and
Women's Printing Society
The Women's Printing Society was a British publishing house founded in either 1874 or 1876 by Emma Paterson and Emily Faithfull with the company being officially incorporated as a cooperative in 1878.
Involvement in the suffragist movement
Th ...
, trained young women for careers in the new commercial world, as well as operating as a typewriting office for individual business.
She married Alexander Comyns in 1887, taking the name Ethel Harriet Comyns, and together they had three children. Alexander would go on to found the ornithological publication the '' Feathered World'' but would die only eighteen months later. After his death she took over as editor of the paper raising its circulation to 12,000 - 20,000 weekly by 1892. She would go on to found more publications, which were chiefly popular publications on birds. At the time of her takeover she was the only woman editor, owner and publisher outside of the traditional 'Woman's' magazine space.
She would remarry in 1896 to publisher and editor S. H. Lewer, taking the surname Comyns-Lewer, as did her three children. During the first world war her son, Alexander David, would be killed during Battle of Messines in November 1914. Her two daughters Ethel Rachel and Olive Alexander, would eventually work as editors with her on ''Feathered World'', along with
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
broadcaster A. P. Thompson.
She retired from ''Feathered World'' in 1935 and travelled extensively with her husband during their retirement. She died on 8 February 1946.
Works
On top of her work on ''Feathered World'', Comyns-Lewer co-wrote several books with her husband on the topic of poultry. She also, with the geneticist Reginald C. Punnett, undertook genetic studies of poultry and collaborated with him on a bibliography that was published by ''Feathered World'' as part of Punnett's ''Notes on Old Poultry Books''.