Minerva Scientifica Birthday – Mary Russell
26th September 2025
Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford
Ornithologist, Radiographer & Pilot
BORN 26th September 1865, Stockbridge, Hampshire, England
c. 1935 in the cockpit of her aeroplane (Image by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images from Country Life 2018)
Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford (1865 – 1937) worked as a Radiographer in the X-ray department of the military hospital she set up in Woburn. As one of the first women to be admitted to the Linnean Society, she was a scientific pioneer. She carried out substantial research on sea-birds such as fulmars and petrels.
When she was 60, she took up flying and achieved some record-breaking long-distance flights. Nor did she let physical disability hold her back: she became increasingly deaf, but continued to embark on ambitious new projects.
MUSIC:
“Bats Moths and Biplanes” by Frances M Lynch for 5 singers, bat clicks, Bi-plane engines and natural sounds; words by Frances M Lynch, zoologist Doris Mackinnon (from “Animals World”) and from information gleaned from Wildlife Conservationist Debbie Samwell and Ecologist Mischa Cross; performed by electric voice theatre singers Jenny Miller, Margaret Cameron, David Sheppard, Julian Stocker, Gwion Thomas & the composer: produced by Herbie Clarke
1st performed online for Brixworth Music Festival in May 2020 and was inspired by Sywell Aerodrome Women’s Meeting of 1931 and by the wildlife close by at Pitsford Water Nature Reserve and Brixworth Country Park. (click on the blue button below to listen)
To find out more about Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford (please go to her page on the Minerva Scientifica Website https://minervascientifica.co.uk/mary-russell-duchess-of-bedford/
