{{Short description|British aristocrat, horticulturalist and botanical artist}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}
[[File:Lady Beatrix Stanley and Barbara stanley Country Life (cropped).png|thumb|Stanley and her daughter Barbara posing for the cover of Country Life (Magazine)<ref name=":3" />]] thumb|The Lady Beatrix Stanley Iris '''Lady Beatrix Stanley''', CI CBE ({{née|'''Taylour'''}}; 6 January 1877 – 3 May 1944) was an English aristocrat, horticulturalist, and botanical artist who drew plants native to India. She had multiple flower strains named after her, most notably an iris and snowdrop. She was also a writer and was editor of a Royal Horticultural Society publication, ''The New Flora and Fauna'' in the 1930s.
== Life == Stanley was born on 6 January 1877 in Westminster, Greater London, to peer Thomas Taylour, the 3rd Marquess of Headfort, and his wife Emila Costantia Taylour, daughter of Rev. Lord John Thynne and granddaughter of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=4 May 1944 |title=Obituary: Lady Beatrix Stanley; Gardening at Home and in India |url=https://login.thetimes.com/?gotoUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.com%2Farchive%2Farticle%2F1944-05-04%2F7%2F10.html |work=The Times}}</ref> Her brother Geoffrey Taylour, 4th Marquess of Headfort, succeeded their father as Marquess in 1894.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hesilrige |first=Arthur G. M. |url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeeraget00unse/page/461 |title=Debrett's peerage, and titles of courtesy, in which is included full information respecting the collateral branches of Peers, Privy Councillors, Lords of Session, etc |date=1921 |publisher=London, Dean |others=Wellesley College Library |pages=461}}</ref>
On 26 November 1903,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Roger Dod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bNww8QUCGUkC&q=Beatrix+Stanley |title=Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland, Including All the Titled Classes |last2=Dod |first2=Robert Phipps |date=1916 |pages=377 |language=en}}</ref> at the age of 26, she married soldier and politician George Stanley, and they had a daughter, Barbara Helen Stanley (1906-1986), three years later.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lady Beatrix Taylour (1877-1944) » Genealogy Richard Remmé, The Hague, Netherlands » Genealogy Online|url=https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/genealogie-richard-remme/I189114.php|last=Remmé|first=Richard|website=Genealogy Online|language=en|access-date=2020-05-04}}</ref> Stanley and an infant Barbara starred on the cover of ''Country Life'' magazine in July 1907.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1giAQAAMAAJ&q=lady+beatrix+stanley&pg=PA110 |title=Country Life |date=1907 |volume=22 |pages=110 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Lady Beatrix Stanley |url=http://gardenersapprentice.com/gardeningtips/lady-beatrix-stanley/ |access-date=2020-05-04 |website=Gardeners Apprentice |date=28 January 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref>
On 26 October 1929, Stanley's husband was appointed governor of Madras in the British Raj.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Herbert |first=Eugenia W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Evt1Zg9-nrMC&dq=Beatrix+Stanley&pg=PT269 |title=Flora's Empire: British Gardens in India |date=2013-01-15 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-81-8475-871-9 |language=en}}</ref> Stanley's body of watercolour work was created during her residency in India, in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, where she developed the gardens around their official residence.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018-02-03 |title=More information about George's aristocratic Iris. |url=https://thecaley.org.uk/more-information-about-georges-aristocratic-iris/ |access-date=2020-05-04 |website=RCHS |language=en-GB}}</ref> She studied the plants and gardening practises in the local climate with local fauna, as well as British plants which had been imported.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Desmond|first=Ray|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0FZDwAAQBAJ&q=lady+beatrix+stanley+botanist&pg=PA2821|title=Dictionary Of British And Irish Botantists And Horticulturalists Including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers|date=2002-09-11|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4665-7387-1|language=en}}</ref> The family returned to the UK in 1934.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Benjamin B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWy5DwAAQBAJ&dq=Beatrix+Stanley&pg=PT229 |title=In the club: Associational life in colonial South Asia |date=2015-05-01 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-9810-9 |language=en}}</ref>
Stanley also wrote about horticulture, including the article “Gardening in India,” published in the 23 May 1931 edition of ''The Gardener’s Chronicle''.<ref name=":1" /> She also became editor of an RHS publication, ''The New Flora and Fauna'', 1938 through 1940.<ref name=":1" /> She sat on the RHS ''Narcissus'' and ''Tulip'' Committee.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Lady Beatrix Stanley |url=https://www.rareplants.co.uk/glossary/lady-beatrix-stanley/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=RarePlants}}</ref>
Stanley was appointed to the Order of the Crown of India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLean |first=Brenda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YfAfAQAAIAAJ&q=Beatrix+Stanley |title=George Forrest, Plant Hunter |date=2004 |publisher=Antique Collectors' Club |isbn=978-1-85149-461-3 |pages=183 |language=en}}</ref> She was made CBE in the New Years Honours of 1920, for services to horticulture.<ref name=":5" />
In 1938, Stanley's husband died. Stanley herself died six years later on 3 May 1944 at their family home of Sibbertoft Manor, Market Harborough, after a long illness. She was aged 67.<ref name=":2" />
== Legacy == Stanley had multiple flower strains named after her, most notably an iris and snowdrop,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=RHS and Moorcroft collaborate on beautiful new line of art pottery |url=https://www.brands-magazine.com/2019/01/08/rhs-and-moorcroft-collaborate-on-beautiful-new-line-of-art-pottery/?lang=en |access-date=2020-05-03 |website=Brands Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> such as ''Galanthus'' ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’, a double snowdrop, which was named after her in 1981.<ref name=":0" />
Stanley's daughter Barbara married Major Sir Charles James Buchanan. Through their descendants the bulbs that Stanley was so passionate about continue to be grown at the historic Hodsock Priory. The property and Stanley's watercolours are owned by Stanley's great-grandson, Andrew Buchanan.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cox|first=Freda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELyKDwAAQBAJ&q=hodsock+manor+snowdrops+beatrix&pg=PT154|title=Gardener's Guide to Snowdrops: Second Edition|date=2019-03-12|publisher=The Crowood Press|isbn=978-1-78500-450-6|language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Beatrix}} Category:1877 births Category:1944 deaths Category:British horticulturists Category:British botanists Category:British painters Category:Daughters of British marquesses Category:Women horticulturists and gardeners Category:British women botanists Category:Place of birth missing Category:Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{Authority control}}