Emily Williamson: Winning statue design of RSPB founder revealed

The design shows Emily Williamson watching a bird take flight

The winning design for a statue of RSPB founder Emily Williamson has been revealed.

The campaigner set up the organisation - now the UK's largest nature conservation charity - in 1889.

A spokeswoman for the statue project said it hoped it would highlight her legacy, even though "history books had not acknowledged her role".

The artwork, which depicts her watching a bird take flight, will be unveiled at her former Manchester home in 2023.

Emily Williamson started the Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889

Born in 1855, the nature lover set up the Society for the Protection of Birds after being appalled by the slaughter of birds for fashion in the 19th Century.

Now known as the RSPB, the charity said her all-women movement was "born out of frustration that the male-only British Ornithologists Union was not acting on the issue".

In 1921, a law was introduced that banned the importation of exotic feathers and led to many species avoiding extinction.

A spokeswoman for the Emily Williamson Statue Campaign said plans for her statue began in 2019 "with the shock that the history books had not acknowledged her role in founding the RSPB and then the realisation that her powerful legacy could inspire action and activism today".

The statue is due to be unveiled in Fletcher Moss Park in 2023

About 12,000 people voted after four shortlisted designs were shown at RSPB reserves, before the winner was announced at Manchester Art Gallery.

The sculpture, designed by Eve Shepherd, also shows Mrs Williamson holding a copy of the 1921 act. She died in 1936.

The statue will be unveiled near her former home in Didsbury's Fletcher Moss Park on the anniversary of her birth on 17 April 2023.

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