An intrepid Victorian explorer from Boroughbridge is to be the subject of a new BBC2 series starring Ruby Wax, Mel B and Emily Atack.
Isabella Bird, who was born at Boroughbridge Hall in 1831, travelled alone across the lawless American Wild West, riding 800 miles on horseback through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
She befriended outlaws, climbed mountains, and faced grizzly bears in what was a restrictive era for women in Britain.
Using her original 1873 book A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains as inspiration for their own adventure, Ruby, Mel and Emily pay homage to this forgotten pioneer in the series Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip.
They explore the people, places and curious customs of an ever-changing America, while reflecting on the changes in western society over the last 150 years and their own experiences of womanhood.
The new series starts on BBC2 on Monday at 9pm.
Linda Dooks, secretary of the Boroughbridge and District Historical Society, said:
“Isabella Bird was born at Boroughbridge Hall to the Rev Edward Bird and his second wife Dora Lawson in 1831. The Lawsons have been owners of the hall for several generations.
“The Birds actually only stayed about six months before moving to Edinburgh, where she is buried.
“An ill child in 1850, she had a tumour removed from her spine.
“Doctors advised a sea voyage to aid her recovery her father gave her £100 ‘to leave and stay as long as the money lasted’. Her bright descriptive letters home formed the basis of An English Women in America.”
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Ms Dooks said Isabella went on to marry John Bishop in 1881, inheriting a large income after his death, which she used to extend her travels.
She added:
“First she travelled to India where she help found The John Bishop Memorial Hospital. Then on to Tibet, what was then Persia and Turkey.
“The following year she travelled to Baghdad and Tehran with a group of British soldiers.
“By now her writings were figuring in books, journals and magazines and she became a household name.
“She was the first woman to be allowed to join The Royal Geographical Society
“Her final journeys took her up the Yangtze River, in China, where there is now a memorial garden because of the missionary work she did there.
“She then went on to Morocco, where she was given a beautiful black stallion as a gift from the sultan.
“She died at her home in Edinburgh in 1901.”
Ms Dooks said Boroughbridge only became aware of Isabelle and her exploits in the 1980s when a group of Chinese tourists asked where Isabella Bird was born.
She said:
“A plaque has since been erected on the wall in Hall Square at Boroughbridge and her exploits recorded in the book A history of Boroughbridge, published by the Boroughbridge Historical Society.”