Linda Lear, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, date?
BP's governess and tutor Annie Carter married Edwin Moore and came to live in 20 Baskerville Rd. BP was a frequent visitor to the house. Her early "picture letters" sent to Annie and Edwin's children feature prototypes of her animal characters e.g. Peter Rabbit and The Tailor of Gloucester.
In all 3 censuses 1891-1911 Annie and Edwin (and their growing family) are living at 20 Baskerville Rd. I don't know whether the house numbers have stayed the same, but probably - check.
Notice the Moores named their 5th child "Beatrix".
Judy Taylor's Letters to Children from Beatrix Potter appears by far the richest source of info on BP, Annie Moore and her children, and Wandsworth Common. A vivid picture of a family's life in late Victorian/ Edwardian South London with quite a number of photographs.
Beatrix Potter The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Warne 1993 Commemorative boxed set to mark the centenary of the writing of the original letter in 1883 limited to 750 copies. Bound facsimile editions of the book and copy of the original picture letter in cloth case
Beatrix Potter wrote illustrated letters to the children of her former governess, Annie Moore, who lived on Baskerville Road in Wandsworth, southwest London. Noel, 5, who had been ill with scarlet fever, received the first incarnation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Moore's former six-bedroom home is now being sold for £4.25m (knightfrank.co.uk), but there's no veg patch in the garden.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/celebrity-property-news-alan-bennett-and-beatrix-potter-tqctqk9zx
LOTS of fine illustrations.
On the rare occasions when her mother was not using the carriage for calling, Beatrix went visiting herself, crossing the river to Baskerville Road in Wandsworth where her old friend, Annie Moore, had moved from Bayswater. Annie's husband, Edwin, was often away working on civil engineering projects abroad, sometimes for more than six months at a time, and Annie was bringing up their young family virtually on her own. There were now four children under four - Noel, so called because he had been born on Christmas Eve, Eric, Marjorie and Winifrede (Freda) who was born in January 1891. Beatrix loved the babies, and often brought her pet mice and rabbits in a basket for them to play with. The warm and friendly atmosphere in Baskerville Road was a welcome contrast to the formality of Bolton Gardens.
Beatrix kept up her regular visits to the Moores in Wandsworth where there were now five children, Norah (Bardie) joining her two brothers and two sisters.
1904 had been another busy year for Beatrix. Among other things, she was now a godmother. In November 1903 Annie Moore had given birth to her eighth child, and when she christened the girl Beatrix her namesake agreed at once to be a godmother. She gave the new baby a silver sugar bowl engraved 'BM 3rd Nov 1903', which is still treasured by Beatrix Moore today.
Annie Moore's eighth child was born in November 1903 and christened Beatrix after her godmother.
Beatrix Potter and William Heelis were married in London on 15 October 1913, in the Parish Church of St Mary Abbot's in Kensington. The marriage was witnessed by Beatrix's parents and by her old friend, Gertrude Woodward. Beatrix Moore recalls that the newly-weds came to see them in Wandsworth before they remember seeing her ... There was much laughter because she was "meeting a bull at the station". I presume it was something to do with the farm. After she went to live in the Lake District, she sent us a huge turkey every Christmas; I can see it now hanging from a nail in the cellar. Mother and Father used to have to pluck and draw it.'
Three years before his bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum, Leslie Linder had also deposited nearly 300 Potter paintings and drawings, and a collection of first editions of her books, at the National Book League. He had helped to prepare the large Potter Centenary Exhibition held in its headquarters, then in central London. The Linder Collection was carefully chosen to represent the wide range of the artist's work and was intended for exhibition to the general public. Items from it were on regular display at the National Book League (now renamed Book Trust), which moved to Wandsworth, not far from the house where Beatrix visited Annie Moore and her children. At the end of 1989 all the material from Wandsworth, while remaining in the possession of the Trustees of the Linder Collection, was merged with that in the Linder Bequest in the National Art Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is at Blythe House in Olympia.
Beatrix Potter was born into an upper-class household on July 28, 1866. The family lived at 2 Bolton Gardens in Kensington, west London. Beatrix had few friends, except for the rabbits and mice she kept as pets. She loved to sketch them. In her late 20s, she wrote illustrated letters to the children of her former governess, Annie Moore. Five-year-old Noel, who had been ill with scarlet fever, received the first incarnation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Moore suggested Beatrix turn the story into a book. Six publishers rejected the manuscript, so Beatrix published it herself. It was such a success that she asked the publisher who had sent the politest rejection letter, Frederick Warne & Co, to reconsider. They agreed. The official Tale of Peter Rabbit came out in 1902. By Christmas, it had sold 20,000 copies.
[It would be good to find and feature some of these images, particularly if the address is shown.]
Rather weak - the school should make something more of it:
"The School
Since its creation in 1927 Beatrix Potter School has continued to provide high standards of education in the community. The schools' name was derived from the author's visits to her German tutor who lived by our local common and to whom she wrote, using her characters to illustrate her letters. Beatrix Potter also drew inspiration from the varied wildlife she saw on her visits to Wandsworth Common."