Elizabeth and Mary Kirby

Mary is thought to be one of the first British woman to publish a scientific study of the flora of her county in the nineteenth century.

[2] Mary in particular had knowledge of languages and she had made use of the lectures at the local mechanics institute, at which a family friend was president.

[4] Mary developed an interest in the subject of botany early on by spending time away from home at Ramsgate collecting specimens.

[6] In 1848 Mary had the first draft of the Flora of Leicestershire published which she had created with significant assistance from Andrew Bloxam[7] and her sister who added supporting non-botanical information.

[1] This enabled the main edition published in 1850 to list 939 different species for which the book was complimented by the leading naturalist Sir William Hooker.

[3] Mary noted that financial independence derived from their work was "...the sweetest and best of any..."[2] The sisters were afforded opportunity at the start of their career that many aspiring women in the field were not.

[11] Books like those by the Kirby sisters served as aids for mothers teaching their children introductory botany in the home.

[4] They also wrote articles for magazines, school books, fiction as well as the natural science guides that were complete with illustrations.

Visual imagery proved to be an effective method of making science more accessible and popular and its use in scientific materials was largely implemented by women writers like the Kirby sisters.

"[3] Their inheritance and their earnings enabled them to buy "the living" of Brooksby church for the Reverend Henry Gregg who Mary had married in 1860.