natural history painter and illustrator, was born in North Finchley, London. The daughter of a wealthy naturalist and big game hunter, she showed from an early age a love for animals and a talent for sketching birds and animals in their natural habitat. While studying to be a nurse she met the surgeon and ornithologist Charles Stonham, and between 1906 and 1911 completed 318 monochrome plates to illustrate his five-volume The Birds of the British Islands . In 1911 she was invited to illustrate a revised edition of William Yarrell’s A History of British Birds . This new edition was never completed, but in 1972 the 248 paintings she did for it were discovered in London in perfect condition. Unfortunately, the collection was broken up and sold at auction.
In 1913, while working at the British Museum, Medland met the conchologist and ornithologist, Tom Iredale, then working as secretary to the ornithologist and collector Gregory Mathews and substantially contributing to his twelve-volume Birds of Australia (1910-27). In 1921 Mathews and Iredale published the first and only volume of the Manual of the Birds of Australia; it was illustrated by Medland. After Iredale’s divorce in 1923, he and Medland were married. They migrated to Australia and settled in Sydney.
- Writers:
- Collins, Corinne
- Date written:
- 1995
- Last updated:
- 2011
