Margaret Roscoe Biography

Margaret Roscoe (nee Lace 1786-1840) was an early 19th-century English botanical illustrator and author. She was mother to Margaret Sandbach and wife to Edward Roscoe.

Roscoe illustrated plates in her father-in-law, William Roscoe's, botanical work 'Monandrian Plants of the Order Scitamineae: Chiefly Drawn from Living Specimens in the Botanical Gardens at Liverpool'. Her sister Mrs James Dixon also illustrated this botanical work.

She went on to write and illustrate 'Floral Illustrations of the Seasons'. This work was engraved by master aquatintist Robert Havell and has 55 pages filled with illustrations, both hand coloured and printed.

She went on to talk about the premise behind the book:-

“There is no pursuit which fills the mind with more noble and exalted sentiments than the study of these works of Nature. To her own sex, to whose particular notice she offers it, she trusts it may prove a useful and correct guide to their tastes, both in their selection for a flower garden, and as objects for their pencil.”

Roscoe died in 1840. A memorial sculpture commemorating Roscoe and her husband was undertaken by sculptor John Gibson. This monument can be seen at the Ullet Road Unitarian Church in Liverpool.