Pullen-Burry, B. 1858-1937

Bessie Pullen-Burry (1858 – 21 September 1937) was a British novelist, geographer, explorer, suffragist, and anti-Semite. Bessie Pullen-Burry was born in 1858 in Sompting, Sussex, England, the daughter of John Pullen Burry, a market gardener. Her brother was the occultist Henry B. Pullen Burry. After publishing three novels, Pullen-Burry turned to travel writing. Her well-received travel narratives and her numerous papers delivered before learned societies brought her respect as a geographer. In 1903, she became a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. In 1912, Pullen-Burry founded the Geographical Circle of the Lyceum Club, to promote female geographers at a time when women were excluded from the Royal Geographical Society. Shortly thereafter, the RGS allowed female members and Pullen-Burry was inducted as a fellow of the RGS in 1913. Pullen-Burry was an ardent suffragist and women's suffrage is a significant theme in her travel books. Pullen-Burry was an early member of The Britons, an anti-Semitic and anti-immigration organisation. Their imprint Judaic Publishing Company published her Letters from Palestine (1922). Pullen-Burry died on 21 September 1937 in Hindhead, England.