Summary: When she was a young girl Beatrix Potter kept a private journal that was written in code. She began keeping her journal when she was 14 years old and then continued for another 15 years! We only know about this journal because when she was elderly and ill in bed she wrote a letter to her cousin where she told her that in her youth she had a wanted to write but had nothing to write about.  So, instead Beatrix used to write long winded descriptions, copy out hymns and make a record of conversations. She confided to her cousin that it was written in a ‘cypher shorthand’. And, as it turned out it was more than just descriptions and the re-writing of other material because when the journal was finally discovered and transcribed it was found it included her innermost thoughts about art and literature, science and nature, politics and society, and her own hopes and frustrations. 

When the diary was discovered it became the task of ‘super fan’ Leslie Linder to decipher her tiny writing. It was a tough and after spending five years working on this huge project and getting nowhere trying to work out the code he finally manged to ‘crack’ it. Then by working out the shapes of her words using the alphabet it took Linder another four years to complete the task.  He was very careful to get Beatrix Potter’s thoughts and observations exactly right. If she wrote about a plant she had seen, he checked with a local botanist. When she described a journey to a particular place, he traced the route on a map. So, you can see he was very meticulous to ensure his transcriptions of her journal entries were accurate.  In total, it ended up taking Linder 13 years to decode all of Potter’s journals!

Beatrix Potter Coded Journal Challenge:  Can you create and leave a coded message for someone in the future? 

How do I do this: Can you make up a code using either numbers, letters or symbols. Use this sheet here   Write out your message either into a journal, diary, onto a postcard or even as part of a letter which can be placed into an envelope.  Who would your message be for?  Keep with your family history research and information.

 
Additional Resources:

https://gorse-hall.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Beatrix-Potters-last-visit-resized.png

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/645932/famous-people-secret-diaries

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beatrix-potter-secret-journal-code-leslie-linder

Example of a page of the Potter diary: https://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2013/12/00020-Beatrix-Potter-Diary.png

YouTube about coding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGaGxTGENw0

Shorthand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand