Beatrix Potter's real pets: the rabbits, mice and rat behind the tales

Who was Beatrix Potter?

Beatrix Potter was one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators, as the V&A puts it. The National Trust says she was born Helen Beatrix Potter on 28 July 1866 in London, and the Beatrix Potter Society gives the address as 2 Bolton Gardens, South Kensington. She went on to write and draw The Tale of Peter Rabbit and many more little books, then became a Lake District farmer.

Animals ran through her whole life. The V&A says that from early childhood she spent time drawing the many pets she kept in her schoolroom, which included "lizards, snails, bats, mice, rabbits and many other animals". The National Trust adds that she brought back a menagerie of mice, rabbits, newts, caterpillars and birds from family holidays, and that the family had a spaniel called Spot.

Who was Benjamin Bouncer?

Benjamin Bouncer was her first famous rabbit and a very cheeky one. In her journal, as quoted by the Linda Lear Center at Connecticut College, she called him "that charming rascal Benjamin Bouncer our tame jack hare". He was a working model too: the same source says he sat for six designs she showed to publishers.

That was the start of her career. The National Trust says her rabbit pictures were sold as Christmas card designs in 1890, and the V&A holds one of them, a design of a lady rabbit and a gentleman rabbit passing in the street, dated June 1890. Mental Floss reports that she once described him as "the original Benjamin Bunny", and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny was published in 1904, the Linda Lear Center records.

Who was Peter Piper?

Peter Piper was the rabbit who became Peter Rabbit. The Linda Lear Center says Potter bought him in 1892 and that he soon "supplanted Benjamin Bouncer as a model". The V&A says simply: "Peter Piper was the model for Peter Rabbit." It holds a watercolour of him lying on his side, probably painted at Lingholm in August 1899.

He seems to have had a long and well-loved life. The V&A notes that a copy of the private edition carried an inscription to "poor old Peter Rabbit, who died on the 26th of January 1901 at the end of his 9th year". The V&A does not say outright that this was Peter Piper, but the dates fit a rabbit bought in 1892.

How did Peter Rabbit become a book?

Through a letter to a little boy. The V&A says Potter first told the tale on 4 September 1893 in an illustrated letter to Noel Moore, the son of her former governess. The Beatrix Potter Society says she sent it from Eastwood, Dunkeld, to five-year-old Noel, telling him a story about her pet rabbit, Peter.

1. The letter. On 4 September 1893 Potter sent Noel Moore an illustrated story about her rabbit Peter.
2. The private edition. On 16 December 1901 the firm of Strangeways and Sons produced 250 copies for her, the V&A says, followed by 200 more in February 1902.
3. The publisher. Frederick Warne and Co. began publishing the book in October 1902, with a first edition of 8,000 copies, according to the V&A.
4. The success. The National Trust says those first 8,000 copies sold out instantly, and the V&A records 12,000 more in November and 8,220 in December.

Beatrix Potter's pets at a glance

Did Beatrix Potter keep mice?

Yes, lots of them, and she drew them constantly. The V&A holds a sheet covered with "many pencil studies of mice", alongside a study of a rabbit, from her early years.

One mouse even shares her name with a famous character. The Beatrix Potter Society reports that the National Trust has acquired a letter from Potter to a young American boy, with "a description and illustration of her pet mouse Hunca Munca resting on her finger". The same letter features "the escapades of her beloved pets Mrs Tiggy and Hunca Munca", who went on to inspire her tales. Hunca Munca is one of the mice in The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), and the National Trust lists The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle among the six books Warne had published by 1905.

Did Beatrix Potter have a pet rat?

She did, and she clearly adored him. The V&A holds drawings she labelled on the back as "studies of a tame rat 'Sammy' from life", and says her pet rat Sammy inspired The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, or The Roly-Poly Pudding. The book's frontispiece is dedicated to Sammy, "the intelligent pink-eyed representative of a persecuted (but irrepressible) race".

Wild rats played a part too. After she bought Hill Top, the V&A says, rats lived in the panelling of the old farmhouse, and she wrote to her friend Millie Warne: "It really is delightful if the rats could be stopped out." Those farmhouse rats and her own Sammy came together in the story.

What happened when she moved to the Lake District?

She became a farmer. The Beatrix Potter Society says she bought Hill Top, a working farm in the village of Near Sawrey in the Lake District, in 1905, and the National Trust says she paid for it with the profits from her books. The National Trust adds that she went on to breed Herdwick sheep, whose flock became some of the finest in the country.

She left more than 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust, which still cares for Hill Top today. The Beatrix Potter Society notes that a display at Hill Top, Two Bad Mice: Pets to Page, explores how her pets became her stories, and runs until November 2026. We are based in the Lake District ourselves, so it is lovely to see her small animals still celebrated here.

What does Beatrix Potter's story tell us about pet rabbits today?

That rabbits have charmed people for a very long time, and that watching them closely is the best way to understand them. Potter drew her rabbits over and over from life, and her pictures still feel true because she knew how they moved and sat.

We know much more now about what rabbits need than people did in her day. The RSPCA says:

• Rabbits are highly social and should live in pairs; a neutered male and neutered female is a good match.
• A hutch alone is not enough: they need at least 3 m x 2 m x 1 m (about 10 x 6.5 x 3.3 ft) to move, play and hide.
• Hay is essential, because their teeth grow all the time and chewing hay wears them down.
• They typically live 8 to 12 years, so they are a long commitment.
• They are most active at dawn and dusk, and a happy rabbit may "binky", leaping and twisting in mid-air.

Our rabbit care guide covers all of this in detail, and our guides to rabbit behaviour and body language and bonding two rabbits will help you understand your own Peter or Benjamin. If you are still deciding, read whether rabbits make good pets, or enjoy more rabbit facts. Fans of her mice and rats can head to our fancy mouse guide and our page on fancy rats.