TIZZIE

My great-great-aunt, Theresa Philo Bazalgette (11 August 1850-25 April 1922), who was known in the family as “Tizzie”, was the eldest daughter of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the civil engineer, and his wife Maria (née Kough).  The studio photograph above was taken in 1873, so she was 23 at the time.  I think she was hauntingly beautiful and and at the risk of being branded a male chauvinist I will remark that I always wondered why she never married, because she surely cannot have had a shortage of suitors.   It is a face full of character and wisdom, and she had a quirky humour and love of fun as the photograph below shows.  Her brother Charles Norman Bazalgette Q.C., (my great-grandfather) was called to the bar on 30 January 1874, and Tizzie must have accompanied him to the photographic studios of Elliott & Fry at 55, Baker Street, where a photograph was taken of him in his wig and robes.  They then had this charming picture taken of them wearing the other’s coat and headgear.