Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870–1958) was an early 20th-century
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
who specialised in
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
and
celebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
studio portraits
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...
, often used for
postcard
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
s. She was associated with the
Women's Suffrage movement and photographed many
suffragettes including
Flora Drummond
Flora McKinnon Drummond (née Gibson) (born 4 August 1878, Manchester – died 17 January 1949, Carradale), was a British suffragette. Nicknamed 'The General' for her habit of leading Women's Rights marches wearing a military style uniform 'wit ...
,
Millicent Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897– ...
and
Christabel Pankhurst
Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst, (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed its militant actions from exil ...
. She also photographed actors including
Henry Ainley,
Camille Clifford,
Sydney Valentine
Sydney Valentine Nossiter (1865 – 23 December 1919), known professionally as Sydney Valentine, was an English actor of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He was President of the Actors' Association and was remembered for negotiating what became ...
Sydney Valentine, by Lizzie Caswall Smith, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd, 1904
at National Portrait Gallery, London, accessed 5 August 2016 Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...
, and Maude Fealy
Maude Fealy (born Maude Mary Hawk; March 4, 1883 – November 9, 1971) was an American stage and silent film actress whose career survived into the sound era.
Early life
Maude Mary Hawk was born on March 4, 1883 in Memphis, Tennessee, the daugh ...
.
Caswall Smith operated the Gainsborough Studio at 309 Oxford Street[ from 1907 until 1920 when she moved to 90 Great Russell Street where she stayed until her retirement in 1930 aged 60. She exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society in 1902 and 1913 and her sepia-toned ]platinotype
Platinum prints, also called ''platinotypes'', are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process involving platinum.
Platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are unobtainable in silver ...
copies of photographs of Peter Llewelyn Davies
Peter Llewelyn Davies MC (25 February 1897 – 5 April 1960) was the middle of five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, one of the Llewelyn Davies boys befriended and later informally adopted by J. M. Barrie. Barrie publicly identif ...
Michael Llewelyn Davies
Michael Llewelyn Davies (16 June 1900 – 19 May 1921) was – along with his four brothers – the inspiration for J. M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan, the Darling brothers, and the Lost Boys. Late in life, his only surviving brothe ...
and J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...
are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
On 19 November 2008 a rare black-and-white photograph of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...
taken in 1910 by Lizzie Caswall Smith was auctioned by Dreweatts auction house in Newbury, Berkshire, England, for £5,500. On the back of the photograph Caswall Smith had noted in pencil "Florence Nightingale taken just before she died, House nr Park Lane (London). The only photograph I ever took out of studio – I shall never forget the experience."
References
External links
Lizzie Caswall Smith photographs in the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caswall Smith, Lizzie
British suffragists
Photographers from London
1870 births
1958 deaths
English women photographers
Edwardian era
20th-century British photographers
20th-century British women photographers