Lizzie Caswall Smith, famous photographer

Lizzie was born as Eliza Catherine Smith on 12 June 1870 in Marylebone, probably at 14 Charles Street which was re-named and numbered in 1880 as 22 Mortimer Street. Several Internet sites wrongly claim she was born in Dalston Hackney, or 93 Abbey Road Mansions St John’s Wood. 

Her father was W.A. (William Augustine) Smith (1827 to 1909). He was an important picture frame maker for leading artists such as George Frederic Watts and John Singer Sargent. On 13 July 1847 William married Hester Heath at St Andrew, Holborn. They had three daughters and five sons between 1849 and 1870. Eliza (Lizzie) was the youngest child. 

The Smith family moved several times:
1871 census, 14 Charles Street (later renamed as Mortimer Street).
1881 census, 10 Grove Terrace, Kentish Town.
1901 census, 7 Regent’s Park Terrace, St Pancras. Eliza is shown as a harpist in this census.
Her father William Augustus Smith died on 28 Nov 1909 at 5 Fleet Road, Hampstead.
 

William Augustine Smith 1895, by John Caswall Smith

Lizzie with harp, by her brother John Caswall Smith (Ancestry, John Smith, Scunthorpe)

Lizzie learned photographic techniques from her elder brother John. He was born as John Caswell Smith in 1867, but we have not found where the middle Caswall name came from. In the 1891 census he was living at 20 Mortimer Street with Henry Herschel Hay Cameron, the youngest son of the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. John worked with Hay Cameron as photographers at 70 Mortimer Street until 29 September 1894 when their partnership was dissolved. Following this, John opened the Gainsborough Studio at No.305 Oxford Street. He exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society and took portraits of several prominent artists.

H.H. Emmerson, 1895

Lady Edna Waugh Clarke Hall

Tragically, John aged only 34, died on 5 Feb 1902 after a long illness at 5 Beaumont Street, a surgical home. Lizzie took over the business at No.305 and began using the professional name Lizzie Caswall Smith to continue the link with her brother. There may have been some redevelopment of the properties, as she had moved to No.309 Oxford Street by 1904. She kept the name John or J. Caswall Smith for the Gainsborough studio until 1921. Today, this has caused confusion over which photos from No.305 Oxford Street were taken by her or brother John. All the photos from No.309 are by Lizzie.

In 1922 using the name Miss Caswall Smith, she moved her studio to 90 Great Russell Street, next to the British Museum. She worked here until she retired aged 60, in 1930.

Lizzie supported the Women’s Suffragette Movement and photographed many of its leaders, including Millicent Fawcett, Christabel Pankhurst, and Flora Drummond. These portraits were widely distributed as postcards to aid the cause.

Dame Millicent Fawcett (NPG)

She specialized in photographing notable Edwardian stage performers and other celebrities.

Ellen Terry (NPG)

 

George Bernard Shaw (NPG)

 

H.G. Wells, 1924 

Lizzie’s most famous photograph is a rare portrait of Florence Nightingale taken in bed at her home in 10 South Street, just off Park Lane Mayfair, shortly before Nightingale’s death on 13 August 1910. Lizzie wrote in pencil on the back, ‘Taken just before she died… the only photograph I ever took out of studio… I shall never forget the experience’. As the last known photograph of Florence, it was auctioned on 19 November 2008 for £5,500 at Dreweatts Auctioneers in their Donnington Priory saleroom, near Newbury.

Florence Nightingale in her bedroom

Lizzie lived with her parents until 1911 when she moved to 13 Rutland Park Mansions, Willesden. The census shows Eliza Catherine Smith, single, 40, photographer employer, born London. Plus, Jessie Halsey, single, 45, housekeeper, born Cambridge Street W. London.

In the Willesden Chronicle from 29 January to 5 June 1915, Miss Caswell (sic) Smith is named as one of the contributors to the fund to support the Belgian refugees who came to Willesden during WWI. 

As Miss Caswall Smith she lived in 13 Rutland Park Mansions until 1927. The following year she moved to 93 Abbey Road Mansions. This was large block of flats built between 1915-1917, next to today’s Abbey Road Recording Studios. They were designed for women only residents under the Lady Workers’ Homes scheme. Lizzie had one of larger flats in the Garden Road Block, and from 1946 to 1950 she was sharing with Agnes M. Baker.

 

Lizzie with cape by John Caswall Smith (Ancestry, John Smith, Scunthorpe) 

She moved in 1950 to 17 Esmond Gardens, another block of flats in South Parade Acton. Lizzie died here on 11 February 1958 and was buried in the RC common grave on 17 February in Acton Cemetery aged 87. Her probate says: Eliza Catherine Smith, otherwise Lizzie Caswall Smith. £5,725.

She is recognised as a major artist, and 264 photos by John and Lizzie are in the National Portrait Gallery. 

For more photos by Lizzie see the Sisters of the Lens site of women photographers. This was set up in 2018 by Terence Pepper and George Mind.