Photo by Lizzie Caswall Smith

Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870–1958) was an early 20th-century British photographer who specialised in society and celebrity studio portraits. She was associated with the Women's Suffrage movement and photographed many suffragettes. She also photographed prominent British actors including Henry Ainley, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Basil Gill, Billie Burke, and Gertrude Elliott, which were often used for postcards. We chose 15 of these postcards for this post.


British postcard by Rapid Photo Co., London, no. 2961. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith, 1911. John Martin Harvey as Pelleas in Maurice Maeterlinck's stage play 'Pelleas and Melisande' (1893, Pelléas et Mélisande).


British postcard in the Real Photographic Series by Davidson Brothers, London, no. 2216. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Caption: Mr. Forbes Robertson as 'Shylock'. Sent by mail in 1908.


British postcard by Beagles & Co, London, no. 400A. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Basil Gill as Ferdinand in 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare.


British postcard by Rotary Photo, no. 1113 M. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Henry Ainley.


British postcard in the Philco Series, no. 3044 A. Photos: Bassano (left) and Lizzie Caswall Smith (right). Left: Lily Brayton. Right: Oscar Asche as Bolingbroke in 'Richard II' by William Shakespeare.

The last photo of Florence Nightingale

Lizzie Caswall Smith was born in 1870. She first exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society in 1902 and then again in 1913.

She had a photographer brother, John Caswall Smith. Lizzie probably learned photography from him. When he died in 1902, she inherited his photo studio at 305 Oxford Street. She operated the Gainsborough Studio at 309 Oxford Street from 1907 until 1920. Then she moved to 90 Great Russell Street where she stayed until her retirement in 1930, aged 60.

Smith was a supporter of the suffrage movement and photographed many suffragettes including Christabel Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett and Flora Drummond, images that were then made into postcards. Many Edwardian stage performers such as Lily Elsie, Billie Burke, Gertrude Elliott and the renowned 'Gibson Girl' Camille Clifford were photographed by Smith.

Her sepia-toned platinotype copies of photographs of Peter Llewelyn Davies and J. M. Barrie are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. On 19 November 2008, a rare black-and-white photograph of Florence Nightingale 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."

Lizzie Caswall Smith died in Ealing, London, in 1958. She was 88.


British postcard by Beagles Photocards, no. 781. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Caption: Mr. Forbes Robertson as Hamlet. Sent by mail in 1913.


British postcard by Beagles' Postcards, no. 179 G. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Caption: Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet.


British postcard by Beagles Photocards, no. 179 J. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Mr. Forbes Robertson. Publicity still for a stage production of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.


British postcard by H. Dunn & Co, London, no. A. 511. Photo: Caswall Smith. Basil Gill.


British postcard in the Stageland Series by Davidson Bros.' Pictorial Post Cards, no. 6077. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Henry Ainley.


British postcard in the My Queen & Romance Series. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Henry Ainley.


British postcard in the Real Photo series by Davidson Bros, no. 1090. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. George Alexander. Sent by mail in 1907.


British postcard b J. Beagles & Co., London, 179 V. Photo Lizzie Caswall Smith. Mr. Forbes-Robertson as Julius Caesar in G.B. Shaw's play 'Caesar and Cleopatra' (1899).


British postcard by Rotary Photo, E.C., no. 105 M. Photo: Lizzie Caswall Smith. Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Gertrude Elliott in the title roles of G.B. Shaw's play 'Caesar and Cleopatra' (1899).


British postcard in the Rotary Photographic Series, no. 1632 A. Photo: Lizzie Caswall-Smith. Publicity still for a stage production of 'The Light That Failed' (1903). Caption: Mr. Forbes Robertson as Dick Helder (sic), Gertrude Elliott as Maisie, "Maisie, my Maisie".

Sources: Truth in Photography, Wikipedia (English and French) and National Portrait Gallery.