Louise Bazalgette born Louise Seville (1846 – 9 March 1918) was an early

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

motorist. She was present at the Emancipation Run in 1896 when car owners celebrated being able to exceed 4 mph. She was widely reported as a woman who was making long trips in a car. She was the only woman to enter the three week long ''Thousand Mile Trial'' in 1900.

Life

Bazalgette was born in 1845 or 1846 in Essex where her father John Seville was a farmer. She was living in London in 1870 when she married George Bazalgette. He was fifteen years older than her and a marine. The noted civil engineer

Joseph Bazalgette Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (; 28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was an English civil engineering, civil engineer. As Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of the London Main Drainage, t ...

was her husband's cousin. Her husband died in 1885 and she moved and started a boarding house.

Cars

Henry Hewetson who was a businessman from Tunbridge Wells had bought a Benz car while on a trip to Germany. In 1895 or 1896 he and his partner Walter Arnold opened a showroom near to where Bazalgette was now living off

Portman Square Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal gardens. It mar ...

. Bazalgette bought a car and her journeys made the newspapers because they were considered long and they were made by a woman driver. Bazelgette and her friend Hewetson were photographed at the historic "emancipation run" on 14 November 1896, which is still celebrated by the

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the world's longest-running motoring event, held on a course between London () and Brighton (), England. To qualify, participating cars must have been built before 1905. It is also the world's largest ...

. This was the first time that cars were allowed to do 14 mph and it was the first meeting of the

Automobile Club A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

(for male drivers). Bazelgette was on an Arnold motor car. In 1899 she floated the idea of a women's automobile club. Women were not allowed to join the

although she gave a talk to them on the subject. She said that she had been driving for three or four years at speeds up to 14 miles per hour travelling over 2,000 miles but with a trained mechanic in case of breakdowns. She noted that driving a car only required skill and not strength so there was no barrier to women driving. However they lacked the knowledge of technical terms and she proposed that the new club would give women the knowledge of how their cars worked. In 1900 she was the only woman to enter the ''Thousand Mile Trial'' in 1900. The event was a test of drivers but its purpose was to popularise motoring. She completed the course which ran from 23 April to 12 May starting and ending in London with Edinburgh being their destination. She drove over 560 miles and her mechanic drove 530 miles in their car that was open to the wet and windy weather. In the 1911 census she and Henry Hewetson were living at 3 Old Quebec Street in London. Before Louise Bazalgette died in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

in 1918, she realised that there was no room beside her husband's grave for her. She had her husband moved to a new location in 1890 so that they could be buried beside each other in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazalgette, Louise 1846 births 1918 deaths People from Essex British businesspeople