Who would think that Lazenby Road could trace its name back to a Fish Sauce recipe donated to Elizabeth Lazenby in London in 1793? Through at least four generations of the family, the sauce and pickle company they formed became highly profitable and was eventually merged with Crosse & Blackwell in 1919. If you are intrigued by this story, please visit the website below!
Elizabeth Lazenby (née Harvey) was the great-great grandmother of Katharine Maud Lazenby after whom the road in Tiverton is named. Katharine was born in Tiverton on the 24th January 1874. By then, her father, not yet 40, had ‘retired’ from London to Devon. The family lived at ‘Eastfield’ in Park Road. Katharine probably received her early education with a Governess, at home. However, in the late 1890s she studied Maths at Newnham College, Cambridge, then one of only two female colleges. She graduated with the equivalent of a first class degree. Despite completing the courses and exams, women were not awarded Cambridge degrees until after the second World War.
Miss Katharine Lazenby makes a presentation to Mr Slee on his retirement as guard on the Tivvy Bumper in about 1920.
Katharine returned home to Tiverton and, in 1898, became the first woman to be elected to the Tiverton School Board. The Gazette and other local papers reported her election: ‘Why should not a woman be the ninth member of the next Tiverton School Board? At least over-half the children in our schools are girls and the majority of teachers are females’. Katharine later chaired the committee and also served on the County Education Committee.
Her father, Thomas Orger Lazenby was also commemorated in the town when, in 1910, the family donated the funds for a new Chemistry laboratory at the Grammar School in his memory. He had been a long serving Governor of the School. The plaque commemorating this event is now displayed in the Museum.
Laying the Library Foundation Stone
Katharine served as a Nurse at Knightshayes when it became a Hospital during the First World War. She was also one of the early female Justices of the Peace. The family were involved in many philanthropic activities and in 1928, as a benefactor, Katharine laid the foundation stone of the War Memorial Library. In June 1943, she was given the freedom of the Borough of Tiverton for ‘her eminent services in the cause of education in the Borough and in the County’.
Katharine died in 1950.
Katherine Maud in later life
Written by Museum Volunteer, Sue B
For more history of the Harvey/Lazenby sauces https://letslookagain.com/2015/02/something-fishy-a-history-of-e-lazenby-sons/