Bazalgette Family Tree

Notes from Harvey & Judy Colling:

His first marriage not found. He may not have actually been formally married, but claimed to be a widower at his second marriage in 1890. Clearly the Art World knows little of his wives & children:

Henry Frederick LUCAS-LUCAS. "Born at Louth in Lincolnshire, this painter married a Miss Johnson who lived in Pinebeck Hall, Spalding. It is thought they had three sons, one of whom was St John Lucas who published a book of poems in 1904. In about 1878 it appears he deserted his family and moved to Rugby. His old age was spent living in rooms in Bilton in Rugby with a Mrs Kent, a widow. He had little money and life was a struggle. Totally disowned by his family, when he died at the age of 95 none of them went to collect his possessions. Lucas-Lucas painted a number of hunting scenes, especially of the Pytchley. His horse portraiture included racehorses, hunters and polo ponies. Earl Beatty was one of his patrons. Fores published several of his works as prints, the best known being 'Putting in the terriers', 1894. He normally signed strongly and inscribed on the reverse as well." "Born in Louth, Lincolnshire, Henry Frederick Lucas-Lucas devoted his life to painting equestrian sports. At the age of thirty he settled in Rugby and during his ninety-five years painted polo, racing and fox hunting scenes. Of the latter, his most famous commissions were from the Pytchley Hunt of Northamptonshire. The artist’s longevity and prodigious career, spanning both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mean that his paintings have become pictorial records, documenting the social changes that occurred during the period - Lucas-Lucas's formal hunting portraits give way to more relaxed compositions at the beginning of the twentieth." The above information about him is also reported in the Rugby Advertiser, 8th April 2004 : Record price for artworks : "PAINTINGS by a Rugby artist who was shunned by his family and died penniless and alone sold for thousands of pounds at a recent auction - setting a new world record for his work. At a recent San Francisco auction two oil paintings by Henry Frederick Lucas-Lucas sold for $44,062, or more than £24,000, apiece - more than double their estimated price. Before the auction the Lucas-Lucas pictures of north east hunting dogs - called A Group of Percy Bitches and A Group of Percy Hounds were expected to fetch up to £18,000, or £9,843._The two works, which became the subject of a furious transatlantic battle between telephone bidders, were eventually sold to a London bidder so the pictures are on their way back to Britain. Two other Lucas-Lucas paintings were sold at the same auction. They went for £12,208 and £2,730, making the total the works sold for more than £63,000. Ironically, while he was alive Lucas-Lucas struggled to make a living and his life and work was overshadowed by the fact that he was inexplicably disowned by his family - when he died aged 95 his relatives didn't even bother to collect his possessions. Although born in Louth, Lincolnshire, Lucas-Lucas spent much of his life in Rugby - and Rugby was mentioned in the inscriptions of several of the paintings up for sale. Born around 1848, Lucas-Lucas apparently abandoned his wife and three sons and moved to Rugby in the 1870s, staying there for at least 30 years. In his old age he lived in rooms in Bilton, with a widow named Mrs. Kent."

MARRIAGE:

Pinchbeck PR: Henry Frederick Lucas Lucas, Full age, Widower, Gentleman of St Andrews,_Rugby, father St John Wells Lucas, Surgeon, marr Kathleen Liffie Beatson, Full age, Spinster of The Hall, Pinchbeck, father Leonard Browne Beatson, Clerk in Holy Orders. Witnesses L B Beatson, Mary Beatson, Ann? Beatson, G Bazalgette Lucas, George Spain and L C Bazalgette Lucas.