Elizabeth, the originator of the Madeira embroidery, died unmarried. Apart from her embroidery school the only thing I know about her is a story which has often been told to me with great gusto by Father and Uncle George. The story was always known as “Bella and the Bath”.
After the return of the family to England, Bella, like all the others, became very stout. One evening she retired early to her room, for the purpose of taking a bath. At that time of course, baths were always taken in the bedroom in the small hipbath of the Victorian period. Shortly after Aunt Bella had gone upstairs the family below in the drawing room were alarmed to hear cries for help, accompanied by strange knockings and bumpings. Several of the sisters ran upstairs to see what was the matter, and found Aunt Bella sitting in the bath with her feet on the floor, which was swimming with water. The bath was firmly fixed round her, like the shell of a snail, and she was only liberated by the concerted efforts of the entire family. The standard sentence descriptive of this painful incident was - “When Bella got IN to the bath, the water got OUT”.
This story was very popular round the large circle of cousins, but when once, with youthful temerity, I ventured to mention it to Aunt Janey, I was snubbed with the full weight of the old lady’s forceful personality.
(Poor woman - even after all these years this story follows her!! JFH)