The East Cornwall Bank was established in Liskeard in 1807 by ‘Stamp Distributor’ Thomas Robins, ‘Merchant & Tanner’ Richard Foster, ‘Solicitor’ Edward Coode, Thomas and William Bolitho, both ‘Merchants & Tin Smelters’ from Penzance. There were twelve branches of the Bank in Cornwall in 1889; the Manager in Liskeard was Augustus Bazeley, a ‘Solicitor & Pubic Notary’, who was baptised in the Sion Chapel at St Ives on July 14, 1808.

In 1851 the East Cornwall Bank engaged local architect Henry Rice to design an impressive building on the corner of the Parade and Pike Street, which eventually became home to Barclays Bank, and is currently being refurbished by the new owners, We Wear Boost. In 1861 the Bazeley household were in residence above the banking premises.

The household comprised of Manager Augustus aged 52, his wife Emily (49), their daughters Caroline (16), Mary (14), Fanny (12), Emily M (eight) and Adelaide (six). The live-in domestic staff were Marie Hubers (21, governess and teacher of French, music and German), Phillipa Stephens (28, Cook), Sarah Worden (23, Parlour Maid) and Fanny Collins (20, child’s maid). Augustus L was the only son living at home, he was aged 18 and an ‘Articled Clerk to Solicitor’, probably his father.

Fanny appears to have been a gifted singer; at the 1871 Annual Soiree of the Liskeard Literary Institution, held in the Temperance Hall, Barn Street, she sang ‘Good Night Beloved’, ‘Her Bright Smile’ and ‘Sing on Yee Little Birds’. Fanny was the only child of Augustus and Emily to be still living at home when Augustus died aged 81 on May 24, 1889. Probate valued his personal estate at £39,046 5s 1d, a huge amount at the time, the equivalent of £4,251,898.00 in 2025.

By Brian Oldham, museum volunteer and Bard of the Gorsedh Kernow