Isabel Cargill

Isabel Cargill (10 December 1864 – 17 April 1944) was a New Zealand businesswoman who established English-style tearooms in Rome, Italy, in the early 1890s.[1][2]

Biography

Cargill was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 10 December 1864.[3][4] She was the granddaughter of William Cargill, the founder of the city, and the fourth daughter of Edward Cargill and his wife, Dorothy Cargill (née Nesham).[5][6]

In the early 1890s she travelled to England and then, with her English friend Anna Maria Babington, to Italy. When they were unable to find a shop selling cups of tea in the city, the pair decided to open an English-style tearooms, which they called Babington's Tea Room.[7]

Cargill also wrote a column, "Letters from Rome" for the Otago Witness newspaper.[7]

In 1902, Cargill married an Italian artist, Giuseppe da Pozzo.[2] The couple had one daughter, Dorothy, who was born in 1904.[8][9]

Cargill died in Stra, Veneto, Italy, on 17 April 1944.[10][11]

References

1. Hutching, Sam; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Babington's Tea Rooms, Rome". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
2. "Isabel Cargill". HERITAGE POST. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
3. "Birth search: registration number 1864/18918". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
4. "Birth". Otago Daily Times. No. 928. 12 December 1864. p. 4. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
5. "Personal items from London". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
6. "Death of Mr E. B. Cargill". Otago Daily Times. No. 12737. 10 August 1903. p. 6. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
7. Bishop, Catherine (2019). Women Mean Business: Colonial Businesswomen in New Zealand. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press. p. 287. ISBN 9781988531762.
8. "Signora da Pozzo". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
9. "Cosmopolis » Babingtons Tea Rooms in Rome". Retrieved 21 January 2023.
10. Comerford, Patrick. "Babington's in Rome is more to my taste than the new McDonalds near the Vatican". Retrieved 21 January 2023.
11. "Da Pozzo, Isabel – Padua, Italy – widow". Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 13 February 2023.