Tina McKenzie, an artist who lived across the world as the wife of a British diplomat, has died at the age of 99. Her life saw her witness profound political and social changes in various countries.
Born in Croydon, Surrey, McKenzie, originally named Betty, changed her name to Tina at 14. She married Roderick McKenzie in 1947, and a year later, they moved to India for his diplomatic posting. Subsequent postings took them to South Africa in 1960, during Harold Macmillan’s “Wind of Change” speech, and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the mid-1960s, where she observed violence between Tamils and Sinhalese.
In 1970, while in Toronto, Canada, the kidnapping of her husband's boss, the British trade commissioner James Cross, by the Quebec Liberation Front, occurred. Later, in Dublin, McKenzie was caught up in the petrol-bombing of the British embassy in 1972.
Despite being barred from paid work abroad as a diplomat's wife, McKenzie pursued her art and engaged in voluntary work. She continued to learn techniques and befriended artists such as Ena da Silva and Heidi Bucher. After retirement in 1976, she settled in Brighton, publishing a poetry collection, a memoir, and an art catalogue, and exhibiting her work locally. Two of her pieces were selected for the Resonance exhibition at the Fabrica gallery in Brighton in April.