Heather-Bell Tirza

Life Before the Warehouse
Hwather-Bell Tirza was born February 1, 1818 in London, England. In youth, she often shifted from one romantic partner to the next, never able to commit to one man for long (due to a mix of misfortune and a desire for more than a simple domestic life). Ever since childhood, she had a fond interest in botany and often collected and pressed every new flower and leaf she came across, which she stored in a large book she kept until her death. In 1839 she found work as a domestic maid for a working-class family for several years several miles outside of London. In 1844, one of the children in the family she worked for became ill and it was feared that there was not enough time to take him to the nearest hospital for treatment. Heather-Bell, thanks to her increasing knowledge of botany and herbalism, was able to treat the child's illness and prolong her survival long enough for them to reach a hospital in London, where they were successfully treated. Ever since, she was regarded as a member of their family, though she repeatedly denied a raise in income.

Later that year, a Regent of Warehouse 12 approached Heather-Bell and offered her an apprenticeship, where she would train to become a Warehouse Agent and assistant doctor. Heather-Bell agreed on the condition that she would be allowed to anonymously transfer some of her Warehouse income to the family she worked for.

Life as an Agent
As an Agent, Heather-Bell was delighted with such an important and exciting job, and was always enthusiastic about the cases she was assigned to. As the Warehouse's assistant doctor, however, she could not go on cases as often as other agents, due to the importance of her role, but this did not upset her too much, as she equally enjoyed being able to help and care for others.

During her time as an agent, Heather-Bell noticed that the Warehouse had several plants and large trees, a few of which she collected herself, but not a place to properly store them; the maintenance of the botanical artifacts was arduous and time-consuming, and it was a hassle to have to rearrange several shelves to make room whenever a new tree got collected. This, coupled with her inherent love for botany, convinced her to appeal to the Regents to add a proper storage area for plant artifacts in the Warehouse. After some debate, the Regents conceded, and agreed to allow the construction of a greenhouse.

In 1851, Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace had been constructed in remarkable time. Paxton himself was a well-renowned gardener who had great talent and thenthusiasm with gardening as well as architecture. On a visit to the Palace, Heather-Bell asked Paxton to head the design and construction of the Warehouse's new section, to which he immediately agreed. Coincidentally, after the closure of the Crystal Palace some six months later, the 27-foot tall crystal fountain from the Palace would be collected as an artifact and act as a permanent fixture in the newly finished Greenhouse.

Death
In 1855, Heather-Bell joined several agents on a naval expedition for Egypt to attempt to collect artifacts lost or not collected by Warehouse 2, although they did not know where the buried Warehouse was. While in Nubia, she and two other agents were travelling through Nubia and stopped to rest and take shelter from the sun underneath a tree. Soon after they neared it, the tree sprung to life and attempted to attack a felow agent, who was the closest of the three. It caught the agent by the arm, its leaves latched onto their limb, and attempted to drag them underneath. Heather-Bell managed to pull the agent away, sustaining injuries on his arms. In the process, however, Heather-Bell was caught by the tree, dragged under its roots, and quickly exsanguinated.

Legacy
Heather-Bell Tirza is responsible for the creation of the Warehouse's Greenhouse, where all manner of botanical artifacts are held.

Outside of the Warehouse, in her will Heather-Bell dictated that all money leftover from her time at the Warehouse, most of which she had been saving up, would be donated to the family she worked for with a letter explaining that she was behind the anonymous donations, and that she had died "doing something (she) loved with all (her) heart."

Artifacts Collected

 * Crystal Palace Fountain
 * Johann Baptist Isenring’s Acacia Tree
 * The Nubian Tree

Trivia

 * Heather-Bell is named after the purple flowering plant Erica cinerea, also known as a bell heather or heather-bell.
 * Her surname means "cypress tree; she will be willing; desirable."
 * In Harry Potter lore, wands of Cypress wood wands are associated with nobility, are commonly matched with those that are bold and self-sacrificing, and those who would die a heroic death.
 * February 1 is the date of the Gaelic tradictional festical Imbolc, which is dedicated to Brigid, a Gaelic goddess of the spring season, fertility, healing, poetry, smithcraft, hearth, and home.
 * In European mythology and folklore, the rowan tree (which is sometimes said to be associated with Imbolc and Brigid) is thought to extremely protective against malevolent beings, and in the Victorian era rowan was believed to have apotropaic powers, particularly in warding off witches.