George Washington

George Washington, in 1789. The original portrait, by Gilbert Stuart, was never finished, apart from the face, which was used to make several copies. Engraver Henry Wright Smith used it, around 1879, to make the engraving I've used here.


Engraving, c 1879, by Henry Wright Smith.


Gilbert Stuart's original 1789 painting.

C. B. Fry

Charles Burgess Fry, in 1906. He's probably best remembered for his career as a cricketer, but excelled at many sports, and was also a politician, diplomat, academic, teacher, writer, editor and publisher.


Original B&W photo.

The Yorks

Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), with his wife Elizabeth, Duchess of York, and their daughter, Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen), around 1928.


Original B&W photo.

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover, c1928, shortly before he became the 31st President of the United States.


Original B&W photo.

Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the colored section of a bus to a white passenger, an iconic symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Today (February 4th) would have been her 101st birthday.


Original B&W photo.

 

Read more about Rosa Parks, starting here.

Sir George Grey

Another drawing, this time of Sir George Grey, in 1859, at which time he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He also served, at various times, as a Home Secretary.


Original engraving by William Holl Jr.

Nye Bevan

Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, around 1945, at which time he was preparing to set up the National Health Service.


Original B&W photo.

Herbert Morrison

Home Secretary Herbert Stanley Morrison, wasn't in a Labour government, but in Winston Churchill's wartime coalition. He is pictured here while in that office, in 1943.


Original B&W photo.

Princess Elizabeth of York

Queen Elizabeth II as the young Princess Elizabeth of York, in 1934, when George V was still King, and she was third in line to the throne after her uncle, Edward VIII, and her father, George VI.




Original B&W photo.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst, political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement, was named as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century by Time Magazine in 1999.
This photo is by British photographer Olive Edis, so was probably taken between 1925, when Pankhurst returned from Canada where she had been living for a few years until she "tired of long Canadian winters", and her death in 1928.


Original sepia-toned platinotype.

 

Martin Van Buren

The eighth President of the United States, from 1833 to 1837, Martin Van Buren. This photo is from around 1857, give or take a couple of tears.

Although he was the first president to have been born a United States citizen, his first language was Dutch, and he is the only U.S. President with English as a second language.


Original B&W photo from the Mathew Brady studio.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who died yesterday aged 95, seen here in 1952 during the Defiance Campaign, a joint venture with the ANC and Indian and communist groups. This campaign was one of non-violence which Mandela supported, considering it pragmatic at that time. The woman next to him is Ruth First, a prominent anti-apartheid activist and scholar.


Original B&W photo.

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams, the sixth US president, pictured later in his career in 1843, while he was a member of the House of Representatives, using his position there to fight against slavery. Two years before this photo, Adams represented, pro bono, the defendants in United States v. The Amistad Africans in the Supreme Court.


A cropped copy of the original 1843 daguerreotype.

Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes, the 19th President of the United States, pictured here some time during the 1870s, probably during his presidency.


Original B&W photo.

James A. Garfield

James A. Garfield in 1870, while a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was later to become the 20th President of the United States, but was assassinated after only 200 days, the second shortest term in history.


Original B&W photo.

Arthur Balfour

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, a Conservative politician and statesman served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from July 1902 to December 1905.

He is best remembered for the Balfour Declaration of 1917, during his time as Foreign Secretary in David Lloyd George's wartime coalition government. This laid the ground for the later creation of the state of Israel.



Original B&W photo.

Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge

Princess Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth of Cambridge, first cousin to Queen Victoria, being a granddaughter of George III , and the mother of George V's queen, Mary,

In later life, Mary Adelaide devoted her life to charity,  one of the earliest royals to support a wide range of charitable organizations.



Original B&W photo.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria

As well as being Empress of Austria, Elisabeth was Emperor Franz Joseph's queen consort of Hungary, and the coronation, on the 8th of June 1867, was commemorated with this photo.


Original B&W photo.

Franz Joseph I of Austria

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, in 1898. In that year his wife and Empress of 44 years, Elisabeth, was assassinated by Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni.


Original B&W photo.


I think this 1910 oil painting, from which I took the colours, may well have been based on the 1898 photo. Note the extra medals in the painting.

The Kennedy Family

The Kennedy family at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on September 4, 1931


1. Bobby 2. Jack 3. Buddy the dog 4. Eunice 5. Jean 6. Joe Sr. 7. Rose 8. Pat 9. Kick 10. Joe Jr. 11. Rosemary

"Kick" was the nickname of Kathleen, used by all her family and friends, except her mother.

Ted doesn't appear in this photo, as he wasn't born yet.


Original B&W photo.