Tewodros II (or 'Theodore') was a Coptic Christian ruler of Abyssinia from 1855. Like many rulers, he won power through defeating his rivals through war, but he continued to face internal revolt and ...

Staley was a Catholic goldsmith and banker accused of speaking malicious and treasonable words against King Charles II. His accusers were 'loose and vicious gentleman' who offered to drop the charge ...

Bulgarian-born writer; studied Chemistry in Vienna before emigrating to England in 1938; wrote essays, plays, autobiography and a study of crowds, but made his name with the novel, Die Blendung (1935) ...

Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, in what is now southeastern Nigeria. He was kidnapped into slavery at the age of eleven and put to work for a number of different masters in America, the West ...

Younghusband's interests lay in problems of the poor, and whilst a full-time lecturer at the London School of Economics (1933-57), she devoted her spare time to the Citizens' Advice Bureaux, care ...

Stencilled on stretcher: ‘LECHERTIER BARBE LTD. / 95 JERMYN ST / LONDON, SW’. Two printed labels (removed, noted in NPG RP 6083) formerly on backboard: (a) ‘CHAPMAN BROS. / Carvers, Gilders & Frame ...

Born into slavery around 1743, and known as Toussaint de Bréda on the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, Toussaint L'Ouverture's leadership of the Haitian Revolution has made him an ...

Italian-born Belzoni moved to England in 1803 where he found work for a time as a strongman, actor and conjuror at fairs and theatres around the country. He travelled to Egypt having persuaded Mehmet ...

Maxwell Armfield studied art under Arthur Gaskin and Henry Payne. He was active in Los Angeles in 1918 and the following year moved to Berkeley. While there he wrote The Syntax of Art, Rhythmic Shape ...

Political leader, activist and religious and social reformer. Born in Porbandar, India, Gandhi left for London in 1888 to study law at University College. His first major job was as a legal advisor in ...

Giuseppe Fazio, Actor and director. Sitter in 1 portrait. Caitlin Macnamara Thomas (1913-1994), Wife of Dylan Thomas. Sitter in 10 portraits.

James Hogg was born on a farm in Selkirkshire and worked as a shepherd. His employer lent him books and he began to write, publishing a slim volume of poems in 1801. In 1810, he moved to Edinburgh and ...