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 ...

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) ...

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 ...

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 ...

Booking required for school groups only. Please see the School visits page. The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award makes a welcome return to the National Portrait Gallery for 2024. The prestigious ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Emmanuel Levy was born in Manchester and studied art at Manchester School of Art, St Martin's School of Art, London, and in Paris. During the 1930s his influences included Cubism, Expressionism and ...

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 ...