James Gillray was the leading satirist of the regency producing numerous biting and funny caricatures on politics, royalty and social life. The National Portrait Gallery owns copies of over ninety ...

Campbell was initially apprenticed to an Edinburgh marble cutter. In 1816, his marble busts caught the attention of Gilbert Innes of Stow, who became his patron. Innes's financial support enabled ...

Johnston was closely involved in what has been called the 'scramble for Africa' by 19th-century colonial powers. He published forty books on African subjects and in the 1890s was the first British ...

Born in Grenada, East Caribbean in 1945, John emigrated to Britain in 1964. He is an associate professor of education and honorary fellow of the University of London (UCL) Institute of Education and ...

Lieutenant-General. Commander during the early stages of the Peninsular War, 1808, he was cut off from Portugal by the French and obliged to make a forced march to the coast at Corunna to embark his ...

Britain's first motorway is built. The Preston bypass (M6) was the first road to be built to official motorway standards, although the M1 (opened in 1959) was the first road to be given official ...

Daniel Defoe was a novelist, pamphleteer and journalist who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719). Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest practitioners of the novel who ...

The Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize returns for its 17th year, showcasing the work of talented young photographers, gifted amateurs and established professionals in the very best of contemporary ...

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Following the death of his father George V, Edward succeeds to the throne as King Edward VIII, but chooses to abdicate in order to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. Edward was the only ...

Edward Blore, architect and antiquary, is best remembered for his completion of John Nash's design of Buckingham Palace, following Nash's dismissal. He completed the palace in a style similar but ...

Lord Chelmsford was appointed commander of British forces in South Africa in 1878. The following year he led the British invasion of Zululand. The first engagement of the campaign was the Zulu rout of ...