Our Best of British Gallery

Robert Falcon Scott, British Antarctic explorer, 1914

Robert Falcon Scott, British Antarctic explorer, 1914. Portrait of Captain Scott (1868-1912 )in naval uniform from a trade calendar for 1914. Scott's final expedition left London on 1 June 1910 bound for the South Pole. They reached the Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that the Norwegian expedition under Amundsen had beaten them to their objective by a month. Delayed by blizzards, and running out of supplies, Scott and his team died at the end of March. Their bodies and diaries were found eight months later.

'Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty (1)', c1916 . Artist: Unknown

'Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty (1)', c1916. Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty is a music hall song written by Arthur J. Mills, Fred Godfrey (1880-1953) and Bennett Scott (1875-1930) in 1916. It was popular during the First World War and tells a story of three fictional soldiers on the Western Front suffering from homesickness and their longing to return to Blighty. [Bamforth & Co., Ltd, Holmfirth, England and New York, c1916]

© The Print Collector

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), English novelist, 1908-1909. Artist: Unknown

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), English novelist, 1908-1909. Bronte was the author of Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette. The Bronte family of Haworth in Yorkshire was a literary family; Charlotte's sisters Emily and Anne were also writers, and all died young, before they reached 40. From Penrose's Pictorial Annual 1908-1909, An Illustrated Review of the Graphic Arts, volume 14, edited by William Gamble and published by AW Penrose (London, 1908-1909).

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images