Anxious Gallery

The Agonising Wait for the List of the Lost at Southampton, April 20, 1912. Creator: Unknown

The Agonising Wait for the List of the Lost at Southampton, April 20, 1912. Anxious friends and relatives wait for news of the fate of passengers on board the Titanic at the port she departed from, with portraits of passengers above, including Thomas Andrews, designer of the ship, who died in the disaster. The White Star Line ship RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in thick fog off Newfoundland on 14 April 1912. She was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of her time, and thought to be unsinkable. In the collision, five of her watertight compartments were compromised and she sank. Out of the 2228 people on board, only 705 survived. A major cause of the loss of life was the insufficient number of lifeboats she carried. Page 17, from "Titanic In Memoriam Number", a special supplement in "The Daily Graphic" newspaper issued following the sinking of the Titanic on 15 April 1912, published on 20 April 1912

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images

Worried woman, c1950. Creator: Shirley Markham

Worried woman, c1950. Shirley Markham (1931-1999) studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central School of Art in London from 1950-1952. The writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was one of her tutors, and her style of drawing was also influenced by other British illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone, Quentin Blake and Edward Bawden. Markham spent time in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, and also visited Rome, sketching classical buildings. After graduating from Central, she worked as a graphic designer, producing book illustrations, cartoons for comics, menus and programmes. She gave up her promising career however when she got married in 1957. Middle-class women at that time were expected to devote their energies to bringing up children and running the home, and despite her obvious talent, she lacked the confidence to return to illustration. Her portfolio remained in the family attic for many years, but now her work is published here for the first time

© Shirley Markham Collection / Heritage-Images

Letter from Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York to Dr Stephen Gardiner, February or March 1530.Artist: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey

Letter from Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York to Dr Stephen Gardiner, February or March 1530. Letter, written from Esher, shortly after Wolsey's disgrace, to Gardiner, secretary to Henry VIII, making arrangements as to the benefices in the province of York, and appealing to the King's compassion on account of his advanced age and long service. Gardiner, as was frequently the case at this period of his life, is addressed as Mr Stevens'. The late poor Dean of Wells mentioned in the letter was Thomas Winter, Wolsey's natural son. Evidence of the writer's weakness and agitation may be seen in his inability to keep the pen from dotting the paper between the words. From the second series of Facsimiles of royal, historical, literary and other autographs in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum: Series I-V. (London, 1899)

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images