Images Dated 2005

Scotland for Ever'; the charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, 18 June 1815

Scotland for Ever'; the charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, 18 June 1815. The attack by the Royal Scots Greys cavalry regiment on the French 45th infantry was immortalised in this famous painting of 1881 by Lady Elizabeth Butler (1846-1933). The wife of a general as well as a popular Victorian painter, she persuaded the commander of the regiment to reconstruct the charge so she could make the painting. Some military historians doubt that the action actually took the form of the spectacular headlong charge depicted in the picture. What is known however is that the Scots Greys overpursued the French infantry, became split into disorganised small groups, and suffered heavy casualties at the hands of French cavalry formations before they were able to regain the British lines

© Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage-Images

The Whale, c1850. Artist: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins

The Whale, c1850. Around the main illustration of harpooning a whale and the whalers being tossed from their boat are vignettes of the uses to which the whale was put after the carcass had been cut up. Spermeciti candles and whale oil were prized for lighting. Whalebone, from the plates from the upper jaw of whalebone whales, was used for corsets and for umbrella frames. Whale meat was eaten. Ambergris was used in perfumes. Parts which were otherwise of no use were applied as fertilizer. From Graphic Illustrations of Animals and Their Utility to Man. (London, c1850)

© Oxford Science Archive / Heritage-Images

Page from the Dresden Codex, Maya manuscript

Page from the Dresden Codex, Maya manuscript. Chromolithograph of a page showing a section of a tonalamatl, a sacred season of 260 days. The god Quetalcoatl is depicted several times, including ferrying a woman (centre) and with an axe (bottom left). The original manuscript was probably produced in the first half of the 13th century, and contains tables predicting astronomical occurrences with great accuracy. It was sent to Europe after the Spanish conquest of Central America, and is today one of only four Mayan codices known to have survived

© Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage-Images