Images Dated 2005

'Telescopic Philanthropy', 1865. Artist: John Tenniel

'Telescopic Philanthropy', 1865. 'Little London Arab. Please 'M, Ain't We Black Enough to be Cared For? (With Mr. Punch's Compliments to Lord Stanley.)' In his novel, Bleak House, Dickens had highlighted and satirised the growing numbers of the middle classes who expended much time, effort and money on raising funds to 'civilise' (particularly black) foreign peoples, rather than concentrating on the problems of the poor at home. This 'telescopic philanthropy' was epitomised by Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House, but here is represented by Britannia who has her eyes fixed so firmly on the distant horizon that she fails entirely to see the three children at her feet who, like Dickens' Jo, represent the estimated 30, 000 homeless children living on the streets of London. From Punch, or the London Charivari, March 4, 1865.

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images

Florence Nightingale, English nurse and hospital reformer, c1850s Artist: Unknown

Florence Nightingale, English nurse and hospital reformer, c1850s. Named after the place of her birth in Italy, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) devoted her life to the sick and suffering. She volunteered for duty in the Crimean War (1854-1856), and whilst at the hospital barracks at Scutari, she drastically reduced the mortality rate by imposing a strict discipline and high standards of sanitation. In 1859, she wrote 'Notes on Nursing', and in 1861 she founded the St Thomas's School of Nursing in London.

© Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage-Images

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

'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