Here at the History of Parliament, we are always trying to find more images for our website. As you can see in our Gallery, we have plenty of fantastic pictures of MPs throughout the years. Many from the National Portrait Gallery or Parliamentary archives are of the famous faces of our political history, such as ex-Prime Ministers Robert Peel or Lord North, but others also from individual photographers.
Of course, finding images of our earlier or less famous MPs can be a challenge. Luckily, if portraits do not survive, many MPs have monuments or memorials which include a brass or statue, for example Sir William Bagot or John Cowper. For our Director, finding these memorials in churches and photographing them has become a minor obsession – yesterday he blogged about finding the memorial to William Smart, MP for Ipswich in 1589.
So we have a challenge for you all. Can you help us find more images for our website? Perhaps from their local tomb or memorial, there are plenty of examples in our gallery to give you an idea of the sort of thing we’re after. We are also on the lookout for images to illustrate elections or constituencies, perhaps benefactions by MPs to towns, or sites of known elections.
If we use three of your images on our website we can send you a set of printed volumes (take your pick from 1509-58, 1558-1603, 1660-1690, 1754-90 or 1790-1820). Any images we reproduce will of course be properly credited, although we can only use ones where the copyright is fully owned by you. Please send any you have to me (Emma) at website@histparl.ac.uk. Happy snapping!
EP
The History of Parliament 