Chief Gallery

Coastguards and civilians of Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey

Commemorative postcard, Heroes All! Five brave coastguards and two civilians of Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, who rescued 20 members of the 2nd Walworth Boy Scouts Troop who got into difficulties when their training vessel, a 32 foot ex-naval cutter, was hit by a sudden squall and capsized. Sadly, nine Sea Scouts died. There were 23 Sea Scouts, the Scout Master and five helpers on board. The tragedy was widely reported in newspapers at the time. A Memorial was erected in 1914 in Nunhead Cemetery.
4 August 1912

© Mary Evans / The Scout Association

British Empire Marketing Board poster - Takoradi Harbour

Native Chiefs in Palaver, Takoradi Harbour in Ghana, West Africa. Native chiefs meeting a British official or governor of the area during a period when large parts of Africa still formed part of the British Empire. The poster, by G. Spencer Pryse boasts of British materials and British engineering and the fact that the harbour was opened by the Rt Hon. J. H. Thomas (who may be the British officer in uniform in the picture)

© Mary Evans Picture Library/ONSLOW AUCTIONS LIMITED

American Indians. Sitting Bull addressing a meeting of brave

Sitting was an inspirational Sioux Chief, who together with Crazy Horse, defeated Custer and tried to prevent the American Indians being forced into reservations. He escaped to Canada in 1879, but returned to American in 1881 under an amnesty. He was shot just after this image was published during an Indian uprising

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans