Removing Gallery

Collecting Eggs at Flamborough Head

Collecting seagull's eggs at Flamborough Head, Yorkshire. A traditional practice for farmers whose land adjoined the cliff edge, which gave them a legal right to supplement their income by selling eggs. The farmer sub-licenced gangs of three or four climmers, to gather eggs of the gulls, common guillemot, razorbill and others from the cliff side. It was a perilous business, requiring fitness and skill, but the rewards must have been great - in 1908 such eggs commanded a shilling a dozen (about the same as a hundredweight of coal) and it was estimated that gangs could collect up to 300 or 400 eggs a day in season. Date: 1911

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Oliver Cromwell removing the mace from the Commons

Oliver Cromwell removing the mace from the Commons Chamber and dissolving the Rump Parliament in 1653. Behind him, a group of Roundheads arrest a cavalier. Take away that Bauble. Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament. Handcoloured steel engraving after an illustration by John Leech from Gilbert Abbott A'Beckett's Comic History of England, Bradbury, Agnew & Co., London, 1880

© Florilegius

Caricature of Prince Leopold in Parliament

Caricature of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-1884), youngest son of Queen Victoria -- The Royal Hat-Trick. A comment on a parliamentary debate about granting more money to Prince Leopold (and to his bride) on the event of their marriage. The Prince was not present in person, but some MPs, including the radical Liberal MP John Bright (right), showed disrespect by not removing their hats while a royal person was the subject of debate. There was some opposition to granting the Prince more money, but the vote was easily carried in his favour.
1882

© Terry Parker / Mary Evans Picture Library