Throwing Gallery

Poet and discus thrower, Mlle. H. Konopacka

Halina Konopacka (1900 - 1989), famous athlete and the first Polish Olympic Champion (1928, Amsterdam). She took part in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, where she won a gold medal in discus throw, breaking her own world record. This was the first women's gold-winning track and field event in the Olympics. She was also known in Poland for her poetry according to the caption. What a gal. Date: 1928

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Storming of Badajoz towards the end of the Siege of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain

Storming of Badajoz towards the end of the Siege of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain, 6 April 1812, by Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese forces against the French, part of the Peninsular War (1807-1814). Ladders were used to reach the top of the wall, and many lives were lost with attacks from above. Date: 1812

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Riots at Salter Hebble, Halifax

Disturbances at Salter Hebble in Halifax, part of the 1842 general strike, also known as the Plug Plot Riots, The riots started among the miners in Staffordshire, England, and soon spread through Britain affecting factories, mills in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and coal mines from Dundee to South Wales and Cornwall. In the case of Halifax, mounted troops were drafted in from Leeds and the engraving shows some of the mob attacking them.
1842

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans