McEleny won more medals than any other British swimmer at Atlanta in 1996. Paraplegic, she has struggled against ill-health to achieve her sporting success and was the flag bearer for the opening ...

Born in Belfast, Fraser was educated at the Royal Academical Institution and Queen's University, becoming a consultant at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in 1927. Fraser volunteered in ...

Bulgarian-born writer; studied Chemistry in Vienna before emigrating to England in 1938; wrote essays, plays, autobiography and a study of crowds, but made his name with the novel, Die Blendung (1935) ...

Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, in what is now southeastern Nigeria. He was kidnapped into slavery at the age of eleven and put to work for a number of different masters in America, the West ...

Younghusband's interests lay in problems of the poor, and whilst a full-time lecturer at the London School of Economics (1933-57), she devoted her spare time to the Citizens' Advice Bureaux, care ...

Jacob Ferdinand Voet was a Flemish painter who made his career in Rome. Little is known of his early life in Antwerp. He arrived in Rome in 1663, probably via France. Voet became a much sought-after ...

The Reference Collection is held in the Heinz Archive and Library and contains more than 70,000 portraits of important and lesser known figures in British history. The majority of these portraits are ...

Mary Moser trained with her father George Michael Moser, a Swiss engraver, medallist and a leading figure at the St Martin's Lane Academy, as well as the first keeper of the Royal Academy. His ...

Get creative with art workshops at the National Portrait Gallery. From photography and collage, to painting and pen, learn new skills and develop techniques across a variety of mediums. Led by artists ...

Political leader, activist and religious and social reformer. Born in Porbandar, India, Gandhi left for London in 1888 to study law at University College. His first major job was as a legal advisor in ...

Staley was a Catholic goldsmith and banker accused of speaking malicious and treasonable words against King Charles II. His accusers were 'loose and vicious gentleman' who offered to drop the charge ...

John Colborne entered the Army in 1794. He first saw active service in the Dutch Helder campaign of 1799 and took part in an expedition to Egypt two years later. Colborne served in the Peninsular War ...