Prime Minister Gallery

Smoking club, 18th century artwork

Smoking club, 18th century artwork. The practice of smoking tobacco was popularised in England and Ireland in the 1580s and 1590s by the English soldier and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1552-1618). This artwork, by the English caricaturist James Gillray (1757-1815), shows members of the House of Commons puffing smoke at each other. Those present include the Speaker (left) Charles James Fox (1749-1806), the Prime Minister (second from left) William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) and the Home Secretary (second from right) Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811). This copy of this artwork was published in the work Tobacco, its History and Associations (1859) by the English engraver Frederick William Fairholt (1814-1866)

© GEORGE ARENTS COLLECTION/NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY/ SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Members of the cabinet of Britain's Labour government elected in the 1945 General

6015255 Members of the cabinet of Britain's Labour government elected in the 1945 General Election (b/w photo) by English Photographer, (20th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: Members of the cabinet of Britain's Labour government elected in the 1945 General Election. Illustration from The Second Great War, A Standard History, Volume Five (The Waverley Book Company Ltd in association with The Amalgamated Press Ltd, London, c1946).); A© Look and Learn; English, out of copyright

© © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images

The Reform Bill, 1832 (c1850s)

The Reform Bill, 1832 (c1850s). The Rt Hon Earl Grey introduced the Reform Act in Parliament in 1832. It was intended to make wide-ranging changes to the British electoral system. Colour plate taken from the book Pictures of English History, George Routledge And Sons, (London, New York, c1850)

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images

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