Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone; Lady May Helen Emma Abel Smith (née Cambridge); Prince Rupert, Viscount Trematon

1 portrait of Lady May Helen Emma Abel Smith (née Cambridge)

Identify sitters

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone; Lady May Helen Emma Abel Smith (née Cambridge); Prince Rupert, Viscount Trematon

by Speaight Ltd, printed by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
postcard print, circa 1909
4 7/8 in. x 3 1/4 in. (125 mm x 81 mm) image size
Acquired, 1970
Photographs Collection
NPG x26735

Sittersback to top

Artistsback to top

  • Rotary Photographic Co Ltd (active 1897-1916), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 1422 portraits.
  • Speaight Ltd (active 1904-1940), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 101 portraits.

Events of 1909back to top

Current affairs

The American retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge opens the first British custom-built department store on what was then the 'dead end' of Oxford Street. The revolutionary complex, considered the world's largest at the time, transforms shopping, offering diverse amenities including a post office and a library, and modernises the visual face of retailing through innovative window displays.

Art and science

The Frenchman Louis Bleriot becomes the first person to cross the English channel by aeroplane, winning the £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail, and greeted by cheering crowds at Dover station. Bleriot's flight also showed that England was, as H.G. Wells put it, from a military point of view 'no longer an inaccessible island'.
In dance, Alexandre Benois becomes the first artistic director of Sergey Diaghilev's innovative Ballets Russes.

International

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is founded in America to campaign for the rights of African Americans. One of the oldest and most influential civil rights movements, it was founded by a diverse group of individuals from mixed backgrounds, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Henry Moscowitz and William English Walling.
The Selig Polyscope company sets up the first film studio in Los Angeles.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.