Group including King Edward VII

1 portrait of Prince Arthur of Connaught

Identify sitters

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Group including King Edward VII

by William Booty
bromide print, 26 May 1909
5 7/8 in. x 4 1/8 in. (148 mm x 104 mm)
Given by Beth Clarke, 1978
Photographs Collection
NPG x7802

Artistback to top

  • William Booty, Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 3 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

Sittersback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Pepper, Terence, High Society: Photographs 1897-1914, 1998 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 30 January to 21 June 1998), p. 46 Read entry

    The photograph was taken after Edward’s horse Minoru won the race; the king led the horse into the paddock himself where the crowds broke into the National Anthem. From left to right are Alec March, Edward’s trainer, the Duke of Connaught, Edward VII, Lord Marcus de la Poer Beresford, Prince Arthur of Connaught, the future George V, and Prince Alexander of Teck, later the Earl of Athlone.

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Camera Portraits, 1989 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 October 1989 - 21 January 1990), p. 161 Read entry

    The sitters are (left to right): Alec March, the King's trainer; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught 1850-1942; the King; Lord Marcus Beresford 1848-1922, the King's racing manager; Prince Arthur of Connaught 1883-1938; the Duke of York, later George V 1865-1936; and the Earl of Athlone 1874-1957.

    Taken by an amateur photographer (who is said to have been at one time manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London), this photograph records the moments after the King's colt Minora, ridden by Herbert Jones, won the Derby by a short head. This was the first time the race had been won by a reigning sovereign, and such was the excitement on the occasion that the crowds broke spontaneously into 'God Save the King'.

Placesback to top

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.

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