Sir James Brooke

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir James Brooke

by Thomas Woolner
marble bust, 1858
27 in. (686 mm) high
Bequeathed by Mrs Totern Knox, 1906
Primary Collection
NPG 1426

Sitterback to top

  • Sir James Brooke (1803-1868), Army officer and first Raja of Sarawak. Sitter in 7 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Thomas Woolner (1825-1892), Sculptor and poet. Artist or producer associated with 24 portraits, Sitter in 28 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1858back to top

Current affairs

After Palmerston's government collapses, the Earl of Derby becomes Prime Minister for second time, again heading a minority government.
The Property qualification for MPs is abolished; one of the demands made by the Chartists, this allowed men who did not own property to stand as parliamentary candidates. Lionel Nathan Rothschild becomes the first Jew to sit in Britain's House of Commons, taking his oath on the Old Testament.

Art and science

The pianist Charles Hallé founds a symphony orchestra in Manchester, the Halle; now Britain's oldest professional orchestra. The Hallé symphony rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, under the tenure of conductor John Barbirolli, during which time they made many recordings, including Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 8.

International

The British Crown assumes control of India from the East India Company.
The Treaty of Tientsin, ending the Second Opium War, gives European powers new rights to intervene in Chinese affairs
The Fenian Brotherhood is founded by John O'Mahony, an Irish emigrant to the United States, to support Irish republican ambitions.

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Martin Laverty

13 August 2021, 13:25

Genealogical data suggests that this bust was bequeathed on the death of Susan Toten Knox, the widow of Alexander Andrew Knox (1818-1891). Knox had been an executor of Sir James Brooke's will, but the bust had been made for a trustee of the will, Sir Thomas Fairbairn (1823-1891), as recorded by the Rajah himself in a letter written just after his first sitting, in September 1858, for "Mr Woolner a very pleasing and intelligent young man who stays with us".