The Vokes Sisters

Identify sitters

The Vokes Sisters

by Lock & Whitfield
woodburytype, circa 1875
3 3/8 in. x 2 1/4 in. (87 mm x 56 mm) image size
acquired F.J. Eberlen, 1978
Photographs Collection
NPG Ax7681

Sittersback to top

Jessie Catherine Biddulph Vokes (1851-1884), Actress and dancer. Sitter associated with 10 portraits. Identify
(Theodocia) Rosina Vokes (1854-1894), Actress and dancer. Sitter associated with 11 portraits. Identify
Victoria Rosaline Sarah Vokes (1850 or 1853-1894), Actress. Sitter in 10 portraits. Identify

Artistback to top

Lock & Whitfield (active 1856-1894), Photographers. Artist associated with 626 portraits.

Placesback to top

Place made: Unknown Place (photographers' studio)

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1875back to top

Current affairs

Samuel Plimsoll, a back-bench Liberal MP, campaigns for measures to prevent the practice of overloading unseaworthy vessels and claiming insurance. The Plimsoll Line is established; a line drawn on ships, it denotes the maximum legal load a cargo ship is allowed to carry.
The Public Health Act, the work of Richard A. Cross, sets down in detail the responsibilities of local authorities in terms of public health.

Art and science

Anthony Trollope's masterpiece The Way We Live Now is published after serialisation. Containing over 100 chapters, the complex plot, following the fortunes of sham financier Augustus Melmotte, tackles the commercial, political and moral hypocrisy of the age.

International

Disraeli purchases nearly half the total shares in the Suez Canal Company from the bankrupt Egyptian Khedive, Ismail Pasha, securing a controlling interest in the trading route. Since Parliament was not in session at the time, Disraeli borrowed £4 million from the banking family Rothschilds, attracting much criticism from Parliamentary opponents, although he won popularity from the Queen and the public.

Tell us more back to top

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