Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour

by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen cabinet card, 1870s-1900s
5in. x 4 1/2in. (145 mm x 113 mm)
Purchased, 1983
Photographs Collection
NPG x22246

Sitterback to top

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848-1930), Prime Minister and philosopher. Sitter in 138 portraits.

Artistback to top

London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company (active 1854-1922), Photographers. Artist associated with 952 portraits.

Portrait setback to top

London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company cabinet cards, 1870s-1900s

Events of 1870back to top

Current affairs

William Edward Forster's Education Act is passed, making provisions for education for all under-13s. It demonstrated the balance in Gladstone's first ministry between progressive reform and conservativism by spreading literacy, whilst maintaining the status of Church schools.
The Married Women's Property Act gives wives rights over their own earnings.

Art and science

The Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, based on Shakespeare's play and written with the aid of composer Mily Balakirev, debuts in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubenstein.
W. G. Grace becomes cricket captain of Gloucestershire, marking the start of a successful decade for the club in which they won three 'Champion County' titles.

International

Isaac Butt, an Irish MP at Westminster, forms the Home Rule Association.
The Franco-Prussian war breaks out between France and a coalition of German states led by Prussia. Provoked by the candidacy of German Prince Leopold Hohenzollen-Sigmaringen for the Spanish throne, France declared war in July after Bismark published the deliberately provocative Ems telegraph, in which the French were represented in an offensive light on the issue.

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