Belle Bilton

by Alexander Bassano
albumen cabinet card, 1889
5 7/8 in. x 4 in. (149 mm x 103 mm) image size
Given by Cecil Reginald Grundy, 1940
Photographs Collection
NPG x958

Sitterback to top

Isabel Maude Penrice ('Belle') Le-Poer-Trench (née Bilton), Countess of Clancarty (1867-1906), Music hall entertainer; wife of 5th Earl of Clancarty; daughter of John George Bilton. Sitter in 34 portraits.

Artistback to top

Alexander Bassano (1829-1913), Photographer. Artist associated with 2805 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

Related worksback to top

NPG Ax136801: Belle Bilton; Mary Ansell (includes the portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

Levitt, Sarah, Fashion in Photographs 1880-1900, 1991, p. 73

Placesback to top

Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (photographer's studio, 25 Old Bond Street , London)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Alexander Bassano: Victorian Photographer (From 25 March 2013)

Portrait setback to top

Bassano cabinet cards, 1870s-1900s

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1889back to top

Current affairs

The London Dock strike takes place resulting in a victory for the dock workers striking over pay and conditions.
Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, allowing legal intervention between children and parents for the first time.
Charles Booth, the English social scientist, publishes the first volume of Life and Labour of the People, an extensive survey into the living conditions of London's East End working class communities.

Art and science

George Gissing's The Nether World, a dark account of the lives of the urban poor in Clerkenwell, is published. Gissing absorbs the French naturalist style of writers such as Emile Zola to produce a harshly realistic observation of life in London at the end of the nineteenth century.

International

The Eiffel Tower is erected, designed by the French engineer and bridge builder Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exposition. At 300m high, it was the tallest manmade structure in the world at the time.
The Second International organisation is formed at a Congress in Paris by various socialist and labour parties, with the intention of working together for international socialism. It also declared 1 May International Labour Day.

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