Dame Millicent Fawcett
- Artist: Elliott & Fry
- Date: 1860
- Medium: albumen carte-de-visite
- Dimensions: 3in. x 2 3/8in. (94 mm x 59 mm)
- Portrays: Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett)
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is a small 3‑inch by 2¾‑inch albumen carte‑de‑visite photograph taken in the late 1860s by the studio of Elliott & Fry, who were active photographers from 1863 to 1962. In profile the image shows Millicent Garrett Fawcett’s face with a gentle light that highlights her cheekbones and the line of her jaw. The card background is plain, so the focus stays on her expression. You can see the subtle grain of the albumen print—an early photographic process where white paper becomes glossy under wet ink.
The sitter was Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847‑1929), a leading figure in Britain’s suffrage movement. She served as president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies from 1907 to 1919, heading an organization that boasted fifty thousand members. Her portrait here is one of fourteen she gave, showing her seriousness and poise—an image that would have been printed in newspapers or hand‑to‑hand collections for supporters. This little card links directly to her public life: the campaign, the speeches, the photographs that documented it all.
See it in person
Dame Millicent Fawcett is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
