Works of art, including images of Benjamin Disraeli and abolitionist William Wilberforce, are among those missing from the Houses of Parliament, it can be revealed.
A portrait photograph of the UK’s first, and thus far only, Jewish prime minister is one of dozens of artworks that House of Commons authorities are searching for, along with a 19th Century engraving print of Wilberforce, who led the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade.
They are on a list of more than 65 artworks that have been misplaced since the start of 2024, which was released after a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association.
A photograph of Britain’s first female foreign secretary, Labour peer Baroness Beckett, is also missing, as is a satirical cartoon of Harold Wilson’s effective deputy, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, where she is depicted as Florence Nightingale.
Parliament indicated the works may have been lost while moving them around during restoration work on the estate, and none of the items listed have been “written off”.
Five have been “found” since the turn of the year, including one by 19th Century satirical cartoonist Isaac Cruikshank.
Among those missing by living creators is a cartoon by satirist Martin Rowson during the Conservative Party leadership election in 1995.
It depicts John Major seeking to lance the literal “boil” of the leadership contest, as his deputy Michael Heseltine and challenger-apparent Michael Portillo look on.
Mr Rowson told the Press Association the issue of cartoons going missing was not uncommon.
He said a Times cartoon of the Foreign Office Christmas Party in 2004, sent to then-junior minister Denis MacShane at his department, “never got beyond reception”.
He said: “It’s a shame, but it’s hardly the crown jewels – and the point about cartoon originals is that they’ve been published already: the artefact is probably the impression in the newspaper, as that’s its ticket to posterity.
“The original is the modern equivalent to one of Hogarth or Gillray’s copper plates used to create the – reproduced – satirical print. That’s why we belong more properly to journalism than art.
“(It’s) small beer compared to one of my cartoons which was part of a touring exhibition of work by members of the British Cartoonists’ Association, all of which was destroyed by a Nato airstrike in the Serbian public library it had reached on its British Council sponsored tour in 1998.”
The photograph of Disraeli, who was given a peerage during the second of his two spells as prime minister, was by John Jabez Edwin Mayall.
Mayall notably took photographs of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as well as Charles Dickens and one of the most famous photographs of Karl Marx.
His photographs of the royals made him more than £3 million across the decade after Prince Albert died.
Meanwhile, the print of Wilberforce, who died days after the abolition of slavery across the British Empire, was by Victorian-era printmaker William Holl.
The number missing is vastly down from the 220 reported in 2018 after an audit had been carried out.
At the time, it included portraits of William Pitt the Younger, and a wartime oil painting by William John MacLeod of the scene after parliament was bombed.
A parliamentary spokesperson said: “There is little evidence of works of art going permanently missing from the Parliamentary Art Collection.
“As a working collection, artworks are frequently moved between their recorded locations and are often subsequently found, meaning none of the items currently recorded as missing have been written off or are considered a financial loss.
“Parliament continues to reduce the number of artworks recorded as missing through ongoing audits.”
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