More than 65 works of art are missing from the Houses of Parliament, it has been revealed. A portrait photograph of Benjamin Disraeli, considered Queen Victoria's favourite prime minister, is among dozens of artworks that House of Commons authorities are searching for. A 19th century engraving print of William Wilberforce, the leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade, also cannot be found.
Freedom of Information request reveals missing items
The revelation that more than 65 artworks have been misplaced since the start of 2024 was unearthed after a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association. The list of missing items includes a photograph of Britain's first female foreign secretary, Labour peer Baroness Margaret Beckett, and a satirical cartoon of Harold Wilson's effective deputy, Baroness Barbara Castle of Blackburn, where she is depicted as Florence Nightingale.
Parliament indicated art may have been lost while moving items around during works on the estate, and none of the listed items have been "written off". Five have been "found" since the turn of the year, including one by 19th century satirical cartoonist Isaac Cruikshank.
Cartoonists comment on missing works
Among those missing by living creators is a cartoon by satirist Martin Rowson during the Conservative Party leadership election in 1995. It shows 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 admitted 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."
He added: "(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."
Details on the missing artworks
The photograph of Disraeli, who was given a peerage during the second of his two spells as Prime Minister in the 1800s, was by John Jabez Edwin Mayall. Mr 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 £3million across the decade after Prince Albert died. Meanwhile, the print of Mr 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 on 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.
Parliament responds
A parliamentary spokesman 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."
