When she became a Bahá’í in 1899 Ethel Jenner Rosenberg was the first native Believer in the United Kingdom. She served the Faith with distinction for many years, including as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly.
This gallery of pictures of British (and British-connected) Bahá’ís is made available through material provided by the Bahá’í World Centre, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom, Messrs. George Ronald Publisher, and Dr Iain S. Palin.. They are in medium quality JPEG format - good enough to download for your own use while not being so large as to make this an overlong procedure. To speed things up we have organised the pictures in displays which you can access one at a time.
DISPLAY ONE - ETHEL ROSENBERG
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When she became a Bahá’í in 1899 Ethel Jenner Rosenberg was the first native Believer in the United Kingdom. She served the Faith with distinction for many years, including as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly. |
DISPLAY TWO - LADY BLOMFIELD
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Sara Louisa, Lady Blomfield, was 'Abdu'l-Bahá's host when He visited London in 1911, and author of “The Chosen Highway”, Née Ryan, she was the first person of Irish birth to become a Bahá’í in Europe. She played a significant part in the establishment of the Save the Children Fund after the First World War. |
DISPLAY THREE - THREE LUMINARIES
The “three luminaries shedding brilliant lustre on annals of Irish, English and Scottish Baha’i communities” (Shoghi Effendi) were respectively Hand of the Cause of God George Townshend, Thomas Breakwell, and John Esslemont (named a Hand of the Cause after his death). The picture of Dr Esslemont, a colourised photograph, came to light only recently.
DISPLAY FOUR - PORTRAITS OF TWO WOMEN
Colour portraits of Lady Blomfield and of Mrs M. V. Thornburgh-Cropper as a young woman - these are on display at the U.K. national Bahá'í centre in London. Mrs Thornburgh-Cropper, an American living in London, was the first person in the British Isles to become a Bahá’í (1898).
DISPLAY FIVE - THE MASTER
Two likenesses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá not often seen, one by Kahlil Gibran, the other (the compiler's personal favourite) by Miss Souley-Cooper.
Bahá’ís are reminded of the respect and appropriate care they should exercise in using the likeness of 'Abdu’l-Bahá.
DISPLAY SIX - THE GUARDIAN
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An evocative picture of the Resting Place of the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, in North London. This picture was scanned at higher resolution for better printing after download, so the file size is larger than the others, around 85k. Since this increases load time, a thumbnail is given so that you can see whether you like it. |
DISPLAY SEVEN - DR ESSLEMONT’S GRAVE
Two larger (50 - 60+ K) JPG colour graphics of the grave of Hand of the Cause John Esslemont, in the Bahá’í Cemetery in Haifa, and a close-up showing its inscription “By all who knew him, he was loved”. This display will take a while to download. The pictures will look best in print on a high-resolution colour printer.
DISPLAY EIGHT - MISHKIN-QALAM
A miniature by Ethel Rosenberg, the first native Believer in the United Kingdom, of the noted Bahá’í calligrapher Mishkin-Qalam. A large file, of print quality. This picture is on display in the Mansion of Bahá’u’lláh at Bahji. We are grateful to the Universal House of Justice for permitting us to use it.
Miss Rosenberg was a professional artist specialising in miniatures.
DISPLAY NINE - ZAYNU’L-MUQARRABIN
A miniature by Ethel Rosenberg of Zaynu’l-Muqarrabin, “apostle of Bahá’u’lláh” . A large file, of print quality. This picture is on display in the Mansion of Bahá’u’lláh at Bajhi. We are grateful to the Universal House of Justice for permitting us to use it.
DISPLAY TEN - E. G. BROWNE
The British Orientalist and later Cambridge professor Edward Granville Browne was not the only Westerner to meet Bahá’u’lláh but he was the only one to leave a detailed description. His account of that historic meeting is treasured by Bahá’ís. This display has two pictures: the young Browne in Persian dress (about the time of his historic “Year Among the Persians”) and the older distinguished scholar.
DISPLAY ELEVEN - FREDERICK D'EVELYN
Belfast-born Dr Frederick W. D'Evelyn, distinguished early Believer in the United States, and the first person of Irish birth to become a Bahá’í (in the US in 1901).
DISPLAY TWELVE - THE CEDRIC
Two pictures of the Cedric, the liner on which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá crossed the Atlantic. It was constructed at Harland and Wolff's shipyard in Belfast. Another liner built there a few years later is better known to the general public - the Titanic.
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