''The Terrace, 1909'' is a landscape painting by Milly Childers showing the members' terrace of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

with its view of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

looking towards Lambeth Bridge. It is held by the Parliamentary Art Collection. Painted before women could be elected to the British

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, or sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, the people on the terrace are all men. Childers' father Hugh Culling Eardley Childers served as

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

and

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

, which may have assisted to secure her the commission for the painting. The bearded man with

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

in the central group is Sir John Benjamin Stone, who later took a photograph of Childers with her painting. He appears to be giving a photograph to Sir David Erskine, the Serjeant at Arms who had been responsible for removing the suffragettes Helen Fox and Muriel Matters who had chained themselves to the grilles of the ladies gallery of the

on 28 October 1908.Comments on the portrait of Sir Henry David Erskine
in the Parliamentary Art Collection The man leaning against the balustrade and looking at the painter was the Labour Party leader

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, and was its first Leader of the Labour Party (UK), parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. ...

, a friend of the suffragette

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. The man second from right is

Norman Lamont Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, (born 8 May 1942) is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990 until 1993. He was created a life peer i ...

. File:Sir John Benjamin Stone - photo of Milly Childers painting 'The Terrace', 1909 mw117056.jpg, Photo of Childers by Stone on location File:Speaker's Procession with Serjeant-at-Arms Sir Henry David Erskine 1906.jpg, Speaker's procession of 1906 with Sir David Erskine carrying the mace.

References

Painting record
in the Parliamentary Art Collection
Painting record
in

Art UK Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 300,000 paintings, sculptures and other artworks by more than 53,700 artists. It was found ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terrace, 1909, The London in art 1909 paintings Landscape paintings Palace of Westminster