Elizabeth (Elizabeth Southerden Thompson) Butler

Born in 1846, Elizabeth Southerden Thompson later became widely known as Lady Butler. She trained in art in London and Florence, and built her reputation by painting military subjects at a time when history painting was dominated by men.

Her breakthrough came with The Roll Call in 1874, a painting of exhausted soldiers after battle that drew huge public attention. She went on to create some of the best-known military images of the period, including Scotland Forever! and The Defence of Rorke's Drift, and became admired for showing courage, fatigue, and human feeling rather than turning war into simple pageantry.

After marrying Sir William Butler in 1877, she continued to paint while also moving with her husband's military career. She died in 1933, and her work is still remembered for bringing energy, emotion, and a distinctive point of view to nineteenth-century battle painting.