Forty years of 'Spy'

by Sir Leslie Ward

Also among clothes-subjects was Mr. John Laird, member of Parliament, who was a superlative delight to the caricaturist, for his clothes were unique even among the remarkable, his usual costume consisting of a long-tailed frock-coat covered by a short pea-jacket which extended only a little beyond his waist.

Lord Alexander Paget—the father of the present Lord Anglesey—known to his friends as "Dandy Paget," was a very smart man of the best type. He wore a hat with a very curly brim, and dressed in very loud checks; but he could wear what he liked, for he always "looked right." I stayed a week-end with him in Cheshire, and while there he obliged me by showing me his wonderful wardrobe in which I never saw a more varied selection, and I soon hit on the suit which I thought the most effective for my purpose. This was the one with the biggest check of all, and with the peggiest of peg-top trousers.

Also for rare habilatory peculiarity, the uncle of "the Dasher" (the late Earl of Portarlington) was hard to beat. He was an old gentleman who usually, in walking costume, wore a decidedly blue frock-coat trimmed with deep braid, lavender-coloured trousers of a nautical cut and patent leather boots, showing but the tips, after the Bulwer-Lytton style. His hair was trimmed over his ears in the Buster-Brown manner, and his moustache and tip well cosmetiqued. His silk hat was of a build of its own, well curled. His tie of a brilliant hue, a fancifully arranged handkerchief emerging from his breast pocket, the gayest of button-holes, and grey kid gloves completed an ensemble wonderful to behold. One of the greatest treats I have ever had was watching him pirouette through the figures of a quadrille, in the good old-fashioned style, on the occasion of a ball at Stafford House.

One curious anomaly, a Puritan Beau, I remember in Mr. Sturge, the old Quaker, whom my eye always seemed to seek and find in the Lobby, leaning upon his stick, his face shaded by a silk hat with an extraordinary wide brim, and a white cravat tied carefully under his chin. Day after day he was to be seen there, but when the Lobby list was wiped out after the bomb scare, I missed my pet figure who came no more.

The names by which some of the members were known were not without significance. Mr. Tom Collins, M.P., had the reputation of being the noisiest and most slovenly man in the House of '73, and was commonly known as "Noisy Tom." Lord Vivian, whose caricature I believe to be among my happiest, was dubbed "Hook and Eye." He was a well-known racing man, and I frequently observed him on the race-course.

Then there was Mr. Edward Jenkins, M.P., known as "Ginx's Baby," after his well-known book of that name. Mr. Adams-Acton, the well-known sculptor, arranged a dinner in order that I might meet him, but I am ashamed to say that I entirely forgot the engagement until some days after. My father, being one of the guests, was extremely put out at my non-appearance. "We waited for you a quarter of an hour," he said, "I was so ashamed!" However, I made my excuses to Mr. Adams-Acton and took further opportunities of seeing the well-known M.P. in the Lobby of the House, where his intensely Shakesperian forehead marked him out from the rest.

The Earl of Powis, irreverently dubbed "Mouldy" by "Jehu Junior," was a delightful old peer of a period long past, and one of my favourite studies. Viscount Midleton I frequently saw in the Lobby; he was nearly blind, and his helplessness seemed peculiarly pathetic in "the House," as he used to run up against doors and pillars when unattended, but as a rule he was led by his secretary.

It was in '78 that I caricatured old Mr. Seely, M.P. for Lincoln, and a great breeder of pigs. He was the grandfather of Brigadier-General Seely, once Minister of War in the Asquith Government. It was "Jehu Junior" who described my subject as "an amiable and decent person ... and there is no reason in the nature of things why he should not have lived and died happy and respectable. But he was returned to Parliament for Lincoln." Years after when I saw Colonel Seely in the House for the first time I recognized him at once because of the same characteristic attitude, although he is very much taller.

A number of well-known faces recur in my memory from the background of the House! There was Robert Dalgleish, M.P., another jovial and most popular member, who wore the longest finger nails I have ever seen excepting on a Chinaman: Lord Cottesloe, who was the son of one of Nelson's companions in arms, and whom I used to watch with great interest as he came down the steps of the House of Lords: Viscount Cole (now Lord Inniskillen), whom I knew as a boy at Eton: also Viscount Dupplin, known as "Duppy," who was always smartly dressed and wore white ducks in summer; he was celebrated for his knowledge of the Chinese language.

À propos of the caricature of the late Lord Alington, one of my earliest, a very old friend of mine who was something of a busybody to me, "There is something about Pellegrini's work that you ought to study." I said, "I don't want to study anybody's work, only my subjects." "Well," he replied, "don't be offended, old chap, it's only to your advantage that I am saying this. Go and look at Pellegrini's cartoon of Lord Alington in this week's Vanity Fair. There is something in that which you never get." My only answer was, "You old ass, go and look at it yourself and read the signature upon it," which happened to be my own.