Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond — 'Highly Respectable'

Plate 166, Statesmen No. 45, signed by the lesser-known caricaturist Alfred Thompson ('ATn'), presents the 5th Duke of Richmond in three-quarter length: black frock coat over a warm russet waistcoat, grey trousers, top hat dangling from one hand and what appears to be a letter or brief in the other. Behind him, a padded red bench — almost certainly the Lords' red leather — anchors him in his natural habitat. The caption, 'Highly respectable,' is gently damning: Richmond was a die-hard Conservative and President of the Board of Trade under Derby, competent but uninspiring. Thompson renders him stout, jowly, and self-satisfied — the very image of unreformed Tory squirearchy — without the malice Ape would have brought. No ethnic caricature is present; the humour is purely one of smug social type.