Charles Henry Wilson, MP — 'Hull'

Signed by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini), this chromolithograph caricatures Charles Henry Wilson (1833–1907), Liberal MP for Hull and head of the Wilson shipping dynasty that dominated Humber trade. The caption simply reads Hull — the constituency standing in for the man. Pellegrini renders Wilson with affectionate exaggeration: luxuriant auburn mutton-chop whiskers and a walrus moustache frame a ruddy, self-satisfied face beneath a tall silk hat. Hands thrust in pockets, he occupies the frame with the solid confidence of a provincial magnate who has arrived in Westminster on commercial muscle rather than landed pedigree. The caricature's politics are those of class — the prosperous nonconformist merchant made good, slightly too comfortable for Pall Mall.