Sir Charles Warren, 'Bechuanaland'

Signed Ape (Carlo Pellegrini), this chromolithograph caricatures Major-General Sir Charles Warren, KCMG, captioned Bechuanaland — a reference to his 1884–85 military expedition that secured the territory for Britain against Boer and freebooter encroachment, a geopolitical manoeuvre that kept the road north open for Cape expansion. Warren stands in three-quarter profile, pince-nez perched on his nose, clutching a document folder labelled South Africa. Pellegrini exaggerates his bristling reddish moustache and portly frame while preserving a certain imperial self-satisfaction in his upward gaze. The satire focuses on professional vanity and colonial ambition. Warren would become Metropolitan Police Commissioner two years later, overseeing the Jack the Ripper investigation.