Edward Bickersteth, Dean of Lichfield — 'Convocation'

Leslie Ward ('Spy') renders the Dean of Lichfield as a figure of barely contained physical comedy. Bickersteth is enormously rotund, squeezed into clerical black — cassock, coat, and a wide-brimmed top hat that seems to float atop a ruddy, puckered face. One gloved hand grips a furled umbrella; the other clutches his lapel with a hint of self-importance. The caption, Convocation, points to Bickersteth's prominence in Church of England governance debates — he was a vigorous voice in the Canterbury Convocation on issues of liturgy and discipline. Ward's joke is primarily social: institutional piety wrapped in conspicuous bulk, the Church's deliberative dignity made flesh in a man who looks better suited to a good dinner than a synod.