George Pitt-Lewis, Q.C., M.P. — 'Barnstaple'

Leslie Ward ('Spy') presents George Pitt-Lewis — barrister, Liberal M.P. for Barnstaple — in profile, rendered as a portly, self-satisfied figure in black frock coat, tan trousers, and silk top hat, gold watch-chain looped across his substantial stomach. Round spectacles and reddish hair soften what is otherwise a gently mocking study in provincial pomposity. The caption, simply 'Barnstaple,' anchors him to his constituency rather than any grander stage, a quiet editorial verdict on a man of solid but unremarkable ambition. The plate belongs to Vanity Fair's 'Statesmen' series (No. 522), cataloguing the Victorian Bar and Liberal backbenches with affectionate, faintly deflating wit.