Mr Michael Biddulph, M.P.

Ward's plate presents Biddulph in strict profile, walking-stick hand thrust into trouser pocket, the other lost behind a considerable paunch accentuated by a gold watch-chain catching the light. A tall silk hat, dark frock coat, and tan trousers mark him as prosperous City gentry rather than political firebrand. The caricature's argument is social rather than ideological: Biddulph — banker, MP, and son-in-law of Baron Overstone — is gently satirised as a man whose chief distinction is comfortable wealth. Ward amplifies the belly and the slightly pursed, self-satisfied expression to suggest a figure more at ease in the counting-house than the Commons chamber. No ethnic caricature is present. The Spy signature appears lower right.