Randall Thomas Davidson, Bishop of Winchester — 'Prelate of the Garter'

Ward's caricature presents Davidson in profile, a compositional device Spy favoured to expose the telling silhouette of character. The Bishop wears clerical frock coat and gaiters, a top hat with cockade, and carries a cane — the full ceremonial undress of a Victorian churchman on parade. The caption 'Prelate of the Garter' identifies his role as registrar of England's oldest chivalric order, a Crown appointment that placed him squarely within the Establishment nexus of throne and altar. Davidson was at this moment emerging as the coming man of the Church of England, soon to become Archbishop of Canterbury (1903–1928). Ward's treatment is benign rather than sharp: a slight thickening of the jaw, a watchful eye, the hint of a self-satisfied set to the mouth — ambition rendered respectable.