'Southwell' — George Ridding, Bishop of Southwell

Ward's caricature presents the elderly bishop in strict profile, swathed in a voluminous black overcoat with a heavy fur collar, a silk top hat set low on his brow, and a walking stick gripped in a gloved hand. The pose — hunched, forward-leaning, beaky in feature — is characteristic of Spy's technique: affectionate mockery that nonetheless conveys authority worn long and comfortably. The caption reads simply "Southwell." Ridding had been the founding Bishop of Southwell since 1884, a muscular-Christian headmaster-turned-prelate known for rigorous educational reform at Winchester. No ethnic caricature is present. The plate's mild comedy lies in rendering a man of considerable institutional power as little more than a very well-dressed, rather dour old crow.