'B' — Mr. Squire Bancroft

Ward's plate of actor-manager Squire Bancroft — captioned simply 'B' — presents him in the uniform of Victorian respectability: black frock coat, top hat, pince-nez on a cord, and a bamboo cane tucked behind his back. The pose is three-quarter profile, slightly self-satisfied, suited to a man who had retired from the stage in 1885 wealthy and knighted in all but name (his knighthood came in 1897). The mild exaggeration targets social elevation — a grocer's grandson who conquered the West End and became its grandest gentleman. The caption's single letter flatters by understatement: everyone, the magazine implies, knows exactly who 'B' is.