Mordaunt Fenwick-Bisset, 'The General'

Ward's plate presents Fenwick-Bisset in profile, rotund and ruddy in the scarlet hunting coat and black riding boots of the English country squire—a fox-hunting man to his marrow. He grips what appears to be a snuff-box in white-gloved hands, a detail that sharpens the portrait's gentle mockery of Tory-landed complacency. The caption 'The General' underlines his military rank alongside his parliamentary career, yet the pronounced belly and self-satisfied posture do most of the editorial work. No ethnic caricature operates here; Ward's target is purely class: the beef-fed, hunt-obsessed Conservative backbencher whose authority rests on acres rather than intellect. The composition is characteristic Spy—affectionate ridicule in polished form.