Robert Dalglish, 'The Most Popular Man in the House of Commons'

Signed 'Spy' (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph — Statesmen No. 145 — portrays Robert Dalglish, Liberal MP for Glasgow, as a heavy, self-satisfied figure seated sideways in a cane chair, a cigar trailing smoke from his lips and a folded paper dangling loosely from one hand. The caption, 'The most popular man in the House of Commons,' reads as fond rather than cutting: Dalglish was genuinely well-liked across party lines, a plain-spoken Scottish merchant-politician with no ministerial ambitions. Ward amplifies his bulk and florid complexion but stops short of malice. The portrait is more affectionate than satirical — a gentle nudge at comfortable backbench complacency rather than any pointed political argument.