General Sir Francis Grenfell, K.C.B.

Leslie Ward ('Spy') renders Grenfell in strict profile, a convention that flattens the subject into emblem. The General wears the dark tunic and red-striped trousers of a senior British officer, but his most conspicuous item is the red fez — the headgear of the Egyptian Army, whose Sirdar (commander-in-chief) Grenfell had become in 1885 after serving under Wolseley at Tel-el-Kebir. The fez on a British general was readable to Victorian readers as both trophy and absurdity: empire's man costumed in the uniform of the army he effectively ran. Grenfell holds a swagger cane and wears campaign medals; his thick moustache and portly silhouette are gently mocked. The caption gives his knighthood its full weight — the plate doubles as career announcement and gentle satire of imperial self-importance.