Hon. Thomas H. A. E. Cochrane, 'North Ayrshire'

Signed 'Spy' (Leslie Ward), this chromolithograph — Men of the Day No. 1290 — depicts the Hon. Thomas H. A. E. Cochrane, D.L., J.P., identified by the caption 'North Ayrshire,' his parliamentary constituency. Ward renders him full-length, hands in pockets, in a dark three-piece suit with a gold watch-chain and blue bow-tie, projecting the easy authority of a landed Edwardian gentleman. The hat held loosely at his side and the slight forward lean are characteristic Ward shorthand for relaxed patrician confidence. The plate follows Ward's later, comparatively naturalistic style rather than the grotesque exaggeration of his earlier work. Politically it reads as a respectful, even flattering likeness — the kind Cochrane's Conservative-Unionist circle would have framed without embarrassment.