'Old Warren': Warren William De La Rue

Leslie Ward ('Spy') presents De La Rue — printing magnate and racing devotee — as a prosperous, slightly comic figure of the Turf. The chromolithograph shows a portly, white-haired gentleman in a long buff overcoat and brown leather sling-strap, bowler hat cocked forward, cigarette at lip, walking-stick trailing from one gloved hand. The exaggeration is social rather than physical: Ward inflates the belly, rounds the shoulders, and gives the face a self-satisfied complacency that telegraphs old money and racecourse mornings. The caption 'Old Warren' — affectionate but faintly condescending — positions him as a recognizable type: the comfortable Victorian businessman who has bought his way into sporting society. The plate ran as Men of the Day No. 595, printed by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son.