From the exhibition
James Lennox Hannay — 'Marlborough Street'
Leslie Ward · Vanity Fair, 22 December 1898

Spy's chromolithograph presents Hannay in three-quarter profile: a white-haired, white-bearded elder gentleman in a dark frock coat and checked trousers, turning a handkerchief in his hands with an air of patient authority. The caption 'Marlborough Street' identifies him by his professional address — the Great Marlborough Street Police Court, where Hannay served as a metropolitan magistrate. The comedy is social, gently deflating the dignity of a senior judicial officer through the domestic prop of a crumpled cloth. Ward flatters more than he mocks, a characteristic approach when his subject was an Establishment figure of advanced years and uncontroversial reputation.
Leslie Ward Public domain