ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

'A Persecuted Bishop' — Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln

Leslie Ward · Vanity Fair, 13 September 1890, chromolithograph by Leslie Ward ('Spy')

'A Persecuted Bishop' — Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln
Ward's 'Spy' renders Edward King in full episcopal black, a gold crucifix prominent at his chest, one hand resting on a draped table, the other raised in a gesture midway between blessing and argument. The caption—*a persecuted Bishop*—nods pointedly to King's 1888 prosecution before the Archbishop's Court for ritualist practices: lighting candles, mixing water with communion wine, making the sign of the cross. The glass flask on the table likely alludes to that liturgical water controversy. King appears elderly but unbowed, even faintly amused. Ward's sympathy is palpable; the caricature softens rather than mocks, framing King as a dignified High Church martyr in a very public Anglican culture war over Roman-leaning ceremony.

Leslie Ward CC0