From the exhibition
'Kensington' — Frederick Edward Ridgeway, Bishop of Kensington
Leslie Ward · 26 February 1903

Spy (Leslie Ward) presents Ridgeway full-length, facing the viewer with the slightly goggle-eyed, hollow-cheeked exaggeration characteristic of the series. He wears a voluminous fur-collared overcoat above clerical bands, a top hat with a silk stripe, and carries both a leather briefcase and a tightly furled umbrella — the complete equipment of the ecclesiastical administrator on his rounds. The caption reads simply *"Kensington,"* the new suffragan see created in 1901 under London diocese. The caricature is gentle rather than satirical: Ridgeway was an uncontroversial appointment, and Ward's emphasis falls on the bishop's slightly donnish, harried air — a man of paperwork and parishes rather than pulpit drama. No ethnic caricature is present; the portrait is a straightforward social type.
Leslie Ward CC0