From the exhibition
Harold John Tennant, M.P. — 'Dangerous Trades'
Sir Leslie Ward [Spy] · Published in Vanity Fair (London); exact issue date unconfirmed from available records
Spy (Sir Leslie Ward) renders H. J. Tennant, Liberal M.P. and brother-in-law of Herbert Asquith, in the characteristic full-length caricature mode: a slight forward lean, lapels gripped with proprietary confidence, a gold watch-chain looped across a dark pinstripe suit. The moustache is burnished to a point — Spy's reliable shorthand for Edwardian masculine vanity. The caption 'Dangerous Trades' is a Parliamentary pun, referencing Tennant's sustained Commons advocacy for factory safety legislation protecting workers in hazardous industries. The visual joke is entirely social — the languid gentleman-politician as unlikely champion of the workshop floor. The lithograph carries no distortion beyond the mildly elongated neck standard to Ward's style.
Sir Leslie Ward [Spy] Public domain
