'A Military Secretary', caricature of Sir Douglas Frederick Rawdon Dawson (1854-1933), Irish Guards, 1903 (c)

Chromolithograph after Sir Leslie Matthew Ward ('Spy') (1851-1922), printed by Vincent Brooks, Day and Son Limited, published by 'Vanity Fair', 1 January 1903.

Sir Douglas Dawson joined the Coldstream Guards in 1874. He saw service in Egyptian Campaign of 1882, and the Nile expedition of 1884-85. In his later career he undertook a variety of posts including Military Attaché in a number of European countries, Master of Ceremonies to King Edward VII and Comptroller in the Lord Chamberlain's Office. During the First World War he served as Assistant Director of Personal Services at the War Office from 1914 to 1915 and then as Inspector of Vulnerable Points at General Headquarters from 1916 to 1919.

The artist, Leslie Ward (1851-1922), who was knighted in 1919, contributed more than half the caricatures published in 'Vanity Fair' between 1873 and 1909. He adopted the pseudonym 'Spy', defined as 'an observer', and described in an interview in 'The Strand Magazine' (July-December 1894, pp632-34) how, when caricaturing a subject, he tried 'to catch hold of the leading feature and slightly, very slightly, exaggerate'.