One curious anomaly, a Puritan Beau, I remember in Mr. Sturge, the old
Quaker, whom my eye always seemed to seek and find in the Lobby,
leaning upon his stick, his face shaded by a silk hat with an
extraordinary wide brim, and a white cravat tied carefully under his
chin. Day after day he was to be seen there, but when the Lobby list
was wiped out after the bomb scare, I missed my pet figure who came no
more.
The names by which some of the members were known were not without
significance. Mr. Tom Collins, M.P., had the reputation of being the
noisiest and most slovenly man in the House of '73, and was commonly
known as "Noisy Tom." Lord Vivian, whose caricature I believe to be
among my happiest, was dubbed "Hook and Eye." He was a well-known
racing man, and I frequently observed him on the race-course.
Then there was Mr. Edward Jenkins, M.P., known as "Ginx's Baby," after
his well-known book of that name. Mr. Adams-Acton, the well-known
sculptor, arranged a dinner in order that I might meet him, but I am
ashamed to say that I entirely forgot the engagement until some days
after. My father, being one of the guests, was extremely put out at my
non-appearance. "We waited for you a quarter of an hour," he said, "I
was so ashamed!" However, I made my excuses to Mr. Adams-Acton and
took further opportunities of seeing the well-known M.P. in the Lobby
of the House, where his intensely Shakesperian forehead marked him out
from the rest.
The Earl of Powis, irreverently dubbed "Mouldy" by "Jehu Junior," was
a delightful old peer of a period long past, and one of my favourite
studies. Viscount Midleton I frequently saw in the Lobby; he was
nearly blind, and his helplessness seemed peculiarly pathetic in "the
House," as he used to run up against doors and pillars when
unattended, but as a rule he was led by his secretary.
It was in '78 that I caricatured old Mr. Seely, M.P. for Lincoln, and
a great breeder of pigs. He was the grandfather of Brigadier-General
Seely, once Minister of War in the Asquith Government. It was "Jehu
Junior" who described my subject as "an amiable and decent person ...
and there is no reason in the nature of things why he should not have
lived and died happy and respectable. But he was returned to
Parliament for Lincoln." Years after when I saw Colonel Seely in the
House for the first time I recognized him at once because of the same
characteristic attitude, although he is very much taller.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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