Alfred Montgomery (1814-1896) Commissioner of the Inland Revenue: “Alfred”

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: HM Revenue & Customs, 100 Parliament Street

The text accompanying Ward’s 1878 caricature of Alfred Montgomery, a Commissioner of the Inland Revenue, describes Montgomery as the ‘most popular… most amiable of tax-collectors.’

Leslie Ward was born into a family of painters. His mother and father were historical genre painters Edward Matthew Ward and Henrietta Ward. He was educated at Eton and then entered the studio of architect Sydney Smirke. However, he abandoned his architectural training to become apprenticed to W. P. Frith. In 1873 J. E. Millais sent some of his drawings to Thomas Gibson Bowles, founder and owner of ‘Vanity Fair’. Bowles immediately hired Ward, whose first ‘Vanity Fair’ caricature appeared in 1873 under the ‘nom de crayon’ Spy. Ward also painted portraits and made architectural drawings, exhibiting his work at the Royal Academy and Grosvenor Gallery. He was knighted in 1918. Ward died in 1922 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

People

Alfred Montgomery (1814 - 1896)

Places

Subjects

male portrait, 19th century costume, coat, trousers, top hat, umbrella, glove, wing collar, tie, shoe

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, colour lithograph

Artist

Sir Leslie Matthew ("Spy") Ward (1851 - 1922)

Title

Alfred Montgomery (1814-1896) Commissioner of the Inland Revenue: “Alfred”

Date

2 November 1878

Medium

Colour lithograph

Dimensions

height: 37.50 cm, width: 23.50 cm

Acquisition

Transferred from HM Revenue and Customs, December 2012

Provenance

Inland Revenue, Somerset House; transferred to GAC 2012

GAC number

15658