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From the exhibition

Alfred Emmott, M.P. — 'The Deputy Speaker'

"W H O" (artist), Hentschel Colourtype, London · Published 19 October 1910, Vanity Fair Supplement; Hentschel Colourtype, London; artist signed 'W H O'

Alfred Emmott, M.P. — 'The Deputy Speaker'
The plate shows Alfred Emmott, Liberal M.P. for Oldham and then Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, rendered full-length against a bare ground. He wears a dark frock coat over a buttoned waistcoat, pinstriped trousers, and polished black shoes — the regulation dress of a senior parliamentarian — with one hand pocketed and the other loose at his side. The caption reads simply *'The Deputy Speaker,'* with his name and title appended below. Unlike the sharper distortions of Spy or Ape, the unsigned 'W H O' works in a near-portrait register: the small moustache and receding hair are noted, but the body proportions carry only mild elongation. The image flatters a man of procedural authority rather than satirising him — appropriate for a figure whose political identity was defined by impartiality rather than controversy.

"W H O" (artist), Hentschel Colourtype, London Public domain