Sir Leslie ‘Spy’ Ward for Vanity Fair Magazine

An MFH with a sense of humour (1905)

Lithograph

36 x 21 cm

Published in Vanity Fair on 23rd November 1905.

The ‘MFH with a sense of humour’ depicted here is Richard Greville Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke (1869 – 1923), British peer, Conservative politician, and Master of Foxhounds.

Verney was the son of Colonel Henry Verney, 18th Baron Willoughby de Broke and Geraldine Smith-Barry, and was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford. The historian George Dangerfield described Verney as “a genial and sporting young peer, whose face bore a pleasing resemblance to the horse. … He had quite a gift for writing, thought clearly, and was not more than two hundred years behind his time.” He wrote a book on foxhunting called “Hunting the Fox”, which was published in 1921 and remains an acclaimed text on the sport today.

Verney represented Rugby, Warwickshire, as an MP from 1895–1900. In 1902 he succeeded his father as 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke.

Condition: very good.

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