SIR LESLIE WARD “SPY” (1851–1922) -A MIDLAND IMPERIALIST

A MIDLAND IMPERIALIST
Sir Alfred Frederick Bird — Bird's Custard
Original Vanity Fair Chromolithograph — 30 September 1908
Men of the Day No. 1138
“A Midland Imperialist”
Sir Alfred Frederick Bird
“Spy” — Sir Leslie Ward
Artwork Details
Sitter: Sir Alfred Frederick Bird, 1st Baronet (1849–1922)
Title: A Midland Imperialist
Series: Men of the Day
Publication: Vanity Fair
Publication date: 30 September 1908
Medium: Original colour chromolithograph
Original NPG sheet size: 35.9 × 24.2 cm
Visible image: approximately 19 × 31 cm
Mount: approximately 46 × 32 cm
Presentation: Mounted as shown

An original Edwardian Vanity Fair chromolithograph depicting Sir Alfred Frederick Bird, 1st Baronet (1849–1922), the prominent Birmingham businessman, food manufacturer and politician whose family created one of Britain's most recognisable household brands — Bird's Custard.

Drawn by celebrated caricaturist Sir Leslie Ward (1851–1922) under his famous pseudonym “Spy,” the portrait was published in Vanity Fair on 30 September 1908 under the title:

The National Portrait Gallery, London, holds an example of this exact portrait in its Reference Collection and catalogues it as Men of the Day No. 1138.

Alfred Frederick Bird was born in 1849 and succeeded his father in the family business Alfred Bird & Sons.

The company became famous for Bird's Custard, developed after Alfred's father, Alfred Bird, created an egg-free custard powder. The younger Alfred expanded the business and introduced additional products including jelly powder, blancmange and baking products. Staffordshire's historical archive identifies him as the Birmingham businessman behind Alfred Bird & Sons and records his later service as Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West from 1910 until 1922.

The family's former Birmingham factory survives today as the well-known Custard Factory complex in Digbeth.

Sir Leslie Ward was one of the defining artists of Vanity Fair.

Working under the signature “Spy,” Ward produced caricatures of leading politicians, industrialists, businessmen, aristocrats and other notable personalities of Victorian and Edwardian society.

The National Portrait Gallery confirms this particular work as an original chromolithograph published by Vanity Fair.

An example is also represented in the Yale Center for British Art, providing further institutional documentation for the image.

Artist: Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (1851–1922), “Spy”