‘The Defender’, 1900

Description

Pen and ink drawing, entitled ‘The Defender’, by the artist Richard Freshfield (“Fred”) Reynolds in 1900.

This caricature depicts Dr John Attfield advancing and drawing his quill like a sword, to defend the standard of the British Pharmacopoeia. John Attfield was the editor of the British Pharmacopoeia, 1898.

Attfield is shown dressed in the uniform of the Boer War lieutenant-general Baden-Powell and standing under a flag initialled B.P. (for British Pharmacopoeia). Robert Baden-Powell, also known as B-P, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, during the Boer War. ‘In Defence of the Standard’ is written in pencil below the drawing.