Sir William Joynson-Hicks (1865 – 1932)

Sir William Joynson-Hicks original David Low caricature portrait artwork

William Joynson-Hicks, later 1st Lord Brentford, was popularly known as Jix. He was an English solicitor and Conservative Party politician.He first attracted attention in 1908 when he defeated Winston Churchill, a Liberal Cabinet Minister at the time, in a by-election for the seat of North-West Manchester. He best known as a long-serving and controversial Home Secretary in Stanley Baldwin's Second Government from 1924 to 1929. He gained a reputation for strict authoritarianism, opposing Communism and clamping down on nightclubs and what he saw as indecent literature. He also played an important role in the fight against the introduction of the Church of England Revised Prayer Book, and in lowering the voting age for women from 30 to 21. Joynson-Hicks' Victorian top hat and frock coat made him seem an old-fashioned figure, but he came to be regarded with a certain affection by the public. Bridgeman wrote of him "There is something of the comedian in him, which is not intentional but inevitably apparent, which makes it hard to take him as seriously as one might". Churchill wrote of him "The worst that can be said about him is that he runs the risk of being most humorous when he wishes to be most serious".

Size 22cm x 31cm

Medium Pencil on paper

Publication New Statesman

Published 20 February 1926