Lot 56: Percy Hutton 'Poy' Fearon (1874-1948)

Percy Hutton 'Poy' Fearon (1874-1948)
Climbing the Parliamentary ladder
signed 'Poy' (lower right) and variously inscribed throughout
pen and black ink and coloured crayon, unframed
15 x 10¾ in. (38.2 x 27.3 cm.); together with 'Pride of Place' by the same hand; and five further cartoons of Stanley Baldwin by various hands including Cecil Orr, C.W. Nicholls, Frederick Townsend and J.C. Walker, all unframed (7)

PROPERTY FROM A COLLECTION FORMED BY LORD BALDWIN.


Stanley Baldwin's political career began in 1908 when he replaced his father as the Conservative MP for Bewdley in Worcestershire, although he remained on the backbenches until October 1922 when he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in Andrew Bonar Law's cabinet. At Law's retirement in 1923 Baldwin was chosen as the best candidate to unite the Conservative party and he served his first term as Prime Minister from 1923-1924. He remained leader of the Conservative party until 1937 and served two more terms as Prime Minister in 1924-1929 and 1935-1937. After his retirement from office in 1937 he was created First Earl Baldwin of Bewdley in recognition of his years of service to his country.
Baldwin managed to establish himself as the honest, 'ordinary' man of the people, and his image as a 'countryman' was an important part of his appeal that was picked up on by cartoonists who often depicted him in baggy suits and with his characteristic pipe firmly fixed in his mouth. 'He became a trusted figure, familiar to the public at large in a way in which no previous prime minister had ever been.' (Stuart Ball, 'Baldwin, Stanley, first Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (1867-1947)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2008)
His popularity is born out in the number of cartoons that appeared in newspapers and publications such as Punch throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and this collection which was initially established by Stanley Baldwin himself attests to his robust sense of humour. The collection covers a range of political issues from Baldwin's career including foreign policy, domestic issues such as the economy and the granting of the vote to women over 21, and has been passed down and added to over the generations by the Baldwin family.

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