G. S. Hullcoop of the Department of Criminal Anthropometry. The shutter of Hullcoop’s Talbot “Excelsior” has captured eleven men descending the broad steps from the entrance of the Central Statistics Bureau. Triangulation locates Hullcoop, with his powerful lens, concealed atop the roof of a publishers’ offices in Holywell Street. Foremost among the eleven is Laurence Oliphant. His gaze, beneath the black brim of his top-hat, is mild and ironical. The tall, dull-surfaced hats create a repeated vertical motif common to images of the period. Like the others, Oliphant wears a dark frock-coat above narrow trousers of a lighter hue. His neck is wrapped in a high choker of dark silk. The effect is dignified and columnar, though something in Oliphant’s manner manages to suggest the sportsman’s lounging stroll. The other men are barristers, Bureau functionaries, a senior representative of the Colgate Works.
