Dr Sutherland and Sir Robert Rawlinson, a civil engineer, led the work of the Sanitary Commission, sent by the War Office to improve the conditions of the Crimean War hospitals. Through a series of basic measures, the Commission succeeded in improving the standard of hygiene at the hospitals and reducing the death rate. This is one of a small number of portraits which may have been taken in Fenton’s London studio on his return from the Crimea.