Dr Sutherland and Sir Robert Rawlinson, a civil engineer, were the leading force behind 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.

From the collection of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII