Bronze bust of head and neck only, as far as the collar line but no dress shown, facing forwards, on a square base of light green marble. It was commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee and transferred on permanent loan from the Imperial War Museum in November 1947.

Little joined the Navy in 1897. He volunteered for the infant submarine service in 1903 and, after some surface commands, ended World War I in command of the submarines attached the Grand Fleet. He had a number of important sea-going and staff postings in the 1920s and in 1932 joined the Admiralty Board as deputy chief of naval staff. By 1933 he was a vice-admiral and in 1935 took command of the China station, where he later had to deal with the Japanese assault on China. As second sea lord from 1938 he was responsible for mobilizing naval personnel in the run-up to World War II and he was head of the Admiralty delegation in Washington when Japan entered the war in 1941. In 1942 he succeeded William 'Bubbles' James as commander-in-chief at Portsmouth but from 1943 was naval commander-in-chief designate for the reinvasion of Europe, in the absence of Sir Bertram Ramsey. Ramsey relieved him on his return from the invasion of Italy but Little remained deeply involved in the preparations for D-day. He retired in 1945 after 48 years continuous and distinguished naval service, for which he received many decorations both British and foreign.

Little is known about Dyson-Smith. He appears to have trained at the RA Schools and in Munich, lived in London and mainly exhibited there (including 44 works at the Academy) between 1919 and 1944. He also designed the Slade School's annual Wilson Steer Memorial Medal for Painting, which was first awarded in 1944.