Head-and-torso terracotta bust on a square base, facing forward, the short hair parted in the centre; in uniform mess or ball dress, with epaulettes, shirt, tie and waistcoat originally with four buttons, of which the second down was missing on receipt. Two miniature decorations on the left breast are the Ashanti Medal and the Arctic Medal. A brass plaque on the front of the base is inscribed ' Wyatt Rawson / Commander Royal Navy / Tel-el-Kebir / 13th Sept 1882'.

The piece is indistinctly signed on the back of the shoulders in cursive script ' Willm Tyron [Tylen/Tyren?] Sc [Lon?]don 1882'. It was presented in January 1954 by the sitter's daughter, Lady Victoria Larken, of Roehampton, London. When a sub-lieutenant Rawson was specially mentioned for his energy and tact while serving with the Land Transport Corps in the Ashanti campaign in West Africa and was badly wounded in the Battle of Amafoal in January 1874. He then served on the Nares Arctic expedition of 1875-76, the last naval attempt to reach the North Pole by sea. As a lieutenant in the Egyptian campaign of 1882 he served as naval ADC to Sir Garnett Wolseley when he undertook to guide part of his force at night by the stars and, on 13 September, was critically wounded in the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir. He was rapidly and specially promoted to commander but died on board the hospital ship 'Carthage' on 21 September, aged 29, and was buried in the Bighi cemetery, Malta. This bust is posthumous and nothing is currently known of its maker, possibly only because the exact spelling of his signature on this piece is unclear.