This bust is made by John Warrington Wood (1839 - 1886) and represents Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, who was a politician and statesman. On his death in 1896 this bust was given to his daughter, who loaned it to the Museum. Attempts to locate the family in 1918 and 1934 were unsuccessful and, as a redundant loan, the work was formally accessioned by the Sculpture Department in 2000.

Wood began his career as a stonemason, studying in the evenings at the Warrington School of the Art. He later travelled to Rome, whence he regularly sent works for exhibition to the Royal Academy between 1868 and 1884. According to Morris, his statue of Eve was to generate much interest amongst Warrington residents, who together subscribed £1,000 to commission Wood to produce a group of St. Michael overcoming Satan for the Warrington Art Gallery. He took Warrington, his native town, as a middle name to distinguish himself from another sculptor called John Wood. His success in Italy enabled him to purchase the Villa Campana in Rome, the former home of the art collector Pietro Campana.