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Middlesex Election, [1803 - 1804]

 Item — Box: LF104/7 Box 1
Reference code: LF104/7/82
Middlesex Election, [1803 - 1804]
Middlesex Election, [1803 - 1804]

Scope and Contents

Artist: James Gillray. Published: Hannah Humphrey. Sir Francis Burdett, scarcely caricatured, is being drawn (right to left) by his supporters in his carriage towards the hustings, past a densely packed and cheering mob. He bows gracefully, his tricorne (with a tricolour cockade) under his arm. On the three panels of the barouche are depicted (1) a bird with an olive-branch, and the scroll 'Egalité'; (2) a hand emerging from flames holding up a fire-brand, with a scroll, 'The Torch of Liberty') a frothing tankard on which is a bust portrait of 'Buonaparte', the scroll 'Three Pence a Pot'. The first and third panels have the motto the 'Peace &\ Plenty'. The driver is Horne Tooke; he flourishes his whip over the heads of his team, and smokes a long pipe. In his hat are a tricolour cockade and a blue and orange (buff) favour. From his pocket issues a stream of election literature, part of which has reached the ground: 'Speeches for Sir Fra[ncis] on ye Hustings'; 'Hints'; 'Speech from the Hustings'; 'Speeches for the Crown & Anchor Dinner'; 'Sir Fra[ncis's] Address to the Mob'; 'Bills for all the Pissing Posts; 'Hints for the Democra[tic] Newspapers'; 'Sir Francis's Patriotic Speech on the Defence of the Country'; Bills for Hackney Coaches'; 'Important Fact - Pitt the Supporter of Justices'; 'No Begging Candidate'; 'No Squinting Representative'; 'A Squeese for the Contractors.' The last lies besides a dog over whose body the hind-wheel passes makine a wound from which guineas are pouring. Its collar is inscribed 'A Cur-tis' (Sir W. Curtis, a contractor, was one of Mainwaring's chief supporters). Behind the carriage, in place of footmen, stand Sheridan Erskine, and Tierney. Sheridan, a favour inscribed 'no Govr Aris' in his hat, holds up a fringed pictorial banner, inscribed 'Governor Aris [the name almost obliterated] in all his Glory': Pitt violently scourges Britannia, whose hands are confined in a pillory. Erskine (in wig and gown) holds up a banner 'The Good-Old Cause' (a republican slogan of the seventeenth century), surmounted by a cap of Liberty with a tricolour cockade. Tierney holds up a huge key tied to a pole and labelled 'No Bastille'. Ten or more men drag the carriage by ropes; the wheelers are Fox as a ragged chimney-sweeper with a brush under his arm, and Norfolk, wearing a striped shirt and an apron and mopping his forehead. In front of these are Derby, as a jockey, and Lansdowne. The next pair are the Duke of Bedford as a farmer in a smock and (?) the Duke of Northumberland, wearing an apron. In front of these are Lord Carlisle as a tailor, with a pair of shears and a measuring tape, and Grey with shirt-sleeves rolled up. Near him is Lord Spencer. In front of these is the profile of Bosville, with a ragged man whose face is concealed by the head of Moira. Moira, in regimentals, stands in the foreground, on the extreme left., stiff and complacent, beating a drum decorated with the Prince's feathers and coronet. (He is characteristically aloof and self-sufficient). Beside him is a dwarfish little newsboy with 'Morning Chronicle'] on his cap, blowing his horn, and holding out a paper. Behind the carriage is a band of butchers, beating marrow-bones on cleavers. They are led by Tyrwhitt Jones, dressed as a butcher, and little General Walpole [Fitzpatrick in 'G. W. G. (Description)', and Wright and Evans.] wearing regimentals with butcher's apron, over-sleeves, and steel. Behind them is Adair [Grattan, in 'G. W. G.' (omitted by Wright and Evans).] in profile, backed by an undifferentiated crowd of butchers. All wear bonnets rouges shaped like fools' caps. Behind Moira is a rough wooden lamp-post with an (empty) lamp-bracket from which hangs a rat labelled 'No Ministerial Rats'. To the post is attached a (buff and blue) banner: 'Independence & Free Election'; on it are placards (alternatively dark blue and orange): 'Triomphe de la Liberté'; 'The Rats A la Lenterne [sic] an Old Song Revived by Capt Morris'; 'Wanted a number of Recruits for the Coalition Dinner'. The hustings, with a pent-house roof supported by posts placarded 'State of the Poll', is in the background (left). A thin little man, evidently Mainwaring, makes a speech, gesticulating violently; a very fat man beside him must be Sir W. Curtis. On the right nearer the spectator and behind the carriage is a tavern, with two placards over the door (inscribed 'Good Entertainment'): 'Mainwaring - King & Country' and 'No Despard.' Its sign, a Bible and Crown, is 'the Constitution'; to this is attached a Union flag. A mob with bludgeons is storming the tavern door, and missiles are being hurled at the sign-board. Others of the mob, unarmed, clamour below the hustings; they have emblems which they hold up on poles: a body hanging from a gibbet, a collecting-box, a white shirt, and a (buff and blue) banner: 'No Begging Candidate'. Others of the mob in the middle distance, many of them women, face Burdett's carriage with broad grins, their hats or hands raised enthusiastically. One man holds up a banner, striped blue and buff: 'The Old Wig Interest', this is surmounted by a bag-wig with a blue and orange favour. Burdett's supporters wear favours in these colours. The whig colours predominate on the banners. On the ground are a dead cat, turnips, &c. After the title: ' - "A Long-Pull, a Strong-Pull, - and a Pull-All-together." - '. Description from the British Museum.

Dates

  • Creation: [1803 - 1804]

Conditions Governing Access

Physical item available by appointment in our Reading Room

Extent

1.0 Item(s)

Language of Materials

English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

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