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
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299
lib-special@sheffield.ac.uk