“William IV stands, very erect and stern, in profile to the right, holding at arm’s length a birch-rod inscribed ‘Reform’. Behind him, as ushers, on the extreme left, Brougham and Grey stand in consultation. The King says to a body of discomfited schoolboys (right): ‘Get you gone and never let me see your faces again till you are Reformed’. The boys are (left to right) Wellington, wearing a peaked cap and an old, over-large, military coat, and carrying a bag, walks hand in hand with Peel who wears an ill-fitting policeman’s tunic and holds a slate on which is scrawled the figure of a policeman (see British Museum satires no. 15768, &c). Beside and behind them are Sadler and Wetherell. In front of Peel walks Twiss with a book under his arm; next him is the small Sugden wearing a pinafore. Taller than the others are Hunt wearing a hunting-cap and holding ajar of his blacking (see British Museum satires no. 16575) and Sir R. Wilson wearing a smock and a cap and holding a slate inscribed ‘Bob Wilson’. Wellington to Peel: ‘Oh Bobby–Bobby what shall we do now?’ Wetherell, looking back, says (as late M.P. for Boroughbridge, cf. British Museum Satires No. 16602): ‘I am afraid I shall never be admitted into the school again’. Hunt: ‘Who would have thought I should have been Hunt-ed out already’. Wilson: ‘Its a shocking bad Job’ [cf. British Museum Satires No. 16646].”–British Museum online catalogue.
- Printmaker: Heath, Henry, active 1824-1850, printmaker.
- Title: The head master turning out the incorrigibles [graphic] / HH [monogram].
- Publication: [London] : Pubd. 1831 by S. Gans, Southampton Street, [ca. May 1831]
831.05.00.01+
Acquired October 2018
