The funeral procession of the rump

see description below

  • Printmaker: Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, printmaker, artist.
  • Title: The funeral procession of the rump [graphic] / G. Cruikshank invt. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. March 22d, 1819, by G. Humphrey, 27 St. James’s St., London, [22 March 1819]

Catalog Record

Drawer 819.03.22.03

Acquired June 2019

 

Chosen candidate

Chosen candidate. Detailed description below.

A caricature on the prevalence of bribery during elections, most probably that of 1826. The successful liberal candidate stands on a platform before a cheering crowd and people waving from the windows of adjoining building. In the ‘Committee Room’ behind him, an official pays a man holding a sign inscribed ‘No bribery or corruption’ with the word ‘and’ between bribery and corruption scored through. On the right is an armchair and behind it stand two large flags; two flowers on the chair match the flower on the lapel of the candidate.

  • Artist: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, artist.
  • Title: Chosen candidate [art original] / by Theodore Lane.
  • Production: [London], [ca. 1826]

Catalog Record 

Drawings L265 no. 2 Box D205

Acquired March 2019

Rejected candidate

Rejected candidate. Detailed description below

A caricature on the prevalence of bribery during elections, most probably that of 1826. The distraught rejected candidate, shown full-length and facing left is red in the face and pulling at his hair. His election placard lies on the floor and two notes are visible on the mantelpiece above a grill with fireplace tools: ‘Tavern expenses 500’ and ‘Bringing voters from London 800’. Through the window on the right, with flags flying, a cheering crowd carries the successful candidate in a chair above their heads.

  • Artist: Lane, Theodore, 1800-1828, artist.
  • Title: Rejected candidate [art original] / by Theodore Lane.
  • Production: [London], [ca. 1826]

Catalog Record 

Drawings L265 no. 1 Box D205

Acquired March 2019

Election-candidates, or, The republican-goose at the top of the polle

lwlpr33258 (745x1024)

“The rival candidates swarm up a pole, inscribed ‘Westminster Election’, in front of the hustings in Covent Garden. At the top is Burdett with the body and beak of a goose … He is precariously poised on one webbed foot, the right leg. hanging down, dripping blood from a wound in the thigh (from Paull’s bullet), but he is supported by a pitchfork held against his rightump by Horne Tooke, or the Devil, who stands astride the roof of the hustings. Tooke has webbed wings inscribed ‘Deceit’ and ‘Sedition’, cloven hoof and barbed tail, with round hat, coat, and clerical bands. Burdett’s wings are ‘Conceit’ and ‘Vanity’; his neck is stretched out towards an irradiated sun in the upper right. corner of the design, at which he is hissing, ‘ssss [&c]’ issuing from his beak. On the disk is a crown on a cushion; it is encircled by the words: ‘The Sun of the Constitution’. Just below the goose is Cochrane, wearing the cocked hat and coat of a naval officer with striped seaman’s trousers. He is active and agile, one hand on the pole, and one leg round it. In his right. hand he holds up a bludgeon: ‘Reform’, shouting fiercely to the mob below; his right. foot rests on the cask which encloses the paunchy body of the man below (Elliot), who is falling backwards. From his pocket issues a paper: ‘Charges against St Vincent.’ Below him legs and arms wildly outflung emerge from the cask which is inscribed ‘Quassia’ … The head of the falling cask, inscribed ‘Elliots Home Br[ewed], drops off, and its foaming contents pour down. Elliot drops a paper: ‘Sixpenny Jack’s Address’. Below Elliot, Sheridan, in his Harlequin suit (see BMSat 9916), enormously fat, grasps the pole with arms and legs, making no progress. Below him Paull falls head foremost and in back view to the ground; he is dressed as in BMSat 10725 and his (wounded) left leg breaks above the top-boot. He drops his shears and a cabbage. …”–British Museum online catalogue

  • Printmaker: Gillray, James, 1756-1815, printmaker.
  • TitleElection-candidates, or, The republican-goose at the top of the polle [graphic] : the devil helping behind! / Js. Gillray invt. & fect.
  • Publication[London : Pubd. May 20th, 1807, by H. Humphrey, 27 St. Jamess [sic] Street, 20 May 1807]

Catalog Record & Digital Collection

807.05.20.01+

Acquired October 2015

 

Ready mony the prevailing candidate

Click for larger image

 Print shows on the left, a statue of Justice in a niche beneath which a candidate, doffing his hat, offers a purse of money to a voter who replies, “Twill scarce pay, make it twenty more”, beside them a gentleman points to the statue saying “Regard Justice” to another carrying a bundle on his shoulder who replies, “We fell out, I lost money by her”. In the centre, in front of a large crowd are two candidates, both waving their hats, slip coins into two of the many pockets of a voter’s coat; one candidate says, “Sell not your Country” and the voter replies, “No Bribery but Pocketts are free”. Further to the right another candidate, saying “Accept this small acknowledgment”, offers a purse to a gentleman who grovels on the ground for coins that have been thrown down by the prevailing candidate, from his position on a chair supported by poles on the shoulders of four men. On the right, a statue of Folly in a niche empties bags of coins; before the statue is an altar on which a fire burns, a candidate kneels at its base imploring, “Help me Folly or my Cause is lost”; to the left of the altar, is a butcher crying “See here, see here” and to the right, a classical philosopher, saying “Let not thy right hand know what thy left does”, puts his hand behind him to received a bribe from a young man. Beyond is a tavern outside the landlord, wearing horns, calls out “He kist my Wife he has my Vote”; outside the tavern hangs the sign of a bottle with a large globe attached.

  • Title: Ready mony the prevailing candidate, or The humours of an election [graphic].
  • Published: London : Sold at the Print Shop in Grays Inn, [1727]

Catalog Record  & Digital Collection

727.00.00.02

Acquired July 2013