Description
The Reform Crisis of 1830-1832 arose from growing public demand to address widespread electoral corruption and inequality. Britain’s parliamentary system was riddled with “rotten boroughs” — areas with few voters that still elected Members of Parliament, while rapidly growing industrial cities like Manchester lacked representation. This imbalance fueled calls for reform from both the middle and working classes, who sought greater political inclusion. The Whig government, led by Charles Grey, introduced reform bills to address these grievances, proposing to redistribute parliamentary seats and expand the franchise. However, their efforts faced staunch opposition from the Conservative-dominated House of Lords, which feared that reform would undermine aristocratic privilege and pave the way for radical changes, if not revolution. The impasse led to mass protests, riots, and a constitutional crisis as the Whigs pressured King William IV to create enough new peers to force the bill through the House of Lords. Reluctantly, the king threatened this action, prompting the Lords to relent and pass the bill in 1832.
In the offered satirical print, reformist leaders such as Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, and John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, feature prominently; they are shown in the central image, grappling with the chaos of the churning sea and threatening monster, while Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, steers the vessel as Prime Minister. Other reformers, including John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, are also present in the caricature, depicted as actively working to stabilize the boat. King William IV, who played a critical but cautious role in the crisis, stands within the rocking vessel and criticizes Prime Minister Grey, underscoring his reluctance to fully embrace the reformist cause: “But why approach so near the Tail, the good natured Monster may without meaning any harm upset us all in one of his gambols!” The reformers, led by Grey, charge forwards: “My reasons for so steering are pretty plain, though fortunately for me some people don’t see them. It is by flattering the Tail, that I command the Head!” Meanwhile, Conservative statesmen Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, and Arthur Wellesley, 1 Duke of Wellington, sail at a safe distance on a larger ship, declining to rescue their fellow politicians and trivializing the harrowing efforts of the reformers.
John Doyle (1797-1868) was an Irish political cartoonist, caricaturist, painter, and lithographer. Doyle is known by the pen name “H. B.,” constructed out of two Js and two Ds, his own initials, and is considered a founder of the British political cartoon tradition. Doyle trained first in landscape painting under the artist Gaspare Gabrielli and later in miniature portraiture under John Comerford as a student at the Royal Dublin Society’s drawing school. Doyle found relative success as a painter, receiving a commission to paint equestrian portraits of the Marquess of Sligo and Lord Talbot, the Irish viceroy, as well as equestrian prints entitled The Life of a Racehorse. Doyle received a gold medal in 1805 as a student at the Royal Dublin Society and again found institutional recognition in 1825 when his painting Turning out the Stag was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. Doyle gradually pivoted to political cartoons, with his career taking off in 1830s as enabled by the new reproductive medium of lithography. His cartoons would be published semi-anonymously under the name “H.B.” once a month, in line with the parliamentary session schedule. At the height of his popularity in the 1840s, indices of his prints were published in Thomas McLean’s The Times.
Doyle died in 1868 with an impactful legacy on British culture. The British Museum currently holds over 900 of his drawings in its collections. Doyle’s sons all entered the local arts industry, including the illustrator James William Edmund Doyle (1822-1892); painter Charles Altamont Doyle (1832-1893); painter; illustrator and cartoonist Richard Doyle (1824-1883); director of the National Gallery of Ireland, Henry Edward Doyle (1827-1892). Doyle was also the grandfather of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
Thomas McLean (1788-1875) owned a printing firm in London publishing a range of works during the mid 19th century, especially humor, satire and political caricatures, as separately issued prints and in periodicals such as the Monthly Sheet of Caricatures. McLean published and sold collections of humorous illustrations by Henry Alken, George Cruikshank, Edward Lear, and William Heath, as well as portraits and collections of landscape prints such as J.D. Harding’s The Park and the Forest (1841). Britain’s National Portrait Gallery has at least 195 portrait prints published by McLean.
Condition: Generally very good, recently professionally restored with light remaining toning, wear and handling. Slightly greater toning from former matting can be rematted out. Small pale remaining foxing spot in lower margin, unobtrusive.
References:
“‘A Tale of a Tub’ and the Moral of the Tail!’” National Portrait Gallery.
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw206716/A-Tale-of-a-Tub-and-the-Moral-of-the-Tail (14 January 2024).
“John Doyle (Irish artist).” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Doyle_(Irish_artist) (16 January 2024).
“The Reform Act of 1832.” UK Parliament. https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/houseofcommons/reformacts/overview/reformact1832/ (14 January 2024).
“Thomas McLean.” National Portrait Gallery. 21 April 2005. http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp62465&role=art (16 January 2024).
“A Tale of a Tub.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Tale-of-a-Tub-prose-satire-by-Swift (14 January 2024).
