Westminster Conscripts Under the Training Act
Print
1/9/1806
1/9/1806
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This print satirises the Whig MP Charles James Fox's attempt at negotiating peace with Napoleonic France, in 1806. Showing him overweight and in a wheeled invalid chair (Fox was indeed close to death at this time), the image suggests that he is trying to serve two masters, for he bangs one drum marked with 'G R' (for King George III), and another marked 'N' (Napoleon). Fox sits next to Napoleon himself, shown as extremely short in keeping with Gillray's usual mode of caricaturing him. Napoleon, holding a sword aloft, drills a motley 'militia' comprised of senior Whig politicians including Richard Sheridan and Lord George Cavandish. This references Windham's Training Act, passed by Parliament in the same year, which determined that men should be drafted to undergo regular military training in order to serve in a defence militia in case of French invasion.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Westminster Conscripts Under the Training Act (published title) |
| Materials and techniques | Hand-coloured etching |
| Brief description | Satirical print, 'Westminster Conscripts Under the Training Act' by James Gillray, London, 1806 |
| Physical description | Senior Whig party politicians, in the guise of militiamen, attempt to exercise their guns the command of Napoleon, who stands in uniform with his sword drawn. To the right of Napoleon sits the figure of Charles James Fox in an invalid-chair, wearing a bonnet-rouge and beating a pair of drums. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Bequeathed by John Jones |
| Object history | Object originally bound in a guard-book containing one hundred and fifteen caricatures by T. Rowlandson, W. Heath, J. Gillray, R. Dighton, G. Cruikshank and others |
| Summary | This print satirises the Whig MP Charles James Fox's attempt at negotiating peace with Napoleonic France, in 1806. Showing him overweight and in a wheeled invalid chair (Fox was indeed close to death at this time), the image suggests that he is trying to serve two masters, for he bangs one drum marked with 'G R' (for King George III), and another marked 'N' (Napoleon). Fox sits next to Napoleon himself, shown as extremely short in keeping with Gillray's usual mode of caricaturing him. Napoleon, holding a sword aloft, drills a motley 'militia' comprised of senior Whig politicians including Richard Sheridan and Lord George Cavandish. This references Windham's Training Act, passed by Parliament in the same year, which determined that men should be drafted to undergo regular military training in order to serve in a defence militia in case of French invasion. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1232:96-1882 |
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| Record created | June 8, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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