This month Art History and Visual Culture student Izzy Gingell, writes about a satirical cartoon dating to 1831, by William Heath, which targets the alleged nepotism of the then Prime Minister, Lord Grey.

About the artwork

Made in February 1831, William Heath’s satirical print is part of a wider series of prints produced for papers such as the ‘Northern Looking Glass’. The print comments on the alleged nepotism of Charles Grey when Prime Minister from 1830.

In the work we see a grey tabby cat holding a fish inscribed with ‘First Lord of the Treasury 6000’. A long, bushy tale curves around the rest of the print with tiles including more names (all related to Charles Grey) along with sums of money. The tail continues out of frame, emphasising the extent of his alleged nepotism. All the names are connected to Grey, such as, “My Son Howick under Secretary of State” and three sons in law “E. Sanrin …”, “Georgey Barrington …”, “the Coal Heaver…”. Below the cat there are two signs stating, “Commit no nuisance” and “Reform in Parliament ...” next to a caricature of Wellington waving a sabre.

Subject of the artwork - Earl Grey

Before Charles Grey (1764 - 1845) became Prime Minister in 1830, he was first elected as Member of Parliament for Northumberland at age 22. He had received an intensive aristocratic education at Eton College, well-known as an incubator of future Prime Ministers in the UK.

In his early career, as a member of the Whig party Grey was involved in the formation of the Society of the Friends of the People in 1792 which encouraged working and middle-class members of society to make a stand for parliamentary reform after the French and American Revolutions, a move considered radical in the late 18th Century. The Whig Party, was the party opposing the Tories. It eventually became known as the Liberal Party after it merged with the Peelites and Radicals in the 1850s.

About the artist

Born in Northumberland in 1794, William Heath began print making in 1809 at just 15.

By 1825 he had moved to Edinburgh to write and illustrate for the Glasgow Looking Glass before moving to London to illustrate in the Looking Glass. William Heath’s work fast became well known for its political and social commentary of all classes.

Acknowledgements

• https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/alma:9942393993408651
• https://artcollection.dcms.gov.uk/person/heath-william-paul-pry/
• https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/files/special/exhibns/month/june2005.html
• Time Magazine: https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,711943,00.html
• Wikipedia