File:The Poll (BM 1851,0901.203).jpg

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Summary

The Poll   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Artist

Print made by: Thomas Rowlandson

Published by: William Humphrey
Title
The Poll
Description
English: A see-saw representing the state of the poll between Fox and Wray, Mrs. Hobart (left) seated on one end, the Duchess of Devonshire (right) on the other, in front of the polling-booth in Covent Garden. Mrs. Hobart, enormously fat, quite out-weighs the Duchess, and is, moreover, held down by Lord Hood who kneels behind her (left), while Sir Cecil Wray stands beside him watching the contest with an enigmatical expression. Fox stands behind the Duchess trying to hold down her end of the plank, but in vain; his uplifted left arm and closed eyes express the despair which he actually felt in the early days of polling (Russell, 'Corr. of Fox', ii. 267). The ladies face each other astride the plank, their arms outstretched, their bosoms bare.


The plank rests on an irregular stone post. An excited crowd, very freely sketched, watches from the hustings and from below them; they scream encouragement to the rivals, waving their hats. Over the head of Wray is a playbill, 'The Rival Candidates Farce'; behind the Duchess is another, 'Duke and no Duke Play'. The former was a comic opera by Henry Bate (afterwards Bate-Dudley), first played 1775, the latter a farce by Tate, 1605. [There were two other dramatic performances of this name, see Baker, 'Biog. Dram.'] 12 April 1784


Hand-coloured etching
Depicted people Associated with: Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Date 1784
date QS:P571,+1784-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 247 millimetres
Width: 344 millimetres
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1851,0901.203
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938) Dated to 12 April 1784 by Mr. Hawkins and Grego, probably because at this date the majority of Wray over Fox was at its highest point, see Appendix I. The first appearance in this catalogue of the much caricatured Mrs. Hobart (see Index). Her canvassing for Hood and Wray was the subject of many squibs. The print was perhaps suggested by a press paragraph (n.d.) quoted in the 'Westminster Election', p. 325: 'Mrs Hobart, to convince the world that Sir Cecil as well as Mr Fox, is a favourite of the loveliest part of the creation, takes her station near Sir Cecil's side of the Hustings .. . and where, ye agents and observers, can you find among the female race, one fitter to be placed in contrast to the fair Duchess?" Mrs. Hobart (d. 11 Mar. 1816, aged 77) was related to Sir C. Wray: she was the daughter of Lord Vere Bertie by Ann Carey, illegitimate daughter and heiress of Sir C. Wray, 11th bart., who was succeeded by his cousin, father of the candidate.

Grego, 'Rowlandson', i. 127.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1851-0901-203
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current02:54, 15 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 02:54, 15 May 20202,500 × 1,794 (1.22 MB)CopyfraudBritish Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1784 #9,103/12,043
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