Gillray, James. “Meeting of the Monied Interest”. Original antique engraving by James Gillray. From the Bohn edition of 1851, using Gillray’s original copper plates. With later hand colouring.

“Meeting of the Monied Interest; Constitutional Opposition to ye 10 pr cent – ie – John Bulls friends alarm’d by the new tax” was first published on December 13, 1798, by Hannah Humphrey.

The caricature serves as a biting attack on the political opposition’s panicked reaction to Britain’s very first income tax.

To fund the expensive Napoleonic Wars against France, Prime Minister William Pitt introduced a historic 10% tax on property and income. Gillray uses this print to mock the wealthy Whig politicians who claimed to be protectors of the public (“John Bull’s friends”) but were actually terrified of losing their own massive fortunes.

The title is deeply sarcastic. The Whigs frequently styled themselves as the defenders of the common man against government tyranny. Gillray exposes them as ultra-wealthy, out-of-touch aristocrats and gamblers who are only “alarmed” because their own bank accounts are being targeted.

The central focus of the print is the Whig opposition leader, Charles James Fox, who stands in the middle delivering a passionate, theatrical speech.

Gillray packs the print with highly detailed caricatures of the most prominent elite figures of the era.

Charles James Fox, despite his immense wealth, is ironically depicted as completely dishevelled and wearing ragged clothes. He holds a padlocked “Begging Box” over his shoulder and a revolutionary French bonnet-rouge (red liberty cap) rests on his head. He brandishes a paper titled “Ruination – New Tax one Tenth of Income & Property…” and dramatically yells:

“Gentlemen; – we are all ruin’d we sha’n’t have Five Guineas left to make a Bett with! – one Tenth dead, without a single throw of the Dice!…”

Michael Angelo Taylor, the Whig MP is drawn as a tiny, fat boy looking up at Fox in adoration. He is dressed in a French revolutionary tricolour suit and a fool’s cap.

The Duke of Bedford, the massively wealthy aristocrat and agriculturalist, is depicted dressed entirely as a jockey, a nod to his obsession with horse racing and betting.

The Duke of Norfolk (Charles Howard) stands behind the crowd looking heavily intoxicated, with bottles of Port wine stuffed visibly into his waistcoat pockets.

The Earl of Derby (Edward Smith Stanley), appears alongside the group outfitted in traditional hunting dress.

Sir John Sinclair, the Scottish politician is standing on the left, outside the main circle, barefoot, wearing a kilt and plaid, while scratching his arm – a crude caricature of Scottish stereotypes.

Standing directly beside Fox, the famed lawyer and future Lord Chancellor Thomas Erskine is shown in profile holding a legal brief-bag.

Gillray was one of five children, and the only one to survive to maturity. In 1770 he was apprenticed to Harry Ashby, a London writing in engraver, and five years later W. Humphrey published a few of Gillray’s illustrations including satirical works. By the time Gillray commenced his career satire was old, but personal caricature was in its infancy. Other exponents in this form of art were soon overshadowed by Gillray’s superior craftsmanship. His figures were full of vitality, titillating and reflective of some political crisis or private scandal. As his popularity increased so did demand by the public to see more of his work. In the rapidly changing politics of the late18th century he would produce a plate in twenty-four hours. Although sometimes overlooked his speech bubbles were elaborate and Gillray would spend considerable time composing and redrafting the text.

Between 1791 to 1807 his career continued successfully in association with William and Hannah Humphrey. There after Gillray’s health began to suffer. He eventually slipped into madness and died shortly before the Battle of Waterloo on June 1st 1815. Hannah, who had a close relationship with him nursed Gillray through out his final years and following his death the copper plates then formed part of Hannah’s estate when she died in 1818. The executor’s of Hannah’s estate sold Gillray’s painstakingly worked plates for there second hand copper weight. Hearing of this, the then publisher, Bohn who had previously expressed an interest in buying the plates set about purchasing them from a variety of different sources. Eventually acquiring over 500. In 1851 Bohn republished the engravings in a large folio volume, “The Works of James Gillray”.