The Battle of Bow Street

This is one of a number prints by Gillray about the hotly contested and often violent Westminster by-election which pitted Lord John Townshend, the Whig candidate, against the naval hero, Admiral Hood, on the Tory side. Other prints include The Butchers of Freedom, John Bull in a Quandary, Election Troops, Bringing in Their Accounts to the Pay Table, and Charon's Boat, or Topham's Trip with Hood to Hell. Along with two others, this print may have been commisioned by the Hood faction since Draper Hill indicates that in an accounting of election expenses for Admiral Hood, there appears a line item of £20 for "Mr. Gilwray."

The Battle of Bow Street

The Battle of Bow Street [1788]
© National Portrait Gallery, London

During the 1788 Westminster by-election, the newspapers were full of stories of what could be called (with considerable understatement) election irregularities. Admiral Hood seems to have called upon troops of off-duty sailors to intimidate his opponent's electors. Lord John Townshend seems to have taken both a carrot and stick approach. Mother Johson and her girls, according to one report, were engaged to canvas for Lord John, wearing the blue and orange cockade, and offering in return for a vote "the free range of [their] house, and the use of [their] furniture. And roving bands of Townshend thugs were supposedly so common that government troops were called in to supplement local constables and provide safe escort for Hood voters.

It was, in fact, one such skirmish between opposing factions that was likely to have been the primary impetus for The Battle of Bow Street. According to the Morning Post and Daily Advertiser for July 26th, p.2

...the peace of Westminster and the safety of the subject were in danger from the riotous excesses of a turbulent banditti, formed of the refuse of society [i.e. Townshend supporters].

Apprised of the growing unrest, the local Magistrate, Sir Sampson Wright, called in "the aid of the military when the civil power was found inadequate." and came out himself to observe the situation. But this further aroused the ire of the Fox-Townshend party, and Sir Sampson was "collard in the execution of his duty" by none other than Fox's principal cohort, Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Gillray's print shows the Townshend faction in the midst of their demonstration. Their flag (ironically featuring a dice box, dice, and some alcoholic refreshment) flies over the uncaricatured profile of the worldly Lord John and the nonplussed Edmund Burke. The troops sent for by Sir Sampson have arrived on the right and are literally sticking it to George Hanger, the friend of the Prince of Wales, and, most prominently the ring-leader of this melee, Charles James Fox, who seems to have lost control of his bowels as a result. Meanwhile, Sir Sampson (with an appropriate Biblical jawbone) is being collared and threatened by Sheridan.

Neither this print nor The Butchers of Freedom contain an actual publication date. And one wonders whether they appeared during the election at all or were bought out by the Whigs before they could even be dated or help in Admiral Hood's campaign. If so, Gillray may not have been finally paid for his efforts. And that might explain the anti-Tory satire just two weeks later in Election Troops, Bringing in Their Accounts to the Pay Table.

Whatever the case, the Whig candidate, Lord John Townshend carried the day.

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