Catalogue Number
NMLH.1993.372.19
Object Name
Print
Title
DOCTOR BARNACLE DRIVING A LOAD OF SPITTALFIELDS WEAVERS TO POLL FOR WESTMINSTER
Place
Spittalfields; Covent Garden & London
People
Barnacle Doctor; Fox, Charles James
Events
election
Date
[1784]
Creator(s)
Description
cart packed with weavers, the front of the cart states: H-All Covent Garden, Common Poll Cart No. 6075; head of Charles James Fox ? on top of road direction pole, signs to Spitalfields and to Covent garden; weavers banner states: Fox and the Loomholders for Ever.
OSP: An illustration of an election procession. It is unusual and interesting in that a group of working-class voters (weavers) are shown being pulled in a cart. The print illustrates the uneven distribution of the vote - some working-class people did have it in some areas, such as Westminster.
OSP script: Doctor Barnacle, 1784
Although most working men could not vote, the Borough of Westminster enfranchised householders who paid the poor rate (a tax on land to support the poor).
In 1784 Charles Fox and William Pitt contested Westminster. This pro-Pitt cartoon shows Fox, the people's candidate, taking the working class rabble to vote.
