Catalogue Number
NMLH.1993.372.50
Object Name
Print
Title
1: 'An Exact Representation of the Principal Banners and Triumphal Car which Conveyed Sir Francis Burdett to the Crown and Anchor Tavern on Monday June 29th 1807. Dedicated to the 5134 Independent Electors of Westminster.' 2: 'Posting to the Election . A Scene on the Road to Brentford Nov 1806.'
Place
Brentford, Westminster, London, England, UK, France
People
Sir Francis Burdett, Napoleon Bonaparte
Events
Election
Date
1807, 1806
Description
Two election prints relating to the politician Sir Francis Burdett.
The upper print, from 1807, is orderly and depicts Sir Francis Burdett MP parading through London after winning the 29 June 1807 election and becoming MP for Westminster, led by Britannia holding the Cap of Liberty atop a spear. Burdett is stepping on a monster labelled 'Corruption'. The parade travelled from Covent Garden to his Piccadilly home, to a celebratory dinner with 2,000 of his supporters at the Crown & Anchor tavern. It is dedicated to the 5,134 men eligible to vote in the Westminster consitutency.
The lower print, from 1806, is chaotic and shows Burdett and his supporters as a disorderly mob, conspiring with Napoleon Bonaparte, the French head of state. This anti-Burdett print intended to show that Burdett could not be trusted as he would favour the French, who Britain was at war with.
Sir Francis Burdett (25 January 1770 â 23 January 1844) was a Radical politician in favour of universal male suffrage (all men having the right to vote, rather than restrictions based on class), and opposed the war Britain fought against France. Together these images show how the Radical MP's policies divided opinion, and how election propaganda can portray the same person in very different ways.
*On Display*
