Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity

Author(s): Roy T. Matthews

Source: The Historian , SUMMER 2000, Vol. 62, No. 4 (SUMMER 2000), pp. 799-820
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24451272

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 Britannia and John Bull:
From Birth to Maturity
Roy T. Matthews

National
such symbols
symbols as evoke powerful
the Eiffel Tower foremotions.
France, UncleDeeply
Sam forrooted in States,
the United a nation's history,
and for Britain the graceful Britannia, whose origins date back to the Roman
empire, and the sturdy John Bull, a creation of early modern popular culture—who
are the subjects of this essay—can reveal a great deal about a society's heritage, its
ideologies, its myths, and the values commonly held by its people.1 Mythic tradi
tions from folk tales link national memories with artistic styles and literary con
ventions. Symbols point the way to an emerging national identity. National symbols
follow certain patterns; some are animals, others structures or coats or arms, but
most evolve as personifications based on human stereotypes.
Popular reactions to national symbols can be better understood when images are
placed in the broader historical context. The origin and development of each
national symbol in the Western political culture follows its own idiosyncratic path,
but the image itself comes primarily from three sources: classical Greece or Rome,
Christian iconography, or vernacular popular culture. Humans, animals (natural or
mythical), birds, and emblems are the four most common forms. While some soci
eties have turned religious symbols into secular images, most Western European
nations have created their national images from classical sources or vernacular pop
ular antecedents. Ruling classes initially looked to the gods and goddesses of ancient
Greece or Rome to evoke prestige and power, and to suggest moral values. Others
found their national symbols in the vernacular tradition, turning to folk tales, occa
sionally borrowing a literary character, or more rarely, transforming actual persons
into national stereotypes.

Roy T. Matthews is professor emeritus of history at Michigan State University.

'David Cannadine, "The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: the British Monarchy and
Invention of Tradition, c. 1820-1977," 101-64; Eric Hobsbawn, "Mass Producing Traditions: Europe,
1740-1914," in The Invention of Tradition, ed. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (Cambridge, 1983),
220-76; see also Jacques LaFaye, Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe·. The Formation of Mexican National
Consciousness, 1531-1813 (Chicago, 1976).

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800 The Historian

Since the time of

their polytheistic,
Their gods and god
images were placed
devices such as an
incorporated; peop
also to be depicted
became appropriate
coins with Athena
Romans conquered
images to symbol
Roman coins usuall
regional symbols b
in the provinces. P
and specific image
Coins were often
example, a com coin
sion and occupatio
triumphant arch
Hadrian journeyed
sonifying the occu
artifacts represent
tories in Britain on
Britannia is seen o
quered island. Brita
a small pile of roc
northern part of B
her spear cradled in
years later, a wom
Great Britain.

Miniers in the last

of ways: sometime
city of London, a
emperor. Her im

2Percy Gardiner, "Coun

81; Jocelyn M. C. Toyn
1934), 7-8.

3J. P. C. Kent, Roman

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 801

Roman coin showing the personification of Britannia.4

Empire.5 When Rome's power declined and the Roman occ

Britannia, symbol of submission, seemed to disappear. But her im
vived in some religious form among the Britons, later folded in
eventually emerging in the Middle Ages, along with the worship o
The few statues widely scattered around England, dating from m
generated a number of theories about Britannia's fate during th
Britannia's uncertain passage from ancient to early modern tim
gence as the first personified national symbol, although the path
In the sixteenth century, a no longer submissive Britannia became c

4Ibid., plate 84, no. 294b.

5Ibid., plate 83, nos. 286r and 290, plate 87, no. 305b.

6Kenan T. Erim, Aphrodisias: City of Venus Aphrodite (London, 198

Inconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, series 1, vol. 3 (Zurich and Munich, 1968
"Britannia," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Ide
Fictions, ed. Raphael Samuels (London, 1989), 26-49.

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 802 The Historian

celebrated English
historians portray
English national co
gorical epic poem
honor, and idealism
while shrewdly gui
new levels of powe
the ruler to a level
who would conflat
of Queen Victoria i
Britannia also app
and maps. Emblem
tural reawakening,
had begun to lose
homiletics or guid
writer Henry Peac
the first emblem b
In this print, Bri
foot, confidently s
background. As th
Roman model, whe
is sovereign, carry
maritime power, a
title is a reference
By the end of the
adults. Here were t
figures personifyin
or justice.
Maps, the pragmatic products of the Age of Discovery, were valued not only for
their accuracy and detail but also for their visual appeal and aesthetic pleasure.
Continental mapmakers decorated their works with swags of fruit, classical patterns
and designs, the personifications of the four seasons, the seven planets, and, by

7Charles Moseley, Λ Century of Emblems: An Introductory Anthology (London, 1988), 1-33; Mario
Paz, Studies in Seventeenth Century Imagery (Rome, 1975), 169-72; Jean Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan
Gods (New York, 1953), 102-3; Rosemary Freeman, English Emblem Books (London, 1948), 1-36.

8Henry Peachem, Minerva Britannia (1612; reprint, Leeds, England, 1966), 108.

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity

—v · j *

• Mbritanniam.

WITH hairc
WITH hairedi{hevel"d,andinm.ournefulhvife , ,
difhevel'd, and in. mournefii!! wife
fpurncs a fhippc,
Who fpnrncs fhippc, with with Scepter
Scepter inin herhaiid
hcrhand::
Thus JJX/T^f/Ar£"sdrawcninoId
Thus JJK/T.^/A'.E'sdrawcninoId Antiquities", Antiquities", .,
What time the Romanes, overran her land '
Whattimethc/?c«M»«,ovcrranhcrland:' '
Who
Who fivftfirft devif'd
devif'd her, fitting inher, fitting in this plight, ' '
this plight.
As
Asthen
thentheirtheir
captiuc 3captiue
and abandon'd
, andquite.
abandon'd quite.

Butwhaccanlongcontinueataihiy,
Butwhatcanlongcontinueataftay,
To
Toallall
thingcsbcjng,
thingesFatesbcjng,
a change
Fates
decreea: change
. ' decree: , " .
Thrice-famous//?,whomecrilthoudidftobey,
Thrice-famous;//e ,whomc cril thou didft obey,
Vfurping
Vfurping Rooms,
Ropme, ftandes
ftandes now now
in aw of thee : in aw of thee:
»*And
And trembles
trembles
more, to more,
hearc thyto
Soveraignes
hearc name,
thy Soveraignes name,
.. Then
Thenthouthou
her Dummies, when valiant C<tfcr
her Drimimes, whencame.valiant C<tfar came.

Ad Britannia" from Henry Peachem's 1603 Minerva Britannia. The text below reads:

With haire dishevel'd, and in mournefull wise,

Who spumes a shippe, with Scepter in her hand:
Thus BRITAINE's drawen in old Antiquities,
What time the Romans, overran her land:
Who first devis'd her, fitting in this plight,
As then their captive, and abandon'd quite.
But what can long continue at a stay,
To all thinges being, Fates a change decree:
Thrice-famous lie, whome erst thou didst obey,
Usurping Roome, standes now in aw of thee:
And trembles more, to heare thy Soveraignes name,
Then thou her Drummes, when valiant Casar came.

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 804 The Historian

1580, with female fi

America.9
Cartographers in si
and Queen Elizabeth
bolic figures.10 In 1
torian and chronicl
the Flourishing Kin
From the earliest an
the map. She is sho
much as in the Rom
shield are at rest, lik
hand. In the backgro
prosperity. Her fam
Camden's inclusion
Two years later,
Britannia on the fr
Britannia is seated t
with male figures w
Aeneas, who accord
trayed here as the p
general, identified in
Below are paired a m
a device of "Norman
time still on the En
tury explorer with
pose facing the view

9Jeremy Black, Maps an

Buissert, ed., Monarchs
Early Modern Europe (Ch

"Thomas Chubb, The Pr

1870 (London, 1927), ix
Mapmakers Arts: Essays
Makers of the Sixteenth

"William Camden, Brit

England, Scotland and Ir

12William Camden, Rom

"Michael Drayton, Poly-

1933), iii.

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 805

"Great Britaine" from Poly-Olbion, 1612.

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 806 The Historian

while in her left arm s

not depicted as the gu
in a robe reminiscent
Two cherubs are placin
seas. Here indeed is an
world-wide ventures a
This triumphal yet bo
a conquered province,
culating in England in
published a female pe
and holding a cornuc
artist Cesare Ripa show
she is portrayed with
priate symbols of wea
"Public Happiness," al
representation, showin
ingat the time.
In the seventeenth ce
in several media. She c
a pattern followed in
rose and her enemies
political in the prints
Anglo-Dutch War, th
heroes, commemorate
rizing Britannia.15 He
the Puritan leader wh
in 1655 was the Lord
formed an alliance wi
expressed their disple
profile, cradling Crom
Spanish ambassadors w
the honor of approach

14Peacham, Minerva Brita

1971); Richard Helgerson, F
117-22.

15Gerard van Loon, Métallique des XVII Provinces de Pays Bas (Hague, 1732), ill. 5

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 807

LXX

Charles II and Britannia on a commemorative medal.

In contrast to this Dutch insult, Britannia's supporters treated her quite differ
ently. The English king Charles II, who came to the throne in 1660 after the turbu
lent years of the Civil War and Commonwealth, had a medal stuck with his image
on the obverse and the elegant head of Britannia on the reverse, in conscious imi
tation of the Roman practice. But this Britannia was no subservient provincial. The
model for Charles II's Britannia was rumored to be Frances Teresa Stewart, the
Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, one of the king's many favorites.16 Later, he
placed her on the reverse of the halfpenny coin—where she has continued ever
since.

Thus, through the effort of royal patrons, Britannia, became part of the collec
tive consciousness of the island kingdom. Soon she would be linked to a series of
cultural movements and various historical incidents. Technological changes in
printing would assure not only her survival but a spot in the hearts and minds of
the English people. However, in the immediate future, during the later years of the
Stuart dynasty under James II (1685-88), William and Mary (1688-1701), and
Queen Anne (1702-114), Britannia was seldom seen.
Britannia's plight must be understood in the larger context of state building in
early modern Europe when the monarch represented the state. From the beginning
of the nation state in the late fifteenth century, rulers in England, Spain, and France

l6Charles Oman, The Coinage of England (London, 1967), 335; Julian Barnes, "Real Britannia," The
New Yorker, 12 April 1993, 36-52.

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808 The Historian

came to personify th
England under Queen
But the first two Stu
port of the English n
allegiance through hi
the late 1650s, openin
By the seventeenth c
lenged in the New W
diplomacy under the
roles, personal influe
early modern nation
fulfill certain politi
ruler in the seventee
the modern state, wh
be made over again f
France set the stand
their rulers above th
France in the early p
Louis XIV, the famou
were often imitated
ministers implante
through a variety of
easily identified the
cal context that they
respect for ancient le
Until the mid-eighte
continued to look back
models for monarchs

17Marie Tanner, The Last

(New Haven, 1993).

''Francois Bluche, Louis

Fabrication of Louis XIV (
Louis XIV (Garden City, 19

19Lester M. Beattie, John

M. Atherton, Political Prin
(Oxford, 1974), 101-5.

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 809

the end of that century, however, a new and different sense of nation
ness started to emerge—although not from the top. Spurred on by eco
ical, and social changes that would eventually sweep the aristocrats from
movement to introduce other forms of national images came fro
classes. As social conflict intensified, the educated were unable to impo
cal models on the populace, who turned increasingly to vernacular im
folk heroes and heroines, and regional traditions to create their nation
While Britannia was still depicted on coins and medals in the late s
and early eighteenth centuries, she was obliged to share the national
succession of English kings and queens. Meanwhile, John Bull, her fut
was born. Although as symbols Britannia and John Bull sometimes pla
roles and served parallel purposes, their origins were distinctly different
classical heritage would forever separate her from John Bull, and thro
transformations, whether as a conflation with Queen Elizabeth or lat
on royal coins, Britannia was tied to the ruling classes and destined t
associated with lofty ideals. She was above the ordinary and daily rout
mortals. By contrast, John Bull, the first vernacular image, came fro
and personified many traits that Englishmen thought lay deep in th
character. Moreover, he transcended his own era, for Bull proved to e
sterling qualities, such as honesty, a zest for life, and a generous heart, th
mon people wanted in their native-born national symbols.
John Bull, who sprang forth in full form and personality in 1712 from
the popular writer and pamphleteer John Arbuthnot, can best be unde
context of England's recent intellectual and political changes. By the op
eighteenth century, Britain's intellectual outlook was being shaped b
Bacon's empiricism, John Locke's epistemology, and Isaac Newton's scie
vations.20 Thus, Bull would be free of any medieval constructs and u
any forms of mysticism. Moreover, he was the creature of the first
English satire and parody that owed much to the influential literary worl
Jonathan Swift, poet and essayist Alexander Pope, playwright John Gay,
political and social journalists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Lik
Arbuthnot's fellow writers and close friends, John Bull learned to live
charm, and instincts. His likeness and personality were attuned to the
pragmatic English merchant. He would find supporters on Grub Street
editors and contributors to the pamphlets, periodicals, and newspapers

20Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World: A History of Modern Sensibility (New
68, 80; Atherton, Political Prints in the Age of Hogarth, 29-30; Freeman, English Emblem

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 810 The Historian

souls in the theaters

Furthermore, Bull an
in part, to the reviv
ing animals attribut
Dutch Bernard de M
ries and characters
they were thus able
them to escape the g
double meanings of t
and homilies.

Arbuthnot was a scientist whose oudook on the natural world was shaped by
Baconian principles. His John Bull emerges simply as a representation of the bluff,
down-to-earth Protestant Englishman—nothing more than what he is. Indeed, one
can argue that for Arbuthnot to envision John Bull and the rest of the national char
acters in his satire in any other way would be a refutation of Arbuthnot's scientific
training and perception of nature. John Bull's birth can, likewise, be attributed to
forces at work within the religious, political, and international milieu, where a
growing sense of English national identity was manifested in the aftermath of the
Glorious Revolution of 1688. England was overwhelmingly Protestant. In the first
half of the eighteenth century, Britain became a military leader in continental wars
while her expanding naval power was creating a commercial empire. Linda Colley
has argued that this concatenation led to the creation of the idea of Great Britain,
with its dawning sense of national purpose and unity. John Bull appeared at the
time of a rising national consciousness, leading on to the next phase—modern
nationalism.21
At the time John Bull's birth in 1712, three major crises confronted the English.
First, Britain was engaged in a prolonged war in Europe; second, the future of the
monarchy was uncertain; and third, the era was conflicted with religious bigotry
and disputes. The English had been engaged in a war with France and her allies over
claims to certain European territories for 10 years. They were fighting to keep the
continental balance of power from tipping in France's favor, to guarantee the Dutch
Republic's independence, to prevent any French supported Catholic pretender from
returning to England, and to protect and expand their overseas empire. As taxes
mounted, war profits found their way into the pockets of London business interests:
arms manufacturers, military suppliers, and bankers. The landed aristocracy and

21Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (New Haven, 1992), 1-9; Liah Greenfeld,
Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge, 1992), 29-87; Gerald Newman, The Rise of English
Nationalism: A Cultural History, 1740-1830 (New York, 1997).

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 811

country gentry, who had formed a conservative political faction know

Tories, grew increasingly suspicious that their political rivals, the pro
London centered Whigs, were purposely prolonging the conflict.
strengthened their political position by winning the 1710 parliamentary
and a year later, in 1711, Queen Anne packed the House of Lords with 1
peers to facilitate talks with the French.
Complicating England's military campaigns on the continent and he
tions to end the wars was the Queen's precarious state of health. The qu
heir, and the succession was unclear. Soon two factions emerged to comp
crown. Supporters of the 1688 settlement looked to the King of Hanov
Protestant Germanic state, as the Queen's successor. The Tories, however
the former Stuart line of Catholic kings, promoting a Stuart pretender
he resided in exile in France waiting for a chance to return to England,
as the "King across the water." The third issue, religious differences, was
to political loyalties. A debate over the right of free speech intensified in
the Reverend Henry Sacheverell, a Tory leader, delivered sermons in L
Paul's Cathedral attacking the Dissenters, a group of Protestants who
from the Church of England on certain rituals and belief. Sacheverell a
in his attack the Whigs, the moderate Tories, and those who supporte
church clergy. The Whigs brought him to trial, and Sacheverell was found
barred from preaching for three years.22
Arbuthnot wove together all three crises; however, his satire focused pri
the conduct of the war and the pursuit of peace. The narrative is enterta
ple. John Bull (England) and Nic Frog (the Dutch Republic) are drapers
Strutt (the late King of Spain) who, upon deciding that he no longer nee
vices, turns to his grandfather, Lewis Baboon (France) for his goods. Jo
sue Lord Strutt and hire Humphrey Hocus (the Duke of Marlborough w
English armies in Europe) as their lawyer. Humphrey assures them that t
be quickly settled. However, the suit drags on, forcing John and Nic to pay
amounts of their wealth. Meantime, John's first wife (the Whig Parliam
ernment leader Godolphin) dies, and her death reveals that she and Hu
Hocus were robbing John of his worldly goods and carrying on an affair
is left to care for his three daughters: Polemnia, Discordia, and Usuria
mother (the Church of England) and his impoverished sister Peg (Scot
family's behavior and escapades bring John untold grief and embarras
Realizing that the suit will probably continue for sometime, John, Nic,
their friends meet at a local tavern to resolve their differences, but they c

22Geoffrey Holmes, The Trial of Doctor Sacheverell (London, 1973).

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812 The Historian

an accord. John's de
Jack (Calvinism, th
circumstances, stri
the prolonged litiga
eventually gained in
his good fortune an
market, having lear
Although Arbuthno
country and its nati
John Bulls adopted
their behavior. Arb
ance that few write
any major changes
aspects of his perso
substantial changes
John Bull's roles hav
of his personality h

For the better under

Bull, in the main, wa
unconstant Temper,
or Cudgel-play, but t
they pretended to go
John's temper depen
Weather-glass. John
was more careless,
Apprentices, and Ser
ing his bottle and his
John nor spent his m

Caricaturists and il
ity, habits, and rela

23George A. Aitken, The

Mathematician and Satir
W. Bower and Robert A. E
and "Notes on the Text," 1
(Edinburgh, 1814), 235-

24Bower and Erickson, e

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 813

were further aided by Axbuthnot's physical description in the third p

Bull Still in His Senses."

John look'd ruddy and plump, with a pair of Cheeks like a Trumpeter; Miss [Peg]
look'd pale and wan, as if she had the Green-Sickness; and no wonder for John was the
Darling, he had all the good Bits, was crammed with good Pullet, pig, Goose, and
Capon, while Miss had only a little Oatmeal and water or a dry Crust without Butter.
John has his golden Pippens, Peaches and Nectarines; poor Miss a Crab-Apple, Sloe or
Blackberry. Master lay in the best Apartment, with a bed-chamber toward the South
Sun. Miss log'd in Garrett, exposed to the North-Wind.25

While Arbuthnot richly described John Bull's personality, physical features, diet,
and living conditions, he did not hint at the source of Bull's name. Arbuthnot was
apparently inspired by Aesop, L'Estrange, Mandeville, and other purveyors of ani
mal and folk tales to borrow from their use of beasts to characterize human behav
ior, and this may have influenced him in fabricating the name John Bull.
Alternatively, Arbuthnot could have chosen from several well-known Englishmen
named Bull, including a seventeenth-century musician, an engraver at the Royal
Mint, and a bishop. Two other more prominent persons have been suggested as
likely candidates: author and Tory activist Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke or
"Bullingbroke," and Sir Richard Bulstrode, a writer and popular London personal
ity. The origins of John Bull's name have never been satisfactorily documented,
which may account for his universal appeal, combining the surname of several
famous men alive at the beginning of the eighteenth century with an animal whom
the English used in their search for national identity. However, what John Bull rep
resented and how he motivated others to write about him and to draw him was of
far greater consequence in developing English and British nationalism than the ori
gins of his name.26
Historians, literary critics, scholars of caricaturing, and writers on English pop
ular culture and nationalism have often argued that Arbuthnot hoped to bring
together the Whigs and Tories through John Bull's character. Their interpretation of
Arbuthnot's efforts might be valid for the immediate issues surrounding the War of
Spanish Succession, but the composite John Bull proved also to be attractive and
available to various later political factions that enlisted him in their causes. Thus,
although John Bull's roles might change with political winds, his personality

25Ibid., 39.

26Beattie, John Arbuthnot: Mathematician and Satirist, 92-113; Bower and Erickson, eds., John
Arbuthnot, lxiv-xvii; A. M. Broadley, "The Evolution of John Bull," Pearson's Magazine (1909), 543-51.

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 814 The Historian

remained essentially
used him in their cart
the rights of "Freebo
those in power. Towar
their campaign to ma
defeat the French an
supporter. The two p
Conservatives, enliste
win elections, pass the
along with Britannia,
national character.27
Bull and Britannia al
printing. Britannia h
coins in the mid- to l
early eighteenth cent
eighteenth century b
English conscious. M
ments of the middle
and weekly newspaper
sonifying the emergi
and politically attune
cal prints as convenie
to sway public opinio
audience.

But the popularity of the humorous print is also indebted to the caricature,
which had now become an acceptable form of ridicule. The introduction and
spread of caricaturing from the continent, in particular from Italy, by the mid-eigh
teenth century helped insure the continued appearance and evolution of both John
Bull and Britannia. Established painters turned caricaturing into pleasant diversion
by sketching their clients for their own amusement or as exercises in capturing their

27Beattie, John Arbuthnot: Mathematician and Satirist, 116-19; Bower and Erickson, eds., John
Arbuthnot, lxxv-vi; Jeannie Surel, "John Bull," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British
National Identity, vol. 3, National Fictions, ed. Raphael Samuel (London, 1989), 3-9; Hugh Cunningham,
"Will the Real John Bull Please Stand Up?" Times Higher Education Supplement, 19 February 1982, ΙΟ
Ι 1; Miles Taylor, "John Bull and the Iconography of Public Opinion in England c. 1712-1929," Past and
Present 134 (1992): 93-103; Linda Colley, "Whose Nation? Class and National Consciousness in Britain,
1750-1830," Past and Present 113 (1986): 97-117.

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 815

sitter's personality while skilled amateur caricaturists, like George Tow

verted the caricature into a propaganda weapon to attack political oppo
In the early 1760s, when the popularity of satirical prints and caric
sharply, John Bull appeared in an anonymous print that bore a striking
to Arbuthnot's original description—literally loaded down with his o
while his friends and enemies take advantage of him. John Bull's visual de
came at a time marked not only by the arrival of caricaturing and the
by an atmosphere of increasingly free thought. For several decades, L
been frequenting coffeehouses to gossip and to read about life at the C
Parliament. Now they were visiting the print shops to choose a caricature
bring home to entertain dinner party guests or family members. At th
eighteenth century, James Gillray, the most influential Georgian caricatu
scholars call "the Golden Age of English Caricaturing," and his conte
incorporated John Bull into their engravings. Arbuthnot's creation thu
a position in both popular culture and in history. Written and visual s
ture, and national symbols were now fused together, never again to be
In "John Bull Taking a Luncheon," published during the British war
against Napoleon, an obese and gluttonous John Bull is shown de
quered French ships. The ships are served up to him by a series of figu
of whom is recognizable as Admiral Horatio Nelson, the English nava
defeated Napoleon's fleet in two successive sea battles. Nelson has a list
French ships in his pocket. He is backed up by British lords of the Adm
Duncan, Warren, St. Vincent, and others, each offering the fruits of vict
John Bull always had an appetite and ate well, from Arbuthnot's first d
all throughout his existence. His size, of course, was a sign of plentiful pr
all Englishmen in an age that had never heard of dieting. In this carto
tony symbolizes Britain's victories over the French.
Britannia's changing functions during the Georgian Era (reigns of
George IV, 1714-1830) usually mirrored John Bull's evolution, but her
to shift by the end of the eighteenth century. Earlier Georgian illust
times depicted her as being humiliated or assaulted by both friends and

28William Fever, Masters of Caricature: from Hogarth and Gillray to Scarfe and Levine, ed
(New York, 1981); Richard Godfrey, English Caricature: 1620 to the Present (London, 19
George, English Political Caricatures, 1793-1832 (Oxford, 1959), 249-50, 257-60; Cha
Political Cartoon (East Brunswick, N.J., 1981), 80-84; James Moran, Printing Press
Development from the 15th Century to Modern Times (Berkeley, 1978), 123-203; Patricia
Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790-1860 (Oxford, 1991).

29The Satrical Etchings of James Gillray, ed. Draper Hill (New York, 1976), plate 58, da
1798.

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816 The Historian

J. taking
J. taitnga I, Lu
I.UncJ

"John Bull Tak

In the period leadin

lar target of the Am
to awkward, thoug
wars, from 1798 to
mundane and satiri
foreshadowed her e
The numerous and
mation from Georg
Revolution touched
publishing world an
the national images
the changes in the

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 817

illustrators. In an accelerating processes of technology, lithographs

ings; series and multiples were prized over single prints and broads
supplanted print shops; and periodicals, magazines, and daily newsp
the small private press journals and weekly papers. In addition, the
individuals, ideas, and publications to travel faster and farther.
The tastes of viewers and buyers began to shift. By the 1820s and
1830s caricaturists and illustrators transformed John Bull from th
rustic into an English country squire—although he never lost his o
nature. Britannia, meanwhile, was elevated to higher moral plane
Roman origins, shown as semi-divine and often clad in Greek rob
cations were honed and formalized during the 1840s as a result, in p
ing popularity of weekly magazines, especially the very suc
publication Punch, which first appeared in 1841.30 Bull and Br
widely recognized national images, whose functions and roles varie
specific events and the shifting political scenes. Although individ
sionally fashioned their figures through their own eyes and pens, the
final stages of maturing into their respective distinctly recognizable i
Bull and Britannia were evolving into stereotypes.31
The characters shown in "A Plain Question" are Britannia, J
Benjamin Disraeli, who at this time was chancellor of the exchequ
shows Bull playing the role of the protective father watching ov
"Miss Britannia." This relationship between Bull and Britannia defi
connections between the two national images. However, in this Vic
with its fashionable decorations including the lion and unicorn (f
coat of arms) on the mantel and a pet bulldog eyeing Disraeli, the
appropriate and believable. The young Disraeli, later to be Queen V
minister, was in Lord Derby's Conservative cabinet in 1852, admitt
about finance. John Bull therefore has a right to be concerned over
the intentions of his daughter's "caller." Bull's admonition to Disrael
on words using the names of the Conservative leadership.32

30Beattie, John Arbuthnot, 188; M. H. Spielman, The History of "Punch" (New Yor

3lTaylor, "John Bull and the Iconography of Public Opinion in England," 118-3
Punch: The Lively Youth of a British Institution, 1841-1851 (Columbus, 1997), 138-3
Works of John Ruskin, ed. Ε. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn (London, 190
Carlyle, Past and Present (New York, 1898), 160-66; Kenny Meadows, Heads of the Peo
English (London, 1864), iii-vi.

nBenjamin Disraeli: Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G., in Upwards of 100 Cartoons from th

Punch' (London, 1878), 54.

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 818 The Historian

Λ PLAIN QUESTION
A
St ttvuu
Mj, Sir, <&m-t
Rvuu "A'flr, Sir, ktkt
m#<
».» ntftt Df ·ν
m,»r /V· r Α,"·
/Y">/Λ,
I)

In John Leech's "A Plain Question," from the 27 March 1852 edition of Pun
addresses the suitor, Benjamin Disraeli, "Now, Sir, don't let us have any more
Dallying. What are your Intentions towards Miss Britannia?"

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Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity 819

John Leech and John Tenniel, the two most famous illustrators for Punch
these two national images in the nineteenth century. As cartoonist at the
from 1841 to 1846, Leech set the tone and standards of the publication.
clearly influenced by his predecessors of the 1830s who had created a John
was more cultivated and restrained than the Georgian model. Leech furthe
Bull for his increasingly reverential Victorian audiences. He and other Pun
depicted Britannia as an abstract symbol, personifying the virtues of the
middle class, who defended the British Empire, crusaded for noble causes
tured unruly members of the lower social orders. Eventually she became
with Queen Victoria—a device artists increasingly used as the British co
their monarch with Imperial Britain's triumphs around the world.
While John Leech completed the metamorphoses of John Bull and Br
from the Georgian to the Victorian images, John Tenniel, Leech's successor a
perfected the stereotyped national characters for the British nation sta
indeed, for the world. Tenniel succeeded so well that John Bull would con
look like a member of the gentry long after that group's power had begu
and critics observed that farmer John Bull was an anachronism, out of t
the realities of an industrialized and urbanized nineteenth-century
Notwithstanding these debates and the rare illustrator who might have
mented with a new version, John Bull continued to be modeled in t
Tenniel style into the early decades of the twentieth century. He and Brit
fully established images of the most powerful nation on earth, cou
changed, for they had become symbols of Great Britain's political and i
presence. Thus, Britannia and John Bull evolved from early designs as th
tions changed over time to represent two sides of British—no longer En
identity: imperial idealism combined with down-to-earth practicali
modern era of mass communication, an expanding public awareness, and a
political system.
This brief summary of the birth and maturation of the British national im
Britannia and John Bull provides a case study for other personifications o
ism that have evolved in many Western democracies such as Columbia a
Sam, who represent the United States, or France's female symbol M
Although each national image has his or her own biography, all share som
characteristics and experiences. For example, all are rooted in the rise of nat
As a people's sense of national identity emerges, these images play a signif
in the transitional stages leading to nationalism and the transformation o
into a nation-state. Such images either come from the top, imposed by th
trol, as did Britannia, or from the bottom, invented out of popular cultur
history, as was John Bull. Like Britannia, they may be inspired either by

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820 The Historian

image or they may

often change due t
kidnapped by facti
their particular en
who served to ques
take on a life and
are so closely conn
Britannia and John
ply clues to a natio
ing changing perce
much about a count

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