Commodore Curtis in Scottish Waters: a Cruikshank Caricature
.JPG?etag=%22144822-67b58c3b%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fjpeg&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=1050%2B460&quality=85)
Described as “a portly and bottle-nosed bon vivant and unconscious buffoon”, William Curtis was a larger-than-life Georgian City magnate. He was also “the most irresistible butt of caricaturists” (The History of Parliament biography). The grandson of a biscuit maker based at Wapping, he acquired great wealth through interests in whaling, the shipping trade to the East Indies and government contracts.
My caricature, by George Cruikshank (for ‘Town Talk’, dated Oct. 1st, 1813) titled ‘Alderman alias Commodore Curtis, mistaken for Commodore Rogers’ portrays him as a large figure with a carbuncled nose. He is accompanied in the boat by Alderman Claudius Hunter, another City gentleman who like Curtis had risen to Lord Mayor of London, and was the butt of caricaturists for his “pretensions to horsemanship and elegant manners” (British Museum). The naval figure steering the boat has been confused by the Highland ‘reception committee’ for Commodore Rogers of the US Navy, with whom Britain had been at war in 1812.
Curtis had aroused interest and amusement when ‘reviewing’ the British fleet that was at anchor before heading off for the Walcheren incident in 1809. He was seen in his opulent yacht offering lavish hospitality to his fellow-passengers, pretentious behaviour which was seized upon by caricaturists of the day.
What, of course, interests me in this Cruikshank caricature is the depiction of the Scottish onlookers, who are crying out “Get awa ye loun ye may be au Rogers for the Yankees but you’r no Rogers for us.” They are depicted as scrawny characters, many of them barely dressed except in kilts, with old-fashioned muskets and pitchforks. A woman is threatening with a chamber pot (a reference to ‘guardyloo’, the habit of throwing excrement into the streets). Hardly a flattering depiction!
.JPG?etag=%221bd1cf-67b58c41%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fjpeg&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=695%2B617&quality=85)
It is not known if Curtis’s yacht was in Scottish waters at this time. The British Museum notes that he did visit Edinburgh in 1822, a visit that resulted in similar prints.
Cruikshank and others drew a number of large caricatures for Town Talk, a news-sheet that published London Society gossip during the 19th century.
.JPG?etag=%222504b2-67b58c4a%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fjpeg&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=718%2B539&quality=85)