Exeter Election, 1895, "The worship of the golden calf"

Exeter Election, 1895, "The worship of the golden calf"

A black and white satirical lithograph depicting a raucous scene in which various members of the Conservative Party surround and worship a calf raised on a plinth with a man’s head. Some members are on their knees in reverence, others swing burning incense around the raised plinth. There is one man bent lowest in front of the plinth and text beside him reads ‘THIS IS A TORY WORKMAN’. Text above the image reads ‘ONE PENNY. EXETER ELECTION, 1895. OF ALL NEWSAGENTS.’ Text below reads ‘ “THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF.”-A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S NIGHTMARE. Dedicated to the great Incorruptible Conservative Party.’ Small text to the left reads, ‘Printed by CHUDLEY, EXETER.’ A creator’s tag can be seen towards the left of the image, possibly spelling out ‘GRIP’ with a small skeletal bird rising out of the letters.

This time we have a piece of political propaganda from the Liberal party, depicting a scene of mass worship. Perhaps as at the time of publication the Conservative party had held the Exeter seat for 10 years, the Liberals were determined to start undermining their authority in the hopes of political change. They would have to wait another 10 years before Liberal Sir George Kekewich would take the seat.

The illustration was not received well by a self-proclaimed “Staunch Old Tory” in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, calling it, “A pretty blasphemous parody…I think this cartoon, with very little alteration, would be very fitting unto themselves. The men who are caricatured in worship are of what class?...The day was when they indulged in boisterous laughter to think of a Conservative working man…but now we find “Tory working-men” figuring in a Radical cartoon…What a queer sub-titled, “A Midsummer Night’s Nightmare.”…The Radical slumbers are so broken and haunted that in nightmare they anticipate their defeat.” (12 July 1895).

The reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps a nod to the series of Tory propaganda produced previously in the 1868 election, titled ‘Shakespeare illustrated’, using the same tactics as their opposition.

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