Exeter Election, 1868, "Shakespeare illustrated." The stile he can't get over

Exeter Election, 1868, "Shakespeare illustrated." The stile he can't get over

A black and white lithograph illustration depicting a man stood in front of a wooden stile in a stone wall. The man (Edgar Bowring) is dressed in smart clothes with a monocle and bowler hat. A small dog with a man's face (one of the Stile brothers) sits at the bottom of the stile on the other side of the wall. Wooden spikes atop the stile are labelled 'TELL TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL', with text around the wood reading 'JAMES STILE', 'BEWARE' and 'WILLIAM STILE'. A poster on the wall left of the stile reads 'EXETER ELECTION Bowrings Slanders'. Text above the image reads 'EXETER ELECTION, 1868. "SHAKESPERE [sic] ILLUSTRATED." "ONE THAT LIES THREE-THIRDS, AND USES A KNOWN TRUTH TO PASS A THOUSAND NOTHINGS WITH, SHOULD BE ONCE HEARD AND THRICE BEATEN." All's Well that Ends Well, Act II, Scene V.' Text below the image reads 'THE STILE HE CAN'T GET OVER. "TELL TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL." King Henry IV, Part I, Act II Scene V.'

This satirical poster is one in a series of ten illustrated by the artist G Palmer, published by the Devon and Somerset Steam Printing Company, created by the Tories inspired by lines from various works of Shakespeare (though with characters, scenarios and quotations coming from an additional mixture of literary sources.) William and James Stile were brothers and of the working class in Exeter. James Stile was the employer of his brother and several other men, and the illustration refers to an incident at a meeting at St. Sidwell's on the 6th September 1868, where James supposedly "had threatened to discharge any of his men who should be disposed to "record their votes in favour of the Liberal candidates" at the approaching election." (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 18 September 1868.) Rumours circulated that James had indeed fired his brother William following his support for Bowring, and a publicised back and forth between Bowring and the two brothers around what had happened ensued.

Following this event, James Stile had written to Bowring following a report from the Western Times 8 September 1868, in which he states that an assertion made by Bowring "which was followed by "groans and hisses," is an absolute and unmitigated falsehood.” Bowring responds, “On referring to the Western Times report I find that assertion to be "that I knew that that very man dismissed his own brother from his employment for venturing to vote for a former Liberal candidate."...On this subject I have to inform you that I have before me at the moment I write a copy of a letter dated November 8th 1863, beginning "Dear Bill," and signed "Your sincere brother, James Stile," extracted from the Devon Weekly Times dismissing your brother from your employment on the day of election, immediately he had recorded his vote for the Liberal candidates in the Trinity Ward election...Furthermore, Mr. William Stile has, within the last few days, personally assured me of the truth of the statement which you venture to call an absolute and unmitigated falsehood."

As such, the rumour was based on a previous election, with Bowring then later writing to William, “The observation respecting yourself contained in my letter to Mr. James Stile…had reference solely and exclusively to the question of your dismissal by him on the occasion of a former election.” (Exeter and Express Echo 14 September 1868.) In the Tuesday 15 September 1868 edition of the Exeter Express and Echo, a letter from William Stile to Bowring was published at the latter's request: "Allow me to say that I have no wish to refer to the remarks in my brother's letter in reference to his dismissing me from his employ...I shall use every effort of which I am capable to assist in returning you to Parliament as the representative of the working men…and on the day of election I hope there will be such an overwhelming majority as will make the Tories hide their heads forever.”

The confused back and forth led to Bowring eventually stating that, "In sending the enclosed copy of a letter to Mr. William Stile, for publication in your paper, I take the opportunity of stating that I must in future decline being drawn into any correspondence with individuals on the subject of the pending election." (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Friday 18 September 1868.)

This particular caricature drew harsh criticism – more on the flagrant use of twisting Shakespeare into propaganda than anything else – with a piece in the Exeter and Express Echo writing, “The Tories are getting out a series of caricatures, which they have a perfect right to do. They can’t hurt anybody, who are the subjects of them, and they please the authors of them no doubt. But when they call these things “Shakespeare illustrated” they show themselves to be Philistines and Barbarians…to travestie [sic] Shakespeare…is to exhibit a total want of appreciation of, and reverence, for our greatest bard.” With particular reference to this illustration, the writer goes on to say, “To put a fat head, representing Mr. Stile, through bars, in unctuous expectation of receiving from the passers by a lump of fat bacon, with some words from “All’s Well that Ends Well,” may excite the beleaguered and uneasy Tories to loud guffaws, but the taste is questionable, and the barbarism of it execrable.” (Exeter Express and Echo, Wednesday 16 September 1868).

Related Collections

Political Posters