King William IV ('A true British tar')

King William IV ('A true British tar')

‘King William IV (A true British tar)’ depicts the Duke Clarence (later King William IV) as a British Jack Tar. The print is a mockery against the Duke’s unsuccessful naval attempts, demoting him to a pouting seaman of the common masses. Gillray has used corpulence to identify the Duke’s sluggish and immoral character, while condemning him for his Bond-street activities and extramarital affairs with the inscription “Damn all Bond-Street-Sailors I say, a parcel of smell-smocks! they’d sooner creep into a Jordan than face the French!_dam me!” It is arguable that the lower have of the Jack Tar in Gillray’s ‘Design of Naval Pillar’ refers to the Duke of Clarence.

James Gillray

The British Museum

Hannah Humphrey

Published 28 May 1795 in London

The British Museum

© Trustees of the British Museum

Hand-colored etching

Image: 31.4 x 23 cm

Still Image