File:The Gentlemen Pensioners (BM 1868,0808.5549).jpg

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The Gentlemen Pensioners   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Artist

Print made by: William Dent

Published by: J Carter
Title
The Gentlemen Pensioners
Description
English: Britannia (left), a beggar wearing only a ragged shift, supports herself on her broken spear outside the door of the Treasury; her broken shield lies beside her. She says, "Alas! why give to the Rich and neglect the Poor - is this Oeconomy". In the doorway a dog, his collar inscribed 'Pit', excretes on a paper inscribed 'Oeconomy'. Behind his head is a placard inscribed: 'Resolved. That No additional Income be allowed to young George. W.P.' Above the door is an implement resembling a gridiron, then called a saveall, cf. BMSats 7322, 7329; the Queen uses it in BMSat 7922. In the centre Carleton in back view, his ribbon of the Bath inscribed 'Quebec Bill', walks off with a sack over his shoulder inscribed, '1000l. Per Annum'; he says: "Sure there never was so able and honest a Commissary as Brook Watson - I'll swear that'. On the right Watson walks off to the right holding a torn paper: 'To the Livery of London I pledge myself not [torn] to accept of Place or Pension'. He has a wooden leg, wears his sheriff's chain, and holds a document inscribed 'Annuity'. His coat-pocket bulges with guineas. He says, "Sure there never was so brave & frugal a General as Sir Guy - I'll swear that". A signpost between the two men points (left) 'To the City of Quebec', (right) 'To the City of London'. Beneath the title is etched:



'Unlike to paltry Beggars who in Moorfields stand,
And meanly ask for daily bread with hat in hand;
Or brave Tars who by War, not Shark, have lost a leg,
To gain the priviledge in street to starve or beg.
The Parliament July 1786 granted a Pension of 1000l per Annum to Sir Guy Carleton, knt. of the Bath, Govenor of Canada, Commissioner of Accounts &ca, and for the natural Lives of his Lady and two Sons, also an Annuity of 500l to Brook Watson Esqr Representative, Alderman & Sheriff of the City of London. NB Sir Guy was Commander in chief at the same
time Mr W-----was Commissary General to the Army, in America, during the late War &c.' 13 July 1786


Etching with hand-colouring
Depicted people Associated with: Sir Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
Date 1786
date QS:P571,+1786-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 225 millimetres
Width: 316 millimetres
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1868,0808.5549
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)

The Prince of Wales being heavily in debt, Fox and Sheridan appealed for the payment of his debts and an increased revenue, but were in a small minority (5 Apr. 1786). 'Parl. Hist.', xxv. 1348 ff.; the King also refused help and was clearly supported by Pitt. Rose, 'Pitt and National Revival', 1911, pp. 398 ff. See BMSat 6967, &c. On 11 Apr. 1786 Carleton was again appointed Governor of Quebec; for the Quebec Act, said to have been suggested by Carleton, see BMSat 5228, &c. A pension to Carleton's wife and sons of £1,000 a year was approved by the House of Commons, 26 June 1786, when Carleton was attacked by Courtenay for the Quebec Act. 'Parl. Hist.', xxvi. 190-4. Brook Watson, alderman and M.P. for the City of London, had been Commissary-general to the army in Canada under Carleton, and a pension of £500 a year was granted to his wife. (City members were required to pledge themselves not to accept place or pension. Cf. BMSats 7193, 8075.) For the attitude to the commissary as a war profiteer cf. Foote's 'Commissary', 1765. As a Pittite, Watson was a butt of the Opposition, cf. the 'Rolliad' on 'Modest Watson, on his wooden leg' (his leg was bitten off by a shark). For the Prince's debts see also BMSats 6945, 6967, &c, 7158, 7162, 7165, 7166.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-5549
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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