J H Buckingham - "The Teetotal Monomaniac on his everlasting teapot".

Social History (Museum of St Albans)

2008.5515

Cartoon by J.H. Buckingham, 246 x 305 mm. 'Scruby', a local straw hat manufacturer and teetotaller, seated on a giant teapot labelled "Strong Tea with FRENCH CREAM", underneath a caption reading "The Tee-total Monomaniac on his everlasting Tea-Pot, steam at full Pressure, shouting Damnation to all Beer Drinkers." Captions at the bottom of the page read: (left): "The Artist not wishing to hurt their very Tender Feelings. To Prove the Truth of Teetotalism. [...] or of these singular [...] Grievous looking Animals [...] Analized." (right): "What a Burlesque of Religeon [sic.]. To see this conceited Ass Praying on the Highway amid the ridicule of the Crowd of Beerdrinkers & no one [...]". Buckingham had been a brewer at Gaddesden and then at the Vine, Spicer Street, St Albans and teetotalism seems to have been like a red rag to a bull as far as he was concerned. Political life was kept going with dinners at which beef and beer figure largely and many of his cartoons celebrate them both. The influence of the Abbey and the chapels was felt in the town and by the 1880's there were a number of temperence societies attached to various religious bodies.

PH9194Buckingham.tif

Amy Cooke

[not applicable].

PWD box 9