A True British Tar (caricature)
This is a caricature of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, who was a professional naval officer under Nelson, his friend, and from 1830 the ‘Sailor King’ William IV. It shows him as a ‘tar’ in typical sailor dress. There was no official uniform for sailors at this time, although clothes or ‘slops’ bought from the purser were standardized, giving rise to an unofficial dress code. This consisted of a blue jacket and striped trousers often worn with a neckerchief like the one shown nearby. The text reads '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!'. A ‘jordan’ is slang for a chamber-pot: Dorothea Jordan (d.1816) was the Prince’s actress-mistress and mother of his illegitimate children, the Fitzclarences.
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Object Details
ID: | PAF3811 |
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Collection: | Fine art |
Type: | |
Display location: | Not on display |
Creator: | Gillray, James |
Date made: | 28 May 1795 |
Exhibition: | Broadsides! Caricature and the Navy 1775–1815 |
Credit: | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London |
Measurements: | Secondary support: 447 mm x 310 mm; Primary support: 352 mm x 247 mm; Mount: 406 mm x 560 mm |