02: VICTORIAN CARTOONISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS
The Comic History of England by Gilbert Abbott à Beckett
John Leech’s Comic History
Published in two volumes, The Comic History of England was the product of collaboration between writer Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and illustrator John Leech. Chronicling English history from the Roman invasion of Britain to the reign of George II, A Beckett approaches the subject matter with the same humorous, burlesque prose with which he had made his name as a prolific contributor to the early issues of Punch.
Produced in 1847, the year of John Leech’s thirtieth birthday, the illustrations to The Comic History of England are the work of a young artist greatly influenced by the marked shift in the nature of satirical caricature in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1836, aged 18 and having been forced to abandon his studies in medicine in order to support his family as an artist, Leech travelled to France and spent a few weeks with friends at Versailles. As an impressionable artist, he had arrived in France at a crucial period. In September 1835, punitive laws had banned the satirisation of the King and government, so French artists instead turned the focus of their satire to the bourgeoisie. This comédie humaine, exemplified by the likes of Honoré Daumier and Paul Garvani, was to be a guiding influence over Leech’s career. Leech is known to have spent time studying with a French artist, a highly significant moment in his development. Upon his return to London, the influence of this new style was apparent in several series of caricature folios published by W Spooner and W Soffe entitled Droll Doings, Funny Characters and The Human Face Divine and De Vino, along with an unnamed set, all produced by Leech in 1837-38.
Born on 17 February 1811 into a family able to trace its ancestry back to the 14th century and claiming direct descent from Thomas Becket, Gilbert Abbott à Beckett was known as one of the most talented and creative comic writers of his day. In 1831, he founded Figaro in London, and by the time it was handed over to his friend Henry Mayhew in 1834, the weekly comic paper had a circulation of 70,000. Its popularity led directly into the early success of Punch, which Mayhew began in 1841. In addition to his prolific contribution to Punch, A Beckett was also a regular contributor to The Times, the Morning Herald and The Illustrated London News. Gilbert Abbott à Beckett’s close association with Punch would influence his later work. The Comic Blackstone, published in 1844 and illustrated by George Cruikshank, had originally appeared in Punch. He enjoyed a close working relationship with John Leech, who had contributed regularly to Punch since 1841. In addition to The Comic History of England in 1847, Leech also illustrated A Beckett’s The Comic History of Rome (1851), the children’s book Hop O’ My Thumb (1844), and another humorous work, The Fiddle Faddle Fashion Book and beau monde à la française (1840). Though The Comic History of England is written in a witty, comic prose and parodies the great and the good throughout history, A Beckett was keen to ensure it remained grounded in historical fact. Indeed, in the preface to the first volume, he states his intention to ‘blend amusement with instruction’. For this reason, he explains in the second volume, the history ends with the reign of George II, almost a century before the book’s publication. Citing a recent charge against Alexandre Dumas for allegedly having libeled someone’s ancestors by including them in a fictitious work, he fears that, as his book is a truth and ‘the greater the truth the greater the libel’, he would be vulnerable to litigation. He suggests the possibility of a third volume encompassing the life of George III, but insists the history would go no further in order to avoid taking liberty with the names of some still living.
John Leech’s association with Punch in its early years allowed him to collaborate with some of the finest satirical writers of the period, many of whom he had known from childhood. He first contributed to the fourth issue of Punch on 7 August 1841, and though his output was sporadic at first, he was contributing cartoons regularly by the middle of 1843. Working alongside such friends and writers as Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, Percival Leigh and William Thackeray, his fame and popularity grew. He presented himself as the typical Victorian householder, a family man with aspirations similar to Punch’s readership; the human quality of his cartoons was instantly recognisable to the Victorian public, and he spread that quality throughout history in his illustrations to A Beckett’s Comic History. The excellence of Leech’s Punch illustrations made him a popular choice amongst his friends to illustrate their own various works. In addition to his collaborations with A Beckett, Leech also illustrated Percival Leigh’s Comic Latin Grammar and Comic English Grammar (both 1840) and Douglas Jerrold’s Story of a Feather (1846) and A Man Made of Money (1849).
29