Thomas Jones and King's Colledge To Wit
Thomas Howell Jones (fl. 1824-1840s) designed and etched
political cartoons and social caricatures during the 1820s
and 30s and music covers in the 1840s. Less well known than
Heath, it has nevertheless been suggested he was the infamous
and anonymous 'Sharpshooter', and thus responsible for some
of the most incisive critiques of contemporary society, although
more recent research has cast doubt on these claims.
King's Colledge To Wit shows a selfconfident
Wellington. Hume is shown standing next to his medical
case. Falmouth and Hardinge play a lesser part in the
scene. White drapery on the signpost is shown to be
the handkerchief mistakenly returned to Winchilsea,
which almost became the cause of renewed conflict between
the aristocratic duellists.
The duel also featured as a minor theme in several other
contemporary prints. The Winchilsea Hermit, for example,
satirises the Earl's growing political isolation and rumoured
threat to quit the House of Lords over the Catholic relief
legislation. He is depicted as a hermit beside a pair of pistols
and an open book entitled 'The Battle of Battersea A Religious
Tale'.
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