C.J. Grant, Insnaring the Preston Cock, 20th April 1831
If you’ve been following this blog for a while then you’ll know that the reproduction of caricature designs on pottery and the works of the radical caricaturist C.J. Grant are two subjects for which The Print Shop Window has a seemingly limitless degree of enthusiasm. It therefore won’t surprise you to learn that we had to take several deep breaths into a large brown paper bag when we happened across this item in a saleroom the other day. It’s a creamware jug that’s been decorated with a transfer-printed copy of C.J. Grant’s Insnaring the Preston Cock.
The original version was one of a small number of plates that Grant engraved for the little-known City publisher M. Clarke during the spring 
and summer of 1831. It refers to rumours which had circulated in the press at that time about a possible deal between hardline Tories and ultra-radicals to scupper the government’s Reform Bill. The radical MP Henry Hunt, who represented the Parliamentary constituency of Preston and had often spoke under a flag showing a red game cock trampling a crown, is shown as a literal embodiment of his nickname. Leaning over the farmyard fence to the left we see a collection of leading Tories, who hold out inducements with which they hope to tempt Hunt over to their side. Robert Peel proffers a cage containing papers marked “patronage” and “place”. The Duke of Wellington and Horace Twiss MP both empty purses of money onto the ground. While the Duke foolishly clucks “Cup Cup Biddy Cup Cup—Come and Crow on our Dunghill”, his colleague confidently boasts “See how His eyes glisten at the Golden Grain”. Next comes Sir Charles Wetherell, who holds out a new “Anti-Reform Bill” for Hunt’s endorsement.
The Dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester, both arch-conservatives who had even attempted to bring down Wellington’s government to prevent Catholic emancipation during the 1820s, stand at a distance and gloat “A Rotten Borough and a Bottle of Blacking [and] he’s ours”. Two of Hunt’s constituents watch this palarver unfolding from the window of the farmhouse on the right. The first says: “See Measter. them Suspicious looking Chaps be going to entice away our Old Matchless.” To which his mate bluntly replies: “D—n him let ’em have him. he be’ant worth keeping.”
The design reflects the anger many moderate reformists felt when they learned of Hunt’s unwillingness to back the government’s reform programme. William 
Cobbett’s Political Register led the charge to denounce Hunt as a Tory quisling and even threatened to sponsor a campaign to unseat him if he did not drop his objections and toe the reformist line. Hunt remained resolute, arguing that the Reform Bill was a sop designed to buy off the middle classes and prevent the introduction of more radical measures. It was an astutely cynical view which was was largely borne out by events in the years that followed the final passage of the Reform Act in 1832.
This poor old jug looks as though it’s taken a bit of a battering over the years but it’s still one of the more interesting pieces of printed pottery that we’ve come across in a while. Unusually, the potter has managed to produce a remarkably faithful reproduction of Grant’s original caricature, with very few signs of the amendments which were often made in order to accommodate the limited space and three dimensional shape of the pot, or the rudimentary artistic skills of the manufacturer. Another great first for The Print Shop Window.
The Printshop Window 
A great find which is a beautiful illustration of the direct transfer of an image from one material to another. The blog also raises an intriguing question. Just whose print is being copied?. It is undoubtedly Grant, of whom I am a great fan, but is it derived from Clarke or Tregear?
In the Morning Chronicle published on the 4th May 1831 G.S. Tregear took out an advert. It reads “REFORM. Just published by G. Tregear, 119 and 123 Cheapside, the following laughable CARICATURES, 1s. each (being half price), or 24 various ones on the above for 1s. – sent to any part of the kingdom.:-
1. Cleansing St. Stephens, the best act of the Session.
2. Bowled out, or the K- g and all England against the Boroughmongers
3. The Charles Street Council or the Devil and the Tories
4. I’d be a Turn coat, and the Tory Shoe black a matchless good one.
5. Ensnaring the Preston Cock
6. The Patriot King (the Coronation).
“Away with glittering pomp and lavish wealth,
The King that loves his people crowns Himself.”
Dedicated to the Central Committee of the Patriotic Fund.
Also just published, price 2s. The Grand Steeple Chase, four plates, coloured; and No. 10 of Tregear’s Flights of Humour – “What a shocking bad Hat,” 1s.
Tregear had, as part of his growing portfolio of both political and general prints, published a print with the same or nearly same title assuming that the print has exactly the same title as the advert. The advert has “Ensnaring” while Clarke has “Insnaring.” He also sees this print as one of a number which the astute observer of the political scene and collector of prints would want.
I have not seen a copy of Tregear’s print so cannot tell whether the two publishers had come to an agreement with Grant or whether one had simply “borrowed” the image of what could be a good seller. If there is some borrowing it is unlikely to have been Tregear because his working relationship with Grant and his output of political prints and continues for some years after this date before a public break up.* Of course it could be that Tregear’s print has quite a different image. I look forward to finding out.
So Grant to pot is certain while Clarke to pot is not.
Regards
Northernlad.
*A tale not fully mapped as yet – but we’re getting there .
Fascinating stuff Mike. Thanks for your comment – It’s great to hear from a fellow Grant enthusiast.
It’s a little difficult to tell from the images above, but the title that appears on the jug is actually ‘Insnaring the Preston Cock’, suggesting that the design was taken from the Clarke edition.
I’m not surprised to learn that there may also be a separate Tregear edition of the same design. Grant appears to have been in the habit of producing multiple versions of his caricatures for different publishers. For example, he put his name to a number of different editions of plates from the ‘Political Drama’ series that were published simultaneously by Drake, Tregear and O’Hodgson during 1833-4.
It’s always difficult to try and second-guess the business arrangements that underpinned the relationship between artists and publishers in this period, but given Grant’s popularity at the time it’s possible that his publishers considered a degree of moonlighting to be a price worth paying in order to continue securing access to his talents.
Pingback: A Cock and Jug Story – C.J. Grant on Pottery - The Comics Grid