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mxcottonsocks · 23 days ago

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Now we've reached the end of the Dickens Daily run of Barnaby Rudge; A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, I feel I should recommence my series of posts on illustrations.

This is the first post which looks at part 2 (the 1780 section) of the novel.

As before, I'll group illustrations by location. Since part 2, mirroring part 1, begins at the Maypole, so shall we:

The Maypole Inn, Chigwell

Characters featured: John Willet (resident), Hugh (resident), Lord George Gordon, Mr Gashford, John Grueby, Solomon Daisy, Tom Cobb, Phil Parkes, Sim Tappertit, Ned Dennis, Rudge Senior., Mr Haredale, and various unnamed rioters

Chapters featured: 33, 35, 37, 54, 55, and 56

Illustrators featured: Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), George Cattermole, Harry Furniss, Felix Darley, A. H. Buckland, Sol Eytinge Jr., and Fred Barnard

The Main Room at the Maypole

The above is by Phiz for chapter 33, the first chapter of the 1780 section of the novel. Chapter 33 takes place exactly five years after chapter 1, and twenty-seven years after the double murder at the Warren.

Chapter 1 ended with Solomon Daisy saying:

‘[...] on the nineteenth of March in some year, sooner or later, that man will be discovered.’

And in chapter 33, Solomon comes in claiming to have seen a ghost in the churchyard:

‘[...] something in the likeness of a man. It was bare-headed to the storm. It turned its face without stopping, and fixed its eyes on mine. It was a ghost—a spirit.’ ‘Whose?’ they all three cried together. In the excess of his emotion [...] his answer was lost on all but old John Willet, who happened to be seated close beside him. [...] ‘Gentlemen,’ said Mr Willet after a long pause, ‘you needn’t ask. The likeness of a murdered man. This is the nineteenth of March.’

Since chapter 33 mirrors chapter 1, Phiz's illustration uses many of the same elements as his illustration for chapter 1 (see my previous post about the Maypole for that illustration): we see the same fireplace, with a chair on the left and a settle on the right, and a table and window further right still. The scene is slightly reframed though, as there are fewer characters to fit in.

The Bar of the Maypole

By Cattermole (1841), for chapter 54.

Like Phiz, Cattermole, the serialisation's other illustrator, also reuses elements from his earlier illustration of the Bar of The Maypole (for chapter 25, in the same post about the Maypole linked above) when he revisits the scene for chapter 54, when the rioters ransack The Maypole.

John Willet is sat in the same place as he was in the earlier illustrated scene, but instead of being alone and relaxed, he watches on as his sanctuary is trashed, including by the inn's ostler Hugh, now one of the leaders of the riots.

Hugh is in the centre "the loudest, wildest, most destructive villain there" but still keeping an eye John so no harm comes to him.

I assume that's Ned Dennis on the far right, sneaking near John, and I think that's Sim Tappertit sat on the table - this isn't described in this scene, but mirrors Sim's position in Phiz's illustration of the meeting of the 'Prentice Knights for chapter 8 (see my earlier post on miscellaneous London locations for that illustration).

The rest of the rioters are unnamed, but I would just draw your attention to the man stood slightly behind and to the side of John Willet: he appears to be laughing about something he's holding over John's head - keep this in mind for the next illustration...

Phiz (1841) for chapter 55

Take a moment to look at John Willet in the above illustration for chapter 55, then scroll up to look again at how Phiz drew the same character in chapter 33... Then again at Cattermole's illustration for chapter 54, and at the man laughing while he holds something over John's head... Then come back to this illustration, and look at what's on the corner of the chair...

They snatched his wig!

I don't think this is mentioned anywhere in Dickens's text - but Phiz and Cattermole apparently decided between themselves that the rioters took John's wig off and put it on the corner of the chair. I wonder how and to what extent they communicated with each other about their illustrations for the original serial publication.

Phiz hadn't previously drawn the Maypole's bar, but he clearly takes influence from Cattermole in how he draws it - he uses the same type of arch as Cattermole. However, while Cattermole has a fireplace to the right of John's chair (which isn't really evident in Cattermole's illustration for chapter 54, but is in the one for chapter 25), Phiz has a window there in chapter 55, so he can show how "the Maypole peered ruefully in through the broken window, like the bowsprit of a wrecked ship".

Left: Harry Furniss (1910) for chapter 55; Middle: Felix Darley (1888) for chapter 55; Right: A. H. Buckland (1900) for chapter 56

Harry Furniss and A. H. Buckland, in their twentieth century illustrations, are clearly drawing upon Phiz's illustration, having John look similar and be tied in a similar way, with his wig hung somewhere in the scene.

What they don't include, that Phiz does, is the figure of the man (who is still unnamed up to this point, but is later revealed to be Mr Rudge Senior); Furniss appears to be focusing on a part of the scene before the man enters; Buckland instead focuses on the following chapter, when Mr Haredale and Solomon Daisy free John from the chair on their way to the Warren.

Meanwhile Felix Darley doesn't pay homage to Phiz like Furniss and Buckland do, and draws the scene and John very differently. He renders a very dynamic version of the scene where Rudge Senior asks John about where the rioters have gone.

Upstairs at the Maypole

Left: Phiz (1841); Right: Sol Eytinge Jr (1867); both for chapter 35

Jumping back in time from the June riots to the March visit of Lord George Gordon, Mr Gashford, and John Grueby to the Maypole on their way to London.

I find the different ways these two illustrations tackle the same subject matter interesting: Phiz shows everyone revolving around Lord George Gordon, and shows all the other characters' differing interest in him through their body language; Eytinge, meanwhile, omits John Willet and Hugh to focus on the three new characters, and emphasises Mr Gashford' malevolent manipulation of the young politician.

Outside the Maypole

Left: Fred Barnard (1874); Right: Harry Furniss (1910); both for chapter 37, where Lord George Gordon and his retinue leave the inn.

It's interest to see how they both render the below:

[...] Sitting bolt upright upon his bony steed, with his long, straight hair, dangling about his face and fluttering in the wind; his limbs all angular and rigid, his elbows stuck out on either side ungracefully, and his whole frame jogged and shaken at every motion of his horse’s feet; a more grotesque or more ungainly figure can hardly be conceived. In lieu of whip, he carried in his hand a great gold-headed cane, as large as any footman carries in these days, and his various modes of holding this unwieldy weapon—now upright before his face like the sabre of a horse-soldier, now over his shoulder like a musket, now between his finger and thumb, but always in some uncouth and awkward fashion—contributed in no small degree to the absurdity of his appearance. Stiff, lank, and solemn, dressed in an unusual manner, and ostentatiously exhibiting—whether by design or accident—all his peculiarities of carriage, gesture, and conduct, all the qualities, natural and artificial, in which he differed from other men; he might have moved the sternest looker-on to laughter, and fully provoked the smiles and whispered jests which greeted his departure from the Maypole inn. Quite unconscious, however, of the effect he produced, he trotted on beside his secretary, talking to himself nearly all the way, until they came within a mile or two of London, when now and then some passenger went by who knew him by sight, and pointed him out to some one else, and perhaps stood looking after him, or cried in jest or earnest as it might be, ‘Hurrah Geordie! No Popery!’

#illustration #lord george gordon (barnaby rudge)#john willet #hugh (barnaby rudge)#mr haredale #mr gashford #barnaby rudge #barnaby rudge; a tale of the riots of 'eighty #dickens daily #barnaby rudge spoilers

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mxcottonsocks · 1 month ago

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#this is the first I'm learning about the real edward dennis! #op do you know how to find out more? google isn't being very helpful #barnaby rudge #barnaby rudge reactions tags from @dickensdaily

Yeah, there's not much in terms of webpages actually about Edward Dennis - he doesn't have a wikipedia page or anything - but there's bits and pieces scattered about on pages about other things which I managed to scavenge up a little while ago.

I've collected below some links - the reliability of these sources varies, so obviously use your own judgement in how much you trust the information:

[There are various references to "Jack Ketch" when talking about Dennis. Jack Ketch was the name of a seventeenth century executioner who became particularly famous, and by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries his name was used as a way of referring to an executioner - which is why Edward Dennis is sometimes referred to in ways like "better known by the name of Jack Ketch" despite Jack Ketch being a whole other guy from like a hundred years before.]

Primary Sources:

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, sessions paper for 28th June 1780

[The webpage is somewhat oddly formatted... in good news, scanned pages of the published sessions paper are on the left and text on the right; in bad news, all the content is scrunched into the top tenth of the page and then there's a huge blank space below, so it's difficult to scroll through. If you CTRL+F "Edward Dennis" there are two results: the first is the report of his trial, and the second in the sentencing section near the end of the text. It's also worth scrolling down a bit more from the sentencing section to see where the people sentenced were executed; Dennis is not mentioned in that section by name so would presumably be included in the sentence "(The execution of the remainder of the convicts was respited during his Majesty's pleasure.)"]

[Unrelated to Ned Dennis, but: while you're looking at the session paper, you may be interested to look for mentions of 'insanity' and 'madness' and 'idiot' - there are several, in the reports of trials for several different people; some were found guilty, some not guilty. If Dickens looked at the proceedings of the Old Bailey in his research, he wouldn't have had to look far to find inspiration for Barnaby.]

The Gentleman's Magazine And Historical Chronical July 1780 issue, which is p. 343 (#371) of what appears to be an annual for the year 1780

[The first full paragraph on p.343 is about "Edw. Dennis"]

Other sources of info

Newgate and Old Bailey timeline [Edward Dennis mentioned twice: 1771 and 1780]

List of UK Executioners at liquisearch [Has an entry; also mentioned in relation to his successor William Brunskill]

The entry for 'Lord George Gordon' in the Newgate Calendar, reproduced on The Ex-Classics website [The last paragraph mentions Ned Dennis. n.b. I think the Newgate Calendar was somewhat sensationalised, so possibly not the most reliable source]

Newgate Prison page on Wikinut [Dennis has a section. n.b. as far as I can tell wikinut is essentially just blog posts so again, I'm unsure of the reliability]

Various pages on capitalpunishmentuk:

List of 'Early English hangmen' [there's a paragraph about Edward Dennis]

Page about 'Charlotte Gardiner and Mary Roberts - Two of the Gordon Rioters' [there's a paragraph about Dennis; and mention of Dennis in a paragraph about how he was probably not the one who executed those executed at Tower Hill, then a list of other places the rioters were executed]

Timeline [Dennis mentioned in relation to ''the New Drop' at Newgate in 1783, so a few years after the riots]

The history of judicial hanging in Britain 1735 - 1964 [Dennis mentioned when talking about 'the New Drop']

Newgate Prison on Wikipedia [No mention of Dennis, but the 'Executions' section appears to corroborate in other matters some of the other sources here such as wikinut and capitalpunishmentuk, which increases my faith in their reliability somewhat]

Charles Dickens, finding out the real Ned Dennis was reprieved: FUCK THAT *works him off*

#edward dennis #ned dennis #barnaby rudge; a tale of the riots of 'eighty #barnaby rudge (book)#death mention #death penalty mention #death penalty #violence mention

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