Description:
Engraved print entitled: "Sir Francis Burdett, The Friend of the People, Addressing the Independent and Public spirited Freeholders of Middlesex from the Hustings at Brentford, at the close of the Poll, Thursday, July 29, 1802." The candidate Francis Burnett is in the center of the image dress in white breeches and a blue coat, he pointed to poll numbers on a sheet of paper, which reads "FINAL STATE OF /THE POLL/ GEORGE BYNG, ESQ. 3848/ Sir F. Burdett, Bart. 3207/ Wm MANWARING ESQ 2036." Burdett is surrounded by supporters including a heavy set gentlemen on the left and a vicar on the right. There are also people on the lower level below f the stage. The print is hand colored in red, blue, green, white, black, and yellow. John Fairburn was a map, chart, bookseller and (from 1811) a print publisher. He published cheap caricatures and popular prints, but was bankrupt by 1810. Sir Francis Burdett: In 1796, Burdett became Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge, having purchased this seat from the representatives of the Duke of Newcastle, and in 1797 succeeded his grandfather as 5th Baronet. In Parliament Burdett soon became prominent as an opponent of William Pitt the Younger, and as an advocate of popular rights. He denounced the war with France, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and the proposed exclusion of John Horne Tooke from parliament, and quickly became the idol of the people. He had made the acquaintance of Tooke in 1797, becoming his pupil not only in politics but also in philology. With John Courtney MP, in 1798 Burdett supported the campaign of Catherine Despard to publicise and protest the conditions under which her Irish husband Colonel Edward Despard and other political radicals were held in Coldbath Fields Prison following the suspension of habeas corpus. Together they were instrumental in securing a parliamentary inquiry, and as a result Burdett was for a time prevented by the government from visiting any prison in the kingdom. Edward Despard, a member of the London Corresponding Society and a United Irishman remained in prison for three years. In 1803, after Despard was tried and (notwithstanding Horatio Nelson's intervention as a character witness) executed for treason, Burdett helped secure Catherine Despard a pension.
In Paris, 1802, Burdett presented the radical writer Thomas Paine with a gift of money him to enable him to discharge his debts and return to the United States.[7]
Re-election and controversies. "The modern Circe or a sequel to the petticoat", caricature of Mary Anne Clarke, the mistress of the Duke of York, Prince Frederick, by Isaac Cruikshank, published 15 March 1809. Frederick would resign as Commander-in-Chief 10 days later. At the general election of 1802 Burdett, assisted by the radical Irish journalist and publisher Peter Finnerty,[8] was returned as Member of Parliament for the county of Middlesex, but his return was declared void in 1804 and he lost the ensuing by-election owing to the machinations of the returning officer.[9] In 1805 this return was amended in his favor, but as this decision was again quickly reversed, Burdett, who had spent an immense sum of money over the affair, declared he would not stand for parliament again.[1]
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