‘The Origins of Sleaze: Visual Culture & Electoral Treating during the 1784 Westminster Election’

Focussing on the 1784 Westminster Election, and through the lens of visual culture, this paper would examine the role of political treating in relation to the lower orders. Treating was the common, yet often illegal practice of rewarding voters with goods or services in return for votes. Whilst writing and researching my thesis and recent Parliamentary History article on the plebeian publican and canvasser Samuel House, it became clear that the practice of political treating was a relatively common theme in caricature; be it a candidate pouring a tankard of ale down the throat of a potential voter; exchanging comically large sacks of money; or a female canvasser offering kisses in return for votes. More significantly, treating was the physical embodiment of the temporary power and respect bestowed on the lower orders of Westminster during parliamentary elections. This fleeting inflation of lower-order status is crudely and effectively satirised in William Dent’s Advice to the Electors of Westminster (Fig.). Whereas the candidate (Fox), is happy to drop to his knees and kiss the bottom of his potential lower-order butcher voter, after the election the dynamics were quickly reverted. I am interested in understanding how contemporary society viewed and satirized the practice of treating; which examples of treating were most common; and which politicians were depicted as the most prolific treaters. Most of all, I am interested in the role of caricature beyond merely ‘reflecting’ the practice of treating. As the 1784 election is considered one of the first elections in which public opinion assumed a real significance, one must reassess the contemporary use of visual culture as a possible influencer and manipulator of the voting public and as a tool in forging a contemporary perception or understanding of treating.