File:The free-born Briton or a perspective of taxation (BM 1868,0808.5468).jpg

Size of this preview: 800 × 570 pixels. Other resolutions: 320 × 228 pixels | 640 × 456 pixels | 1,024 × 729 pixels | 1,280 × 911 pixels | 1,600 × 1,139 pixels.

Original file (1,600 × 1,139 pixels, file size: 562 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below.
Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help.

Summary

The free-born Briton or a perspective of taxation (

)

Artist

Print made by: William Dent

Published by: J Nunn

Title

The free-born Briton or a perspective of taxation

Description

English: John Bull stands full-face, shouting and stamping with rage, on a block of turf inscribed 'Land-Tax 4s in the pound'. Across his shoulders are two yokes, one inscribed 'National - Debt &c', the other 'Civil-List &c.'; from the four ends hang objects representing taxes. From the left end of the former dangles a figure made up of barrels, bars, &c, the head represented by lighted 'Candles'; it is inscribed 'Excise-Man'; the rope attaching it to the yoke is 'Excise'. Its right hand (left), inscribed 'Auctions', holds out an auctioneer's hammer; the left holds a bottle of Wine, in a stand inscribed 'Plate'. The other portions of the body are inscribed 'Beer', 'Tea', 'Cyder', 'Spirits', 'Malt', 'Tobacco', 'Calico', 'Hides', 'Glass', 'Soap', 'Coffee', 'Chocolate'. Between its legs are the words 'Licenses &c. &c.' The head of a crocodile inscribed 'New Taxes' extends from the lower left corner of the design, directing a barbed tongue at the Excise Man. From the other end of this yoke a bundle of scrolls dangles from a rope inscribed 'Taxes: Maid Servants, Men Servants, Carriages &c, Game, Places, &c &c.' A similar bundle of Stamps hangs from the left end of the Civil-List yoke: 'Medecines', 'Warrants of Attorney', 'Cards & Dice', 'Almanacks', 'Notes', 'Horses', 'Receipts', 'Bonds &c', 'News-papers', 'Pamphlets', '&c. &c.' From the right end of this yoke hangs a pyramid of barrels, sacks, &c, its rope inscribed 'Customs:' they are inscribed respectively, 'Wine', 'Cloth', 'Leather', 'Salt', 'Pepper', 'Coals', 'Sugar', 'Wool', 'Tobacco &c &c.'

Two feathers (or leaves) fly upwards, inscribed 'Attornies' (left) and Pawnbrokers (right). Portions of two buildings are visible on the extreme left and right: on the left is a two-storied house, the roof inscribed 'Tile Tax', the front inscribed 'Brick Tax', 'Insurance Tax', 'Window Tax', 'House Tax', its wide blocked-up door or window, 'Shop Tax'. On the right is the corner of a church, inscribed 'Parochial Taxes, Poor's rate, Watch, Lights, Scavenger Pavement &c.' A tombstone (?) resting against it is inscribed 'State Taxes, Births, Christenings, Marriages, Deaths and Burials'. The Briton wears a bandage over one eye inscribed 'Commutation'; his hat is labelled 'Stamp' and 'Turn-pike'. His shouting mouth is inscribed 'Custom' and 'Excise' and these words, together with 'Stamp', are inscribed respectively on his body and limbs. A caterpillar crawls towards him from the right, inscribed 'Marriage Portions'. Beneath the title is etched:

'From top to toe, all o'er stuck full
With Taxes grievous, poor John Bull,
By acts of state so strictly bound,
Pays shillings fourteen in the pound;
Should Taxes new the rest surprise,
Like Shop-Tax, stamps and laws excise,
John must sink beneath the evil,
Or kick them all to the Devil.' 11 January 1786

Etching

Date

1786

Medium

paper

Dimensions

Height: 252 millimetres

Width: 352 millimetres

Collection

British Museum

	Native name	British Museum
	Location	London
	Coordinates	51° 31′ 10″ N, 0° 07′ 37″ W
	Established	1753
	Website	www.britishmuseum.org
	Authority file	: Q6373 VIAF: 134857252 ISNI: 0000000123428817 ULAN: 500125180 LCCN: n79107735 NLA: 35022119 WorldCat

Current location

Prints and Drawings

Accession number

1868,0808.5468

Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938) A comprehensive view of the burdens, national and parochial, old and new, which weighed down John Bull but were lightened by expanding trade. The stamp duties were extended by North in 1782, doubled by Lord John Cavendish (1782), and extended by the Coalition (1783) to Receipts, see BMSat 6243, &c, and to the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, see BMSat 6253, &c. Pitt's first budget (1784) included new duties on hats, coals (withdrawn), horses (see BMSat 6672), hackney coaches, bricks and tiles, paper, licences for shooting and licences for traders in excisable goods. For the Commutation Tax, lowering the tax on tea and raising that on windows, see BMSat 6634, &c. For the tax on shops see BMSat 6798, &c, and on maidservants BMSat 6794, &c. Pitt's licence duties were extended in 1785 to the legal profession (attorneys, &c.) and to pawnbrokers. See Dowell, 'Hist. of Taxation and Taxes'; Rose, 'Pitt and National Revival', 1911, chap, viii. See also BMSat 6962, 7132, 7145, 7389, 7480, 7494, 7869.

An altered version was issued in 1790, see BMSat 7625.

Source/Photographer

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-5468

Permission
(Reusing this file)

Licensing

This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason:

	This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States. Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Jamaica has 95 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Honduras has a general copyright term of 75 years, but it does implement the rule of the shorter term. Copyright may extend on works created by French who died for France in World War II (more information), Russians who served in the Eastern Front of World War II (known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia) and posthumously rehabilitated victims of Soviet repressions (more information).
	This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.

Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Thumbnail	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	06:04, 9 May 2020		1,600 × 1,139 (562 KB)	Copyfraud	British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1786 #1,703/12,043

File usage

The following page uses this file:

History of the English fiscal system