“The Whitebait Dinner; or, ‘Parties’ at Greenwich” (Punch 1867)

The Whitebait Dinner; or, ‘Parties’ at Greenwich

John Tenniel

1867

Wood engraving

Punch (24 August 1867)

Signed with monogram lower left

Derby. “Going to the Trafalgar, are you? Why not dine here? All in the same ship, you know, ha! ha!”

Gladstone. “Hm! Well! All things considered, I think you might have invited us.”

See commentary below

Image from the Internet Archive web version of a copy of Punch in the University of Michigan Library.

[This image may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose without prior permission as long as you credit this site and the Internet Archive.]

Commentary

The editorial cartoonist John Tenniel again deploys a pun on party as he had the year before in Before the Trial. Looking up whitebait, I discovered that they are tiny fish who live in the Thames and considered a delicacy — my wife already knew this — but was at a loss to understand the cartoon until the ever-knowledgable Jacqueline Banerjee directed me to the Georgian Gentleman site, which explains that

Over time it became the practice of the leading political parties to partake of whitebait in their favourite hostelries. The Michelin Green Guide to London tells us “In the Nineteenth Century Blackwell was associated with political whitebait dinners. The Brunswick Hotel and Tavern was built in 1835 by the East India Company and was patronised by members of the Fox Club (followers of Charles James Fox); their political opponents headed by William Pitt the Younger, Gladstone and their Whig followers dined at Greenwich (where the tradition of whitebait dinners still thrives at the Trafalgar Tavern.)”

The point of the cartoon is that Lord Derby (with Disraeli standing at his side) invites Gladstone and his ally John Bright to join the Tories, probably in celebrating the 1867 Reform Bill, and an annoyed Gladstone points out that they should have been invited earlier.

Bibliography

“Whitebait at Greenwich – the tradition starts right here, in 1780.” Georgian Gentleman. Web. 16 September 2017.

Last modified 16 September 2017