Item 25: A Mezzotint by Richard Houston of [John] Glyn, John Wilkes, and John Horne [Tooke], Published by Robert Sayer (removed to Black Box#1) , [1769]
Item — Box: 6, Folder: 25
Dates
- Created: [1769]
Creator
- Houston, Richard, 1721/2-1775 (Person)
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Mezzotint
Condition Note:
Fair. There is minor tearing along the edges of the page
Measurements:
15 ½ in. x 11 ⅞ in.
Title:
Mr. Serjeant Glyn, John Wilkes Esqr., The Revd Mr. John Horne
Description:
The following item dated 1769, depicts a mezzotint by Richard Houston of John Glyn, John Wilkes, and John Horne Tooke. The three appear in full body depiction, seated around a table covered with written documents and an ink quill and pot. They wear powdered wigs, black robes, and ornate three piece suits beneath. Wilkes wears a white collar, seated center, with the other two figures, Horne and Glyn, wearing dual arm neck ties. The piece was published by Robert Sayer.
An accompanying exhibit caption states: “John Wilkes, in the center, is shown with two political allies, Serjeant Glyn and John Horne, in a Richard Houston portrait. Horne was a radical clergyman, the last Anglican clergyman to sit in Parliament. Wilkes failed to support a fellow-traveller, a Mr. Bigley who had formerly printed Wilkes’ attacks on the courts. Horne then fell out with Wilkes. Glyn was a political manager for Wilkes and helped Wilkes in his battles with Parliament.”
The National Portrait Gallery gives some historical context for Wilkes during the time that they have dated the piece, which we used to date this item.
“Radical John Wilkes is expelled from Parliament once again, on the grounds that he was an outlaw when he was voted in. He is re-elected by his Middlesex constituents, then expelled and re-elected twice more, until Parliament declares his opponent, Henry Luttrell, the winner. First of 69 anonymous Letters of Junius appears in the Public Advertiser, exposing political corruption. The politician Sir Philip Francis is now believed to have been responsible” (National Portrait Gallery).
John Horne Tooke: “The radical politician Horne Tooke was an ardent campaigner for liberty and parliamentary reform. Born simply John Horne, he added ‘Tooke’ to his name in 1782 after living with William Tooke and becoming heir to William’s wealth, built through co-owning a plantation in Grenada worked by enslaved Africans. Horne Tooke had little interest in stopping the enslavement and trading of Africans, yet when it came to the issue of American Independence he was sympathetic to the demands stating ‘the people of America are enslaved’. He helped establish 'The Society for Supporting the Bill of Rights', and was instrumental in organising the distribution of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man in 1791. In 1794 he was wrongly accused of planning an uprising and imprisoned in the Tower of London
(National Portrait Gallery).
John Glynn was a lawyer and politician; MP for Middlesex
Transcription:
Written on papers on the table the men are sitting at from left to right:
{Under Glynn}
Addresses to County of Middlesex Constitutional Law Legal Liberty
{Under Wilkes} General Warrants Seizure of Papers Habeas Corpus Alteration Informations ex Officio Close Imprisonment
{Under Horne} Treatise on Inclosing Commons Freedom of Elections Trial by Jury Letters go to Sr. J. Gibbons and Sir W.B. Proctor
Richd. Houston invt. delin et fecit Mr. Serjeant GLYNN. - John Wilkes Esq[ui]r[e]. The Revd. Mr. JOHN HORNE, [Reverend] {Under Glynn’s name} Member of Parliament for the County of Middlesex. {Under Wilkes’ name} Elected knight of the Shire for the County of MIddlesex, {Under Horne’s name} Minister of New Brentford Publish[e]’d as the Act di[rects February 6 1760] by Robt. Sayer, at No. 53 in Fleet Street Pr.5.
{Under Wilkes} General Warrants Seizure of Papers Habeas Corpus Alteration Informations ex Officio Close Imprisonment
{Under Horne} Treatise on Inclosing Commons Freedom of Elections Trial by Jury Letters go to Sr. J. Gibbons and Sir W.B. Proctor
Richd. Houston invt. delin et fecit Mr. Serjeant GLYNN. - John Wilkes Esq[ui]r[e]. The Revd. Mr. JOHN HORNE, [Reverend] {Under Glynn’s name} Member of Parliament for the County of Middlesex. {Under Wilkes’ name} Elected knight of the Shire for the County of MIddlesex, {Under Horne’s name} Minister of New Brentford Publish[e]’d as the Act di[rects February 6 1760] by Robt. Sayer, at No. 53 in Fleet Street Pr.5.
Creator
- Houston, Richard, 1721/2-1775 (Person)
- Sayer, Robert, 1724/5-1794 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu