"The Friend of the People & his Petty New Tax Gatherer, Paying John Bull a Visit" was first published on May 28, 1806, by Hannah Humphrey. The caricature acts as a biting critique of the massive tax hikes levied on the British public during the Napoleonic Wars. The title mocks the Whig politician Charles James Fox, who historically branded himself as the "Friend of the People," but radically shifted his stance after entering government power. After years in political opposition acting as a champion for personal liberties, Fox joined the Ministry of All Talents in 1806. Faced with funding an expensive war against France, his new administration immediately implemented aggressive new property and income taxes. Gillray uses the print to brutally contrast Fox's populist rhetoric with his actual policies, exposing the hypocrisy of a "patriot turned plagiarist" who has come to strip away the public's money. The print features a highly symbolic encounter outside a modest British home. Charles James Fox is depicted as a bulky, menacing tax collector demanding money. He aggressively knocks on the door, breaking his old promises to the working class. Standing right alongside Fox is the young Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (the Chancellor of the Exchequer). Gillray depicts him as a literal "Petty Tax Gatherer," smaller in stature, holding an oversized book or document detailing the aggressive new tax laws. John Bull, the personification of the typical British public, appears at the window or doorway. He looks out completely horrified, exhausted, and impoverished by the relentless economic demands of the state.The shop or house in the background features signage reading "Broad-Bottom Pop-Shop", a direct jab at the Ministry of All Talents, which was widely nicknamed the "Broad-Bottomed Ministry" due to its large coalition of diverse political factions. The piece remains a textbook example of how Gillray could weaponise an official's own political slogans against them.
Gillray was one of five children, and the only one to survive to maturity. In 1770 he was apprenticed to Harry Ashby, a London writing in engraver, and five years later W. Humphrey published a few of Gillray's illustrations including satirical works. By the time Gillray commenced his career satire was old, but personal caricature was in its infancy. Other exponents in this form of art were soon overshadowed by Gillray's superior craftsmanship. His figures were full of vitality, titillating and reflective of some political crisis or private scandal. As his popularity increased so did demand by the public to see more of his work. In the rapidly changing politics of the late18th century he would produce a plate in twenty-four hours. Although sometimes overlooked his speech bubbles were elaborate and Gillray would spend considerable time composing and redrafting the text.
Between 1791 to 1807 his career continued successfully in association with William and Hannah Humphrey. There after Gillray's health began to suffer. He eventually slipped into madness and died shortly before the Battle of Waterloo on June 1st 1815. Hannah, who had a close relationship with him nursed Gillray through out his final years and following his death the copper plates then formed part of Hannah's estate when she died in 1818. The executor's of Hannah's estate sold Gillray's painstakingly worked plates for there second hand copper weight. Hearing of this, the then publisher, Bohn who had previously expressed an interest in buying the plates set about purchasing them from a variety of different sources. Eventually acquiring over 500. In 1851 Bohn republished the engravings in a large folio volume, "The Works of James Gillray".
