Satirical cartoon map, drawn by Tom Merry (William Mecham).

The cartoon satirizes Liberal MP William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone (1809-1898), served as Liberal Prime Minister four times and as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Gladstone opposed the High Toryism notions of the abolition of slavery and factory legislation.

He in turn owned many slaves.

William Mecham

William Mecham (1853 - 1902) was a British cartoonist and performer, taking the stage as pen name Tom Merry. He was a professional caricaturist who gave 'Lightning Cartoon' presentations on the music hall stage, and was the first celebrity of any kind to appear in a British film.

Merry was a cartoonist and political satirist. He created the center spread in color of The St Stephen's Review, a weekly magazine of political comment published from 1883 to 1892, when it became Big Ben, and closed the following year.

Thirty four political lithographs, of statesmen of the era are in the collection of the House of Commons. A number of presentation (signed) copies were also in the personal collection of Winston Churchill, with his father, Lord Randolph Churchill as subject. He also published in the London edition of the American satirical Puck Magazine, from January 1889 to June 1890.

Merry's musical hall stage act appears to have involved high speed drawing of subjects drawn both from the audience, and of famous figures from memory. The caricatures were drawn at a furious pace, as can be seen in the films that survive.