Women and Foxite Strategy in the Westminster Election of 1784

In 1780, Samuel Johnson wrote to Hester Thrale, urging her to canvass for her husband, a Member of Parliament, who was bedridden during the campaign:

My opinion is that you should come for a week, and show yourself, and talk in high terms, for it will certainly be propagated with great diligence that you despair and desist. . . . A little bustle, and a little ostentation will put a stop to clamours, and whispers, and suspicions of your friends, and calumnies of your opponents. Be brisk, and be splendid and be public. ¹

Johnson urges Thrale not only to "show herself" for an extended period of time but also to be an orator. Doing so will end both the "clamours" (public speech) and the "whispers" (private speech) that are undermining the campaign. In Samuel Johnson and the Politics of Hanoverian England, John Cannon notes that this letter gives us "nice insight into the arts of managing an open borough." ² What this letter also reveals is that in the "arts" of electioneering both men and women function as the body, voice, and image of the campaign.

Although women's participation in eighteenth-century elections is now widely acknowledged, historians continue to miss the importance and complexity of their roles. When the female politician appears in visual and written texts (hereafter collectively called "the press"), she is often identified as a figure on the periphery—one whose behavior challenges general expectations for women. Historians, therefore, continue to frame the discussion of these images around one central issue: namely, the extent to which eighteenth-century British culture permitted women's participation in elections. As a result, these texts and prints are often treated like prescriptive conduct books, an approach that misses the complexity of how and why political women were represented in the press. This is particularly true when we consider the Westminster election of 1784, during which an extraordinary number of works featuring women appeared. Such leading researchers as Linda Colley, Anne Stott, Amanda Foreman, and Nicholas Rogers share the view that the press, particularly in treating Lady Georgiana, fifth Duchess of Devonshire, was largely concerned with defining what was acceptable female participation in elections. Representations of the duchess and her fellow female canvassers, they argue, alternately attacked them as traitors to their gender or class, or defended them against such attacks. Although historians acknowledge that the duchess and others were effective canvassers, they interpret the press treatment of them as a liability for the candidates they served.

The assumption behind this view is that the press's focus on women was driven by criticism of their activities as having gone beyond the bounds of acceptability. Although such criticism played upon prevailing social conventions and often suggested that their behavior was unfeminine, it is important not to underestimate the variety and sophistication of the press nor the valuable role women played, not only as street-level canvassers, but as symbols of the campaign. For writers and artists in the pay of the Opposition candidate, Charles James Fox, images of the women were used to define Fox's values and leadership capacity. By emphasizing these female advocates, Opposition propagandists sought to highlight Fox's independence, his championship of "the people," and more specifically, his credibility on such issues as Chelsea Hospital and the proposed maidservant tax. On the other hand, supporters of the government candidate, Sir Cecil Wray, eventually found it necessary to respond to Fox's alleged popularity among female constituents. Even as they tried to undermine the allure of the images of female Foxites, they were simultaneously forced to publicize their own female supporters and argue that Wray was equally attentive to women's interests. In the mix of campaign propaganda that accompanied the election, press accounts of women did not merely debate whether, and if so, how, it was appropriate for women to assist electoral campaigns. Rather, in the Westminster...