The Movement of Satirical Prints between London and Dublin in the Late 1820s: Daniel O’Connell and Catholic Emancipation

Abstract

This article examines the exchange of satirical printed images between London and Dublin in 1828–9. Through the close visual analysis of three prints, two published in London and one in Dublin, it addresses how these images responded to news, used humour as a mechanism for provoking shared laughter, and shaped debates on both sides of the Irish Sea about Daniel O’Connell (1775–1847) and Catholic emancipation. By analysing an emergent motif of movement of people (marching, processing, leading and following), it is shown that revolutionary implications were constructed in printed images, especially for power in, and governance of, the Union.