‘Pictorial Lies’? — Posters and Politics in Britain c.1880–1914*

Abstract

In 1906, Joseph Chamberlain rose in the House of Commons to reply to the King's Speech on behalf of the Opposition. He rapidly came to the question of ‘Chinese slavery’, and the use made of it by the Liberals at the recent general election. Chamberlain displayed a series of posters to the House, beginning with one issued by the National Liberal Federation, and argued that ‘these men have their hands behind their backs’ and that the picture was intended to represent a case of slavery. He proceeded to show a poster published by the National Press Agency featuring Chinamen in chains. His pictorial climax was provided by an image of a Chinaman: ‘a ghostly looking figure … strung up by a rope with his toes just touching the ground’.1 Throughout the debate on the King's Speech, Conservatives returned to the cry of ‘Chinese slavery’ and, more particularly, to the...