[WOMEN].
Flannel-armour; -female-patriotism, -or- modern heroes accoutred for the wars.
WOMEN HELPING THE WAR EFFORT
Rare. There is an example of this print in the British Museum. OCLC records copies at Yale, Morgan Library and Brown only.
A satire by James Gillray on the clothing sent by charitable ladies to British troops fighting in the French Revolutionary wars in Flanders with a facetious dedication: “to the benevolent Ladies of Great Britain, who have so liberally supported the new system of Millitary Cloathing this print is dedicated”.
In a barracks room men wearing conical hats are helped into their soft flannel uniforms by amorous ladies. In the centre right foreground a man stands with his back to us in a wide stance, fists on hips. Two ladies pull flannel britches over his still un-covered thighs and underwear. The lady on the left wears a crimson dress with a blue collar, lapels and cuffs and a gold military helmet crowned with plumes.
The men in their floppy beige garments wear slightly vacant expressions. The women in the foreground are attractive. Some of the attentive ladies in the background appear to be thin and somewhat old and we see the rounded behind of a caricature-ishly large lady. An example of proper military dress is shown hung up on the wall on the left. On the right wall a peeling poster of Hanibal next to a torn one of Charles XII.
In her Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum, M.Dorothy George writes that “The flannel garments sent by ladies to the troops in Flanders were the subject of ribald comment in the press. A depot was formed in Soho Square for storing these and similar badly needed comforts, but the Secretary at War appealed to the public rather to expend money on shoes. This print is said to have checked the ladies’ activities’ with its toungue-in-cheek inscription “to the benevolent Ladies of Great Britain, who have so liberally supported the new system of Millitary Cloathing this print is dedicated”.
