All signed “Tom Merry” (the pseudonym of William Mecham) in the plate.
St. Stephen’s Review was conservative periodical that ran from 1883 to 1892. At the time, the Conservatives in Parliament were staunchly against upsetting the political and social order of the British Empire, and in particular, they were advocated against Irish home rule. These conservative themes - especially the anti-Irish sentiment - are forcefully present in Mecham’s biting caricatures.
