A man in ragged clothes stands facing right, hunched forward under the weight of a basket of 'Rents' and 'Taxes' strapped to his back. His legs are shackled, his mouth is closed by a padlock, and his hands are tied behind him. Image enclosed within a circle
Alternative Title:
Freeborn Englishman
Description:
Title etched above image., Printmaker is likely the publisher Thomas Spence's son William, who was born in the early 1780s and died in 1797. See Oxford Dictionary of national biography, entry for Thomas Spence., Probably a copy, with alterations, of a print published circa 1795 entitled "A freeborn Englishman, the admiration of the world, the envy of surrounding nations, &c. &c." See description for No. 8710 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 7., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Thomas Spence seems to have also issued copper tokens in 1796 with depictions of a similar shackled figure on one side. See for example British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: T.6498., and Not in Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum.
Publisher:
Publishd. by T. Spence, Turn Stile, Holborn
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain. and Great Britain
Subject (Topic):
Taxation, Poverty, Poor persons, Locks (Hardware), Shackles, and Taxes
