John Bull

:For other people and uses of this name, see John Bull (disambiguation).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Bull is a national personification of Britain created by Dr. John Arbuthnot in 1712 and popularized first by British print makers and then overseas by illustrators such as American cartoonist Thomas Nast.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a literary figure, John Bull is well-intentioned, frustrated, full of common sense, of poor fashion sense, and entirely of common, country stock. Unlike Uncle Sam later, he is not a figure of authority but rather a yeoman who prefers his small beer and domestic peace, possessed of neither patriarchical power nor heroic defiance. Arbuthnot provided him with a sister named Peg (Scotland), and a traditional adversary in Louis Baboon (the House of Bourbon in France). Peg continued in pictoral art beyond the 18th century, but the other figures associated with the original tableau dropped away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bull is usually portrayed as a stout man in a tailcoat with breeches and a Union Jack waistcoat. He also wears a low topper (sometimes called a John Bull topper) on his head and is often accompanied by a bulldog. John Bull has been used in a variety of different ad campaigns over the years, and is a common sight in British editorial cartoons of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The cartoon image of stolid stocky conservative and well-meaning John Bull, dressed like an English country squire, sometimes explicitly contrasted with the conventionalized scrawny, French revolutionary sans-culottes Jacobin, was developed from about 1790 by British satirical artists James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and George Cruikshank.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Bull is sometimes known as the British Lion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

National personification: A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda....

Britain: This article deals with the history of the word Britain. For clarification of terminology and an overview of articles about Britain and Ireland see British Isles (terminology)....

John Arbuthnot: Dr. John Arbuthnot, often known simply as Dr. Arbuthnot, (baptised April 29, 1667 – February 27, 1735), was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered today for his contributions to mathematics, his membership in the Scriblerus Club (where he inspired both Jo...

John Bull related Images and Photos (experimental)

John Bull "Licked Again" by Uncle Sam	John Bull Lawnmowers Magazine UK 1950	John Bull Worried by Free Trade	John Bull Launderettes Washing Machines Appliances Magazine UK 1954
John Bull Piano Pianos Grand Playing Lessons Games Teachers Magazine UK 1951	John Bull Isn't Too Keen on the Consequences of Free Trade	When Japan Enters the War John Bull Finds the Rising Sun a Little Too Hot for Him!	Thanks to Their U-Boats the German Navy Will Drown John Bull
Dr. John: Mercernary	Dr. John: Mercernary	John 3:16	John Q (BD)