A Standing – dish at Boodles. * Vide a d—d good Cocoa-Tree Pun.

James Gillray after an amateur

A Standing – dish at Boodles. * Vide a d—d good Cocoa-Tree Pun.

London, H. Humphrey May 28^th 1800

Aquatint

Original hand-colouring

230x160mm

Trimmed to image

£480

A small caricature. The grossly fat, unkempt, middle aged figure of Sir Frank Standish of Duxbury, Lancashire, sits astride across a chair his arms folded on its back, sucking the end of his cane. He wears a low crowned hat and in the background on the wall is a picture of a horse entitled Yellow Filly. A noted clubman, gambler and patron of the turf, Standish’s mare ‘Yellow Filly’ was bred by Richard Tattersall and won the Oaks Stakes in 1786. Sir Frank died unmarried in 1812, when the baronetcy became extinct, and without leaving heirs. A weaver from Horwich named Tom Standish tried to claim he was the rightful heir to the property, however the law decided otherwise and when Tom’s supporters occupied the hall the authorities sent in first the constables, when they had no success the military evicted them from the property. Action in the courts dragged on for many years, when finally the estate passed into the hands of distant claimants. BM 9563.