BAXTER, 'OIRLAND ALL THERE', INK, 1885

273 by 330mm., pen and ink, signed, mounted, framed and glazed

Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, 11 April 1885, front cover

Since beginning his second term of office as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1882, the Liberal politician, John Poyntz Spencer, the 5th Earl Spencer, had tried to quell the aggressive nationalism of the Parnellites and so re-establish the existing social order of the country. Events were brought to a head in 1885, as Ireland looked forward to the first general election to be held since two acts of parliament extended suffrage and redistributed the constituencies. Spencer believed that the best way to limit the power of Charles Stewart Parnell’s Irish Parliamentary Party was to arrange a major royal visit, ideally by the Prince of Wales, establish a permanent royal residence in the country, and introduce a programme of reform. He eventually overcame the objections of Queen Victoria that a visit would seem to be a response to the attacks made by Irish nationalists on London landmarks in late 1884 and early 1885.