Reform Act General Election Broadside in Leeds Liberal Candidates 1868

[BROADSIDE: Leeds Politics] The Liberal Boat setting out for the Grand Parliamentary Regatta of 1868. 
 
Leeds: C. Goodall, 16 Woodhouse Lane, [1868].
 
Broadside, 370 × 250 mm, wood-engraved caricature trimmed slightly at left edge; light folds and handling, marks on the reverse, but generally very good.
 
A sharp local political satire on the 1868 General Election in Leeds, lampooning the city’s Liberal candidates as they “set out” on the electoral waters. The cartoon shows Edward Baines MP and Sir Andrew Fairbairn (both prominent Leeds Liberals) in rival boats — Baines’s labelled “Chosen Few of Leeds,” while Fairbairn, snubbed from the main crew, declares he will “paddle my own canoe.”
 
The 1868 General Election was the first held after the Second Reform Act (1867), which rapidly expanded the urban male electorate, especially in industrial centres like Leeds. This caricature captures that political moment perfectly, showing the tensions between reformist and old guard candidates within the same party.
 
A scarce local election satire.