1-150-193 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Washing the Blackamoor white', 1858. 'Sir Jung Bahadoor and his Knights Companions of the Bath.' Sir Jung Bahadoor, a Nepalese prince, seems to have had a famous liaison with a prostitute of note named Laura Bell. Many believed that this later helped keep Nepal and its Ghurkha regiments faithful to the British during the Indian Mutiny which erupted in 1857. Her liaison with Prince Jung Bahadoor was the theme of numerous songs of the period. From Punch, or the London Charivari, July 17, 1858. Two knights clad in medieval armour, keep a bath topped up with hot water and scrub down the gentlemen sitting in the tub. This cartoon relates to what Punch described as an 'Ineffectual Ablution'. The Maharajah Jung Bahadoor had recently been created a Knight of the Bath. However, Mr Punch went on to point out, 'Jung Bahadoor is a gentleman of a dark red complexion. The Bath will not render it white'.