James Gillray (1756–1815)

• Was a British caricaturist and printmaker.
• Gillray has been called "the father of the political cartoon".
• He was born in Chelsea, London.
• His father had served as a soldier.
• Gillray commenced life by learning letter-engraving, at which he soon became adept.
• He was admitted as a student in the Royal Academy.
• His caricatures are almost all in etching, some also with aquatint, and a few using stipple technique.
• Two caricatures on Admiral Rodney's naval victory at the Battle of the Saintes, issued in 1782, were among the first of the memorable series of his political sketches.
• His last work, from a design by Bunbury, is entitled Interior of a Barber's Shop in Assize Time, and is dated 1811.
• While he was engaged on it he became mad, although he had occasional intervals of sanity, which he employed on his last work. 
• In July 1811 Gillray attempted to kill himself by jumping out of an attic window.
• Gillray lapsed into insanity and was looked after by Hannah Humphrey until his death on 1 June 1815 in London.
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