British Punch

by Richard S. West

Founded in 1841 and published in London, Punch was the most influential satire magazine of the nineteenth century.  It had a larger circulation in the United States than any American-produced satire magazine for nearly forty years, until Puck became a success in 1880.  While not as vociferous as its Southern counterparts (or for that matter the London Fun), Punch was the most polished of the pro-Confederate satire magazines.

The British were far from disinterested observers of the American Civil War.  They depended on the South for many manufacturing staples, not the least of which was cotton.  This simple economic fact, reinforced by ancient British-American animosities, predisposed them to the Confederate cause.  Punch, generally a supporter of England’s Conservative Party, echoed that line.  For example, the Trent Affair at the end of 1861 – when the British forced the Federal Government to relinquish two Confederate envoys seized from a British vessel – prompted a gleeful Punch to draw John Bull cornering Lincoln as a “Coon” up a tree.

Before the turn in the Confederate tide in 1863, Punch took quiet satisfaction in Union Army setbacks and characterized Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation as nothing more than a ploy in the game of war.  After Gettysburg, as the Union Army moved inexorably toward victory, Punch alternately celebrated England’s neutrality and attacked Lincoln as a tyrant.  Only after the assassination did Punch express contrition for its attacks on Lincoln’s character and recognize his achievements.

Punch finally went out of business in May 2002 after poking fun at the British establishment for more than 150 years.