Humourous Gallery

Smoking club, 18th century artwork

Smoking club, 18th century artwork. The practice of smoking tobacco was popularised in England and Ireland in the 1580s and 1590s by the English soldier and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1552-1618). This artwork, by the English caricaturist James Gillray (1757-1815), shows members of the House of Commons puffing smoke at each other. Those present include the Speaker (left) Charles James Fox (1749-1806), the Prime Minister (second from left) William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) and the Home Secretary (second from right) Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811). This copy of this artwork was published in the work Tobacco, its History and Associations (1859) by the English engraver Frederick William Fairholt (1814-1866)

© GEORGE ARENTS COLLECTION/NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY/ SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Papua New Guinea - Elema people - Eharo Masks

Elema people (of the Papuan Gulf in southeast New Guinea) practicing an elaborate cycle of masked rituals. These monumental Eharo masks were created primarily for amusement. To the Elema, eharo were "maea morava eharu" ("things of gladness"), and were danced as a prelude to more sacred rituals. Eharo represented supernatural beings (as well as comedic figures), such as lecherous old men and were made and worn by young men from neighbouring villages (at the request of the village hosting the ceremony). As they entered the village, they were pelted with shredded coconut by the women to neutralize their seductive powers! Now rendered harmless, the eharo danced surrounded by large groups of women to the amusement of the assembled crowd. Date: circa 1920s

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Cut out for the job: WW1 recruitment humour

Civilian: "Most of my pals are either in the Guards or the Bantams. I'm too short for the Guards, and too tall for the Bantams. Got the hump about it, rather." Officer:2 Then, why not try the Camel Corps?" Date: 1915

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

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