Well, would you believe it? I found another source and managed to find a couple more Tenniel Boer War cartoons. This one was published in Punch on 27th December 1899.
I think that this one is pretty self-explanatory. We see
Father Christmas speaking to the seated figure of Transvaal President Paul Kruger
and blaming him for spoiling the Christmas season of 1899.
In one way you have to almost admire Tenniel’s sheer cheek
in this. Cartoon. He clearly blames Kruger for having been given no other
choice than effectively give up the Transvaal’s independency and ceded
sovereignty to Britain, or go to war. Either that or he blames Kruger for the
Boer Army not rolling over obediently but instead having the best of the
fighting in 1899.
Tenniel would reuse this image of Kruger in his 1900
cartoon Full of Resource. As for Father Christmas, well, Tenniel often made Christmas
cartoons for Punch using Father Christmas, and it was this very traditional
English version of Father Christmas that he tended to use, compared with the
Santa Claus cartoons being produced by his American friend and contemporary,
the great Thomas Nast. Tenniel’s Father Christmas is not Santa, the giver of
gifts to children who hve managed to stay off the naughty list. He’s the spirit
of seasonal good cheer, and this certainly makes sense of why he would be
appearing in Punch after Christmas Day.
I’ve copied several of Tenniel’s Christmas cartoons in the
past, for example the 1891 Punch cartoon – Awakening Father Christmas.
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