What I've learned from Victoria: The 1.3 Beta Edition
While most Internet memes can be traced to the early 21st Century, one meme actually boasts its origin in Tory politics of the Victorian period.
The
Yo' Dawg meme, contrary to popular belief, has nothing to do with a popular television show, but has everything to do with the problems faced by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, and the Tory party during the tumultuous period of 1903-1909. During his tenure as PM, Petty-Fitzmaurice continued the State Capitalist and Jingoistic policies of the past 40 years, declaring war against France twice and trying to steal her African colonies; however, the failures of the 3 million man British army to secure victory against the cheese-eating, wine-drinking French proved very unpopular. Reactionary rebels, tired of the incompetence of the Tory party and its reactionary policies and ideology revolted both at home and in the vast factories of British India, as depicted in this photograph.
The unrest was widespread enough that George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, stood before the House of Commons and spoke mockingly of the Tory PM, saying, in part, "Verily, Prime Minister, I have heard it rumored that you prefer Tory policies. So it is that I have sponsored some Tory-minded ruffians to forcefully negotiate on your behalf. This should enable you to contain Tory policies within the violent outbursts of Tory ruffians, so you can enact reactionary ideologies within a framework of reactionary politics." The speech was a rousing success when it was reported to the House of Lords, although Curzon was vilified in the House of Commons. The vilification was so bad that a portrait of Curzon's was defaced with graffiti, and can now be seen in the British Royal Museum.
Of course, Petty-Fitzmaurice managed to turn this to his political advantage. While he did order the army to gun down the reactionary rebels, he simultaneously argued that British failures in its wars of imperialism were the result of the socialist and undemocratic stance of the overwhelming majority of peers in the House of Lords.
Within a few years, he would convince the crown to name enough Tory MPs to the peerage to overcome the entrenched political elites and end their reign of socialist terror through the use of the House of Lords veto.