The Scourge

From 1811 to 1816, The Scourge was a monthly British satirical comic of moral and political outrage, published across 12 issues. Most associated with the sharp pens of George Cruikshank and Charles Williams—who wrote and illustrated the bulk of its pages—the series wielded caricature and mockery to skewer Regency-era corruption, fashion, and public figures. It stands as a vivid, rowdy artifact of early 19th-century graphic satire, capturing the era's raw humor and social conscience in a format that prefigured modern comics.