Back in the 1830s electioneering was completely different to modern times and almost completely the same. There were reds and blues, at least in Nottinghamshire. But these were not the red labour and blue conservatives of today, but the colours of the families behind the county’s political power.
The blues represented the interests of the Middleton family of Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, with the reds being the colour of the Dukes of Newcastle of Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire.
Back in 1839, when these posters were printed and posted around Newark, Queen Victoria was a young lady on the throne of the United Kingdom and politics was a very different place. No labour party. No liberal party.
Political candidates were as likely to be critical of each other and to snipe as they are today; perhaps even more so. Certainly, the politicians of today could not get away with calling their opponents a “mad dog”.
In Their Own Words 