File:'A View from Trinity College, Cambridge' RMG PY6142.tiff

This caricature entitled 'A View from Trinity College, Cambridge' shows a don in a gown and mortar board and metal frame glasses walking across the grounds.

Richard Dighton (1795/6-1865) was the son of Robert Dighton (1751-1814), a singer and draughtsman whose father was a printseller. Robert Dighton began producing caricatures in 1781 and continued until his death when Richard continued his work in much the same style. The Dighton's subjects ranged from Royal and parlimentary figures to people from the city and the stage. This print may have been produced by either father or son, it is only signed 'R. Dighton'.

The Dighton prints that the Herschels collected have quite a clear biographical relationship with John FW Herschel. This print, 'A View from Trinity College, Cambirdge' produced in 1815 makes reference to both the unattractive prospect of a life as a Cambridge don (a number of John FW Herschel letters from around this time to his fellow Cambridge graduates state how unappealing he found this as a prospective future career), and to the college of many of his friends. His friend Charles Babbage had been a student at Trinity while his friend William Whewell was there and stayed on to become Master of the college. Thirty years later John FW Herschel sent his own son, Alexander Stewart Herschel to Trinity College, Cambridge.