Jack Presbyter

alternative Presbyter Jack

1. derogatoryhistoricalGeneric name for a Presbyterian minister.

   The harmleſs Nettle now has loſt its Sting, JACK Preſbyter can cry, God ſave the King.

   [1709], [attributed to William Plaxton], The Yorkshire-Racers. A Poem. In a Letter from H[enry] S[ingle]ton, to His Friend T[om] P[ulle]n. […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 22

   3 more examples

   Their Synod now ſits in great feare, and ſo does Iack Presbyter, / That we ſhall have a King againe, and once more ſee a Miter: […]

   [1647], The II. Members Justification, [London]: [s.n.]

   In fact, the picture represents Presbyterianism—Jack Presbyter—holding the young king’s nose to the grindstone, which is turned by the Scots, personified as Jocky.

   1864, Thomas Wright, “History of Caricature and of Grotesque in Art”, in The Art-Journal, London: James S[prent] Virtue, pages 213–214

   Tories even appropriated the anti-Catholic calendar, burning effigies of Jack Presbyter on 5 November 1681.

   1989, Tim Harris, “London Crowds and the Revolution of 1688”, in Eveline Cruickshanks, editor, By Force or by Default? The Revolution of 1688–1689, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, →ISBN, page 46