The Drunkard's Children

"The Drunkard's Children" (1848) is Cruikshank's sequel to "The Bottle," following the fates of the alcoholic father's son and daughter. The eight plates show their downward spiral after their father's imprisonment. The daughter falls into prostitution and ultimately commits suicide by jumping from a bridge into the Thames. The son turns to gambling and crime, leading to his transportation to a penal colony. He eventually dies in a hospital ward. Like its predecessor, this series served as powerful propaganda for the temperance movement, showing how alcoholism's destructive effects could continue into the next generation. 

The eight plates served as an illustration for the article “GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. The Evils of Drunkenness as Sketched by George Cruikshank. With Reproductions of his Etchings The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children” written by Mark Keller, published in the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol in 1944, Vol.5 (3), p.483-504 as part of the Classics of Alcohol Literature series. According to a footnote in the article, QJSA expressed gratitude to Dr. Clements C. Fry of Yale University for the plates from which these reproductions were made.