Drawing

Image depicting the music-hall performer George H. Chirgwin (1854-1922) in character as 'the White-Eyed Kaffir' underneath the image Chirgwin has inscribed it with a line from a song: 'Oh Alith! Oh! Now where can Alice be? I've brought a lovely sheepshead home for tea!'

G.H. Chirgwin was a talented musician who played a variety of stringed instruments including the banjo that he is seen playing here, and the 'Jap fiddle', a one-stringed instrument named after its similarity to the Japanese instrument the kokyū. He established this character at the Oxford Music Hall in 1877 and went on to perform his act in this character until his retirement in 1920.