---
title: Many Happy Returns - of the Gold to the Rightful Owners (Tom Browne, The Sketch)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/many-happy-returns-kruger-gold-1900/
description: Tom Browne's Sketch cartoon shows Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic, as a stooped, bearded man in a top hat clutching a bulging money…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Many Happy Returns - of the Gold to the Rightful Owners (Tom Browne, The Sketch)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/many-happy-returns-kruger-gold-1900.png)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/many-happy-returns-kruger-gold-1900.png)

# Many Happy Returns - of the Gold to the Rightful Owners (Tom Browne, The Sketch)

Tom Browne's Sketch cartoon shows Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic, as a stooped, bearded man in a top hat clutching a bulging money bag, under a birthday greeting that wishes 'many happy returns of the gold to the rightful owners'. The miser caricature is the label, and the caption takes for granted who the 'rightful owners' are.

- **Date:** October 10, 1900
- **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914)
- **Made by:** The Sketch (London illustrated weekly); cartoonist Tom Browne
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [United Kingdom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-kingdom)
- **Medium:** [Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=cartoon)
- **Issuer type:** [Media](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=media)
- **Regime:** [Salisbury Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=salisbury-government)
- **Leader:** [Robert Gascoyne Cecil](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=robert-gascoyne-cecil)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Economy and finance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=economy-finance), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism)
- **Event:** [Second Boer War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=second-boer-war)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Many_Happy_Returns_%E2%80%93_of_the_Gold_to_the_Rightful_Owners_by_Tom_Browne_(1870%E2%80%931910).png), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published in The Sketch, 10 Oct 1900, before 1931; per Wikimedia Commons) Tom Browne (1870-1910), The Sketch, vol. XXXI, no. 402, 10 October 1900, p. 491; via Wikimedia Commons

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
KRUGER.
[signature:] TOM BROWNE
MANY HAPPY RETURNS - OF THE GOLD TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS.
FRIEND PAUL IS SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OF AGE TO-DAY. HE IS THEREFORE OLD ENOUGH TO APPRECIATE THE PIETY OF THIS WISH.
```

[← Notice of Justice: Aguinaldo's decree of 3 August 1900 paying 'imperialist soldiers' for surrendered rifles](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/aguinaldo-decree-imperialist-soldiers-1900/) ["The Aguinaldo Guard" (Puck, 1900) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/aguinaldo-guard-puck-1900/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)