John Bull
![World War I recruiting poster](/Images/godic/202501/02/John_Bull_-_World_War_I_recruiting_poster0027.jpeg")
![An earlier John Bull in which he is depicted as an actual humanoid bull.](/Images/godic/202501/02/WilliamCharlesJohnnyBullAndTheAlexandrians0027.jpg")
![John Bull holds the head of Napoleon Bonaparte in an 1803 caricature by James Gillray.](/Images/godic/202501/02/Buonaparte,_48_hours_after_landing0027.jpg")
![An 1897 editorial cartoon with John Bull, Uncle Sam, and a dog symbolizing Japan from the newspaper the Hawaiian Gazette. The dog follows the](/Images/godic/202501/02/Uncle_Sam_and_the_Alluring_Sausage_of_Hawaii0028.jpg")
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country dwelling, jolly, matter-of-fact man.