"Admiral of the Fleet"
Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet
1806-1896

Accession number:
1996.03

Maker:
Théobald Chartran
(1849-1907). Published by Vanity Fair

Historical period:
July 29, 1882

Miltary branch:

Wars and Conflicts:

Type:

Dimensions:
H x W: 13.5 in. / 8.5 in.

Acquisition date:
N/A

Credit line:
The Army and Navy Club Library Trust Fund

Location:
,

Provenance:
N/A

Label:

Vanity Fair has been the title of at least five different magazines. The second was a British weekly published from 1868 to 1914, where this print originated. Subtitled "A Weekly Show of Political, Social and Literary Wares," it was founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles, who aimed to expose the contemporary vanities of Victorian society. It offered its readership articles on fashion, current events, the theatre, books, social events and the latest scandals, together with serial fiction, word games and other trivia, and included notable contributors such as Lewis Carroll and P. G. Wodehouse. It regularly published caricatures of notable English men and women of the day, including statesmen, military figures, princes and sovereigns, and even racehorses.

Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet, was a Royal Navy Officer. As a captain on the North America and West Indies Station he was employed capturing slave-traders and carrying out fishery protection duties. He became Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, where he acted with great diplomacy, especially in response to the Trent Affair on November 8, 1861 during the American Civil War.