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Edward Henry Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby by Carlo Pellegrini
Public domain · digitally restored by ComicBooks.com
Men of the Day: The Vanity Fair Caricatures

Edward Henry Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

Carlo Pellegrini · Published 29 May 1869

Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape') renders the three-time Conservative Prime Minister as a stooped, white-whiskered figure in frock coat, waistcoat, and towering top hat, monocle perched on his nose, one gloved hand dangling a watch-chain. The caricature's exaggeration falls on age and physical diminishment rather than ethnic markers — Derby was 70 and failing when this appeared, months before his death. A gilt earl's coronet floats top-right, anchoring his rank. The caption — 'It is his mission to stem the tide of democracy' — cuts two ways: honoring Tory principle while acknowledging the tide had already turned; Derby had just passed the 1867 Reform Act, enfranchising urban working-class men in what Disraeli called 'a leap in the dark.'

About this artifact

Creator
Carlo Pellegrini
Date
Published 29 May 1869
Rights
Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
Restoration
Digitally restored and hosted by ComicBooks.com.

Part of our mission to preserve and restore the public-domain heritage of the medium.