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.