Admiral the Earl of Dundonald, a good cdv of the 1860s

.A good 4 x 2½ ins carte de visite by Maull & Polyblank, 56 Gracechurch Street and 187a Piccadilly, London showing Admiral Lord Dundonald  three quarter length in full dress uniform. The company was in existence for about ten years from 1856 so this image was taken in the sitters final years and published after his death. It is identified on the verso in pencil and came with a group of around a hundred cards which had possibly been been the company’s file copies. An associaton copy of an interesting book by Dundonald appears in the Military & Naval reference book category on the website.  jul10/1

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald [1775-1860], a Scot who rose eventually to be Admiral of the Red, was one of the most successful of those naval commanders who achieved fame during the Napoleonic Wars and whose raiding achievements led Napoleon to give him the nickname The Sea Wolf. However, his was a troubled career and he was dismissed from the Navy in 1814 following a stock exchange scandal. Before he was pardoned and re-instated in 1832 he continued his career in South America where he helped to establish and command the rebel navies of Brazil and Chile in their successful wars of independence and also to play a part in Peru’s achievement of its independence.