Sir Alfred Doughty-Tichborne, 11th Bt.

A carte-de-visite portrait of Sir Alfred Joseph Doughty-Tichborne, 11th Bt.

Born in 1839, he succeeded his father Sir James Doughty-Tichborne on 11 June 1862, his older brother Sir Roger Doughty-Tichborne having been lost at sea in 1854 and declared dead the following year. Sir Alfred died on on 22 February 1866 when his wife was six months pregnant. The child she bore three months later on 28 May 1866 was from the moment of his birth the 12th baronet of Tichborne.

A man claiming to be Sir Roger Tichborne subsequently arrived in England from Australia, where he claimed he had been working as a butcher in Wagga Wagga under the name of Tom Castro. He was, in fact, one Arthur Orton, and bore little resemblance to the real Sir Roger, nor did he speak a word of French, which the real Sir Roger spoke fluently. Neither of these facts stopped Sir Roger’s mother from recognising Orton as her long-lost child, so desperate was she to find her son again, nor from giving the impostor an allowance of £1000 a year. The other members of the family were not so easily convinced, and in 1871 a trial ensued. In spite of 100 supporters who vouched for his claims, Orton’s case eventually collapsed at the end of a twenty-two day cross-examination. He was immediately tried for perjury, of which he was found guilty in 1874, and sentenced to 14 years of hard labour, of which he served ten. Released in 1884, he died in poverty in 1898, spending the last years of his life alternating between confessions and claims of innocence. His coffin bears the name ‘Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne.’

The mount identifies the photographer as the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company. However, this is almost certainly the portrait entered by Adolphe Beau at Stationers' Hall [a part of the copyright process] on 12 June 1871. No image was attached to the form Beau completed but he described the portrait as a 'Photograph of Sir Alfred Tichborne Bart. Full face, head reclining on hand, elbow on corner of carved furniture.'