Volume 2 of the Papers of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alexander Milner 1806-1896.


Milne remained notably shy of publicity. In the words of one biographer he was known as 'that able and hard-headed Scotchman'. However he was the pre-eminent naval administrator in the Victorian period, perhaps of the years 1815-1900. Not once during 60 years of naval service did Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alexander Milne, Bt., K.C.B. hear British guns fired in anger, yet, on the basis of talents and abilities ideally suited to the century of the Pax Britannica, he numbers among the greatest officers of the post Napoleonic-era Royal Navy.

He served as a Junior Lord for almost twelve straight years during the late 1840s and 1850s. His earlier years in the Navy were spent at sea but in 1846 he was appointed a Naval Lord of the Admiralty. There he was to remain for the next eleven and a half years, serving, successively, the Ministries of Lord John Russell, (Whig, 1846-52), Lord Derby (Conservative, 1852), Lord Aberdeen (Whig/Peelite coalition, 1852-55), Lord Palmerston (Whig, 1855-58), and Lord Derby again (1858-59).

He was gazetted with the civil K.C.B. in recognition of his lengthy service at Whitehall, in particular his labours during the Russian (Crimean) War. He possessed in abundance both patience and discretion. He stated however that 'When I joined the Admiralty in December 1847, it was under the distinct understanding with Lord Russell, then Prime Minister, and Lord Auckland, the First Lord of the Admiralty, that I was to be entirely free from all political matters.