Britain in the early-nineteenth century was not a greatly anti-Semitic society, and there had been Members of Parliament (MPs) from Jewish families since Samson Gideon in 1770.
Newspapers reported his ennoblement the following morning. In addition to the viscounty bestowed on Mary Anne Disraeli; the earldom of Beaconsfield was to have been bestowed on Edmund Burke in 1797, but he had died before receiving it.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician, who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
He had written novels throughout his career, beginning in 1826, and he published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76. ==Early life== ===Childhood=== Disraeli was born on 21 December 1804 at 6 King's Road, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, London, the second child and eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli, a literary critic and historian, and Maria (Miriam), née Basevi.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
Historians differ on Disraeli's motives for rewriting his family history: Bernard Glassman argues that it was intended to give him status comparable to that of England's ruling elite; Sarah Bradford believes "his dislike of the commonplace would not allow him to accept the facts of his birth as being as middle-class and undramatic as they really were". Disraeli's siblings were Sarah (1802–1859), Naphtali (born and died 1807), Ralph (1809–1898), and James ("Jem") (1813–1868).
Following a quarrel in 1813 with the synagogue of Bevis Marks, his father renounced Judaism and had the four children baptised into the Church of England in July and August 1817. Isaac D'Israeli had never taken religion very seriously, but had remained a conforming member of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.
His father, the elder Benjamin, was a prominent and devout member; it was probably from respect for him that Isaac did not leave when he fell out with the synagogue authorities in 1813.
After Benjamin senior died in 1816 Isaac felt free to leave the congregation following a second dispute.
Following a quarrel in 1813 with the synagogue of Bevis Marks, his father renounced Judaism and had the four children baptised into the Church of England in July and August 1817. Isaac D'Israeli had never taken religion very seriously, but had remained a conforming member of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.
Turner stood as godfather when Benjamin was baptised, aged twelve, on 31 July 1817. Conversion to Christianity enabled Disraeli to contemplate a career in politics.
He began there in the autumn term of 1817; he later recalled his education: ===1820s=== In November 1821, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, Disraeli was articled as a clerk to a firm of solicitors—Swain, Stevens, Maples, Pearse and Hunt—in the City of London.
He began there in the autumn term of 1817; he later recalled his education: ===1820s=== In November 1821, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, Disraeli was articled as a clerk to a firm of solicitors—Swain, Stevens, Maples, Pearse and Hunt—in the City of London.
Disraeli's sister and brothers adopted the new version of the name; Isaac and his wife retained the older form. Disraeli toured Belgium and the Rhine Valley with his father in the summer of 1824; he later wrote that it was while travelling on the Rhine that he decided to abandon his position: "I determined when descending those magical waters that I would not be a lawyer." On their return to England he left the solicitors, at the suggestion of Maples, with the aim of qualifying as a barrister.
He had made a tentative start: in May 1824 he submitted a manuscript to his father's friend, the publisher John Murray, but withdrew it before Murray could decide whether to publish it.
At the urging of George Canning the British government recognised the new independent governments of Argentina (1824), Colombia and Mexico (both 1825).
In the course of 1825, Disraeli wrote three anonymous pamphlets for Powles, promoting the companies.
In 1825 Disraeli convinced him that he should proceed.
The paper survived only six months, partly because the mining bubble burst in late 1825, and partly because, according to Blake, the paper was "atrociously edited", and would have failed regardless. The bursting of the mining bubble was ruinous for Disraeli.
By June 1825 he and his business partners had lost £7,000.
He had written novels throughout his career, beginning in 1826, and he published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76. ==Early life== ===Childhood=== Disraeli was born on 21 December 1804 at 6 King's Road, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, London, the second child and eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli, a literary critic and historian, and Maria (Miriam), née Basevi.
Disraeli's first novel, Vivian Grey, published anonymously in four volumes in 1826–27, was a thinly veiled re-telling of the affair of The Representative.
The trip was financed partly by another high society novel, The Young Duke, written in 1829–30.
He had rarely travelled abroad; since his youthful tour of the Middle East in 1830–1831, he had left Britain only for his honeymoon and three visits to Paris, the last of which was in 1856.
Blake, however, pointed out that results in local elections had been moving against the Conservatives, and doubted if Disraeli missed any great opportunity by waiting. As successful invasions of India generally came through Afghanistan, the British had observed and sometimes intervened there since the 1830s, hoping to keep the Russians out.
"Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two." in Handbook of the English Novel, 1830–1900 ed.
The tour was cut short suddenly by Meredith's death from smallpox in Cairo in July 1831.
He had already turned his attention to politics in 1832, during the great crisis over the Reform Bill.
The other great party, the Whigs, were anathema to Disraeli: "Toryism is worn out & I cannot condescend to be a Whig." There were two general elections in 1832; Disraeli unsuccessfully stood as a Radical at High Wycombe in each. Disraeli's political views embraced certain Radical policies, particularly democratic reform of the electoral system, and also some Tory ones, including protectionism.
Coningsby attacks the evils of the Whig Reform Bill of 1832 and castigates the leaderless conservatives for not responding.
In 1834 he was introduced to the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, by Henrietta Sykes, wife of Sir Francis Sykes.
In 1835 Disraeli stood for the last time as a Radical, unsuccessfully contesting High Wycombe once again. In April 1835, Disraeli fought a by-election at Taunton as a Tory candidate.
His Vindication of the English Constitution, was published in December 1835.
He was elected to the exclusively Tory Carlton Club in 1836, and was also taken up by the party's leading hostess, Lady Londonderry.
He had broken off the relationship in late 1836, distraught that she had taken yet another lover.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837.
In June 1837 WilliamIV died, the young Queen Victoria, his niece, succeeded him, and parliament was dissolved.
On the recommendation of the Carlton Club, Disraeli was adopted as a Tory parliamentary candidate at the ensuing general election. ==Parliament== ===Back-bencher=== In the election in July 1837 Disraeli won a seat in the House of Commons as one of two members, both Tory, for the constituency of Maidstone.
His other novel of this period is Venetia, a romance based on the characters of Shelley and Byron, written quickly to raise much-needed money. Disraeli made his maiden speech in Parliament on 7 December 1837.
A later Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, described the canal in 1909 as "the determining influence of every considerable movement of British power to the east and south of the Mediterranean". ====Royal Titles Act==== Although initially curious about Disraeli when he entered Parliament in 1837, Victoria came to detest him over his treatment of Peel.
Period 4: Growth of Democracy: Victoria 1837–1880 (1893)online 608pp; highly detailed political narrative Cesarani, David.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
He was a loyal supporter of the party leader Sir Robert Peel and his policies, with the exception of a personal sympathy for the Chartist movement that most Tories did not share. In 1839 Disraeli married Mary Anne Lewis, the widow of Wyndham Lewis.
Venetia (1837) was a minor work, written to raise much-needed cash. In the 1840s Disraeli wrote a trilogy of novels with political themes.
"Dizzy married me for my money", his wife said later, "But, if he had the chance again, he would marry me for love." Finding the financial demands of his Maidstone seat too much, Disraeli secured a Tory nomination for Shrewsbury, winning one of the constituency's two seats at the 1841 general election, despite serious opposition, and heavy debts which opponents seized on.
As the constituencies voted, it became clear that the result would be a Conservative majority, the first since 1841.
Though disappointed at being left on the back benches, he continued his support for Peel in 1842 and 1843, seeking to establish himself as an expert on foreign affairs and international trade. Although a Tory (or Conservative, as some in the party now called themselves) Disraeli was sympathetic to some of the aims of Chartism, and argued for an alliance between the landed aristocracy and the working class against the increasing power of the merchants and new industrialists in the middle class.
After Disraeli won widespread acclaim in March 1842 for worsting the formidable Lord Palmerston in debate, he was taken up by a small group of idealistic new Tory MPs, with whom he formed the Young England group.
Though disappointed at being left on the back benches, he continued his support for Peel in 1842 and 1843, seeking to establish himself as an expert on foreign affairs and international trade. Although a Tory (or Conservative, as some in the party now called themselves) Disraeli was sympathetic to some of the aims of Chartism, and argued for an alliance between the landed aristocracy and the working class against the increasing power of the merchants and new industrialists in the middle class.
But the young MP had attacked his leader as early as 1843 on Ireland and then on foreign policy interventions.
Lord John Manners, in 1843 at the time of Young England, wrote, "could I only satisfy myself that D'Israeli believed all that he said, I should be more happy: his historical views are quite mine, but does he believe them?" Blake (writing in 1966) suggested that it is no more possible to answer that question now than it was then.
In a letter of February 1844, he slighted the Prime Minister for failing to send him a Policy Circular.
The best known of these stances were over the Maynooth Grant in 1845 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
In 1846 the prime minister at the time, Sir Robert Peel, split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain.
The best known of these stances were over the Maynooth Grant in 1845 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
Peel hoped that the repeal of the Corn Laws and the resultant influx of cheaper wheat into Britain would relieve the condition of the poor, and in particular the suffering caused by successive failure of potato crops in Ireland—the Great Famine. The first months of 1846 were dominated by a battle in Parliament between the free traders and the protectionists over the repeal of the Corn Laws, with the latter rallying around Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck.
The Conservatives would not again have a majority in the House of Commons until 1874. ===Bentinck and the leadership=== Peel successfully steered the repeal of the Corn Laws through Parliament, and was then defeated by an alliance of all his enemies on the issue of Irish law and order; he resigned in June 1846.
Although the budget did not contain protectionist features, the Opposition was prepared to destroy it—and Disraeli's career as Chancellor—in part out of revenge for his actions against Peel in 1846.
Although their paths diverged over the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and later over fiscal policy more generally, it was not until the later 1860s that their differences over parliamentary reform, Irish and Church policy assumed great partisan significance.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
In the 1847 general election, Disraeli stood, successfully, for the Buckinghamshire constituency.
The Conservatives were led by Bentinck in the Commons and Stanley in the Lords. In 1847 a small political crisis occurred which removed Bentinck from the leadership and highlighted Disraeli's differences with his own party.
The negotiations were complicated by Bentinck's sudden death on 21 September 1848, but Disraeli obtained a loan of £25,000 from Bentinck's brothers Lord Henry Bentinck and Lord Titchfield. Within a month of his appointment Granby resigned the leadership in the Commons, feeling himself inadequate to the post, and the party functioned without a leader in the Commons for the rest of the parliamentary session.
Disraeli could not pay off the last of his debts from this debacle until 1849.
One who was not yet an MP, Lord John Manners, stood against Rothschild when the latter re-submitted himself for election in 1849.
When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became prime minister briefly before losing that year's general election.
This confused arrangement ended with Granby's resignation in 1851; Disraeli effectively ignored the two men regardless. ==Office== ===First Derby government=== In March 1851, Lord John Russell's government was defeated over a bill to equalise the county and borough franchises, mostly because of divisions among his supporters.
Stanley, on the other hand, deprecated his inexperienced followers as a reason for not assuming office, "These are not names I can put before the Queen." At the end of June 1851, Stanley's father died, and he succeeded to his title as Earl of Derby.
The Whigs were wracked by internal dissensions during the second half of 1851, much of which Parliament spent in recess.
When Disraeli attempted to secure a Tory-Radical cabinet in 1852, Bright refused. Disraeli gradually became a sharp critic of Peel's government, often deliberately taking positions contrary to those of his nominal chief.
In the event the matter was not put to the test, as the Tory split soon had the party out of office, not regaining power until 1852.
Palmerston did so within weeks of Parliament's reassembly on 4 February 1852, his followers combining with Disraeli's Tories to defeat the government on a Militia Bill, and Russell resigned.
Parliament was prorogued on 1 July 1852 as the Tories could not govern for long as a minority; Disraeli hoped that they would gain a majority of about 40.
MP Sidney Herbert predicted that the budget would fail because "Jews make no converts". Disraeli delivered the budget on 3 December 1852, and prepared to wind up the debate for the government on 16 December—it was customary for the Chancellor to have the last word.
Disraeli was early to call for peace, but had little influence on events. When a rebellion broke out in India in 1857, Disraeli took a keen interest in affairs, having been a member of a select committee in 1852 which considered how best to rule the subcontinent, and had proposed eliminating the governing role of the British East India Company.
As in 1852, Derby led a minority government, dependent on the division of its opponents for survival.
Documents on Conservative Foreign Policy, 1852-1878 (2013), 550 documents excerpt Partridge, Michael, and Richard Gaunt.
In the interim, Disraeli, as Conservative leader in the Commons, opposed the government on all major measures. In June 1853 Disraeli was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Oxford.
The start of the Crimean War in 1854 caused a lull in party politics; Disraeli spoke patriotically in support.
The British military efforts were marked by bungling, and in 1855 a restive Parliament considered a resolution to establish a committee on the conduct of the war.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
Under Palmerston, the war went better, and was ended by the Treaty of Paris in early 1856.
He had rarely travelled abroad; since his youthful tour of the Middle East in 1830–1831, he had left Britain only for his honeymoon and three visits to Paris, the last of which was in 1856.
Disraeli was early to call for peace, but had little influence on events. When a rebellion broke out in India in 1857, Disraeli took a keen interest in affairs, having been a member of a select committee in 1852 which considered how best to rule the subcontinent, and had proposed eliminating the governing role of the British East India Company.
But until Jews Relief Act 1858, MPs were required to take the oath of allegiance "on the true faith of a Christian", necessitating at least nominal conversion.
After peace was restored, and Palmerston in early 1858 brought in legislation for direct rule of India by the Crown, Disraeli opposed it.
The Government of India Act 1858 ended the role of the East India Company in governing the subcontinent.
In 1858, Baron Lionel de Rothschild became the first MP to profess the Jewish faith. Faced with a vacancy, Disraeli and Derby tried yet again to bring Gladstone, still nominally a Conservative MP, into the government, hoping to strengthen it.
The Liberals were healing the breaches between those who favoured Russell and the Palmerston loyalists, and in late March 1859, the government was defeated on a Russell-sponsored amendment.
When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became prime minister briefly before losing that year's general election.
Although their paths diverged over the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and later over fiscal policy more generally, it was not until the later 1860s that their differences over parliamentary reform, Irish and Church policy assumed great partisan significance.
When the American Civil War began in 1861, Disraeli said little publicly, but like most Englishmen expected the South to win.
In 1862, Disraeli met Prussian Count Otto von Bismarck for the first time and said of him, "be careful about that man, he means what he says". The party truce ended in 1864, with Tories outraged over Palmerston's handling of the territorial dispute between the German Confederation and Denmark known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question.
In 1862, Disraeli met Prussian Count Otto von Bismarck for the first time and said of him, "be careful about that man, he means what he says". The party truce ended in 1864, with Tories outraged over Palmerston's handling of the territorial dispute between the German Confederation and Denmark known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question.
Despite rumours about Palmerston's health as he passed his eightieth birthday, he remained personally popular, and the Liberals increased their margin in the July 1865 general election.
In the wake of the poor election results, Derby predicted to Disraeli that neither of them would ever hold office again. Political plans were thrown into disarray by Palmerston's death on 18 October 1865.
At her death in 1865, she left him a large legacy, which helped clear up his debts.
Agitators and Promoters in the Age of Gladstone and Disraeli: A Biographical Dictionary of the Leaders of British Pressure Groups founded between 1865 and 1886 (2 vol 1983), includes thousands of activists. (translated by Hamish Miles) Miller, Henry.
The crisis of imperialism, 1865–1915 (1976), pp 101–41. ===Primary sources=== Letters of Benjamin Disraeli.
One of Russell's early priorities was a Reform Bill, but the proposed legislation that Gladstone announced on 12 March 1866 divided his party.
Before the Reform Act 1867, the working class did not possess the vote and therefore had little political power.
The dissidents were unwilling to serve under Disraeli in the House of Commons, and Derby formed a third Conservative minority government, with Disraeli again as Chancellor. ===Tory Democrat: the 1867 Reform Act=== It was Disraeli's belief that if given the vote British people would use it instinctively to put their natural and traditional rulers, the gentlemen of the Conservative Party, into power.
He has lugged up that great omnibus full of stupid, heavy, country gentlemen--I only say 'stupid' in the parliamentary sense--and has converted these Conservative into Radical Reformers. The Reform Act 1867 passed that August.
In 2007 Parry wrote, "The tory democrat myth did not survive detailed scrutiny by professional historical writing of the 1960s [which] demonstrated that Disraeli had very little interest in a programme of social legislation and was very flexible in handling parliamentary reform in 1867." Despite this, Parry sees Disraeli, rather than Peel, as the founder of the modern Conservative party.
When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became prime minister briefly before losing that year's general election.
As the new session of Parliament approached in February 1868, he was bedridden at his home, Knowsley Hall, near Liverpool.
Disraeli is Prime Minister! A proud thing for a man 'risen from the people' to have obtained!" The new Prime Minister told those who came to congratulate him, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole." ===First government (February–December 1868)=== The Conservatives remained a minority in the House of Commons and the passage of the Reform Bill required the calling of a new election once the new voting register had been compiled.
Disraeli's term as Prime Minister, which began in February 1868, would therefore be short unless the Conservatives won the general election.
There are occasional earthquakes and ever and again the dark rumbling of the sea." Gladstone, Disraeli stated, dominated the scene and "alternated between a menace and a sigh". At his first departure from 10 Downing Street in 1868, Disraeli had had Victoria create Mary Anne Viscountess of Beaconsfield in her own right in lieu of a peerage for himself.
Of the peers, five of them had been in Disraeli's 1868 cabinet; the sixth, Lord Salisbury, was reconciled to Disraeli after negotiation and became Secretary of State for India.
The Queen had offered to ennoble him as early as 1868; he had then declined.
One controversial appointment had occurred shortly before the 1868 election.
"Disraeli, Gladstone and the personification of party, 1868–80." in Miller, Politics personified (Manchester University Press, 2016). Monypenny, William Flavelle and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield (2 vol.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
(1982 to 2014), ending in 1868.
His brief first premiership, and the first year of his second, gave him little opportunity to make his mark in foreign affairs. ====Suez==== The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, cut weeks and thousands of miles off the sea journey between Britain and India; in 1875, approximately 80% of the ships using the canal were British.
As a result of these social reforms the Liberal-Labour MP Alexander Macdonald told his constituents in 1879, "The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty." ====Patronage and Civil Service reform==== Gladstone in 1870 had sponsored an Order in Council, introducing competitive examination into the Civil Service, diminishing the political aspects of government hiring.
A work of fiction by a former prime minister was a novelty for Britain, and the book became a best seller. By 1872 there was dissent in the Conservative ranks over the failure to challenge Gladstone and his Liberals.
Public support for Disraeli was shown by cheering at a thanksgiving service in 1872 on the recovery of the Prince of Wales from illness, while Gladstone was met with silence.
Through 1872 the eighty-year-old peeress was suffering from stomach cancer.
Among the honours he arranged before resigning as Prime Minister on 21 April 1880 was one for his private secretary, Montagu Corry, who became Baron Rowton. Returning to Hughenden, Disraeli brooded over his electoral dismissal, but also resumed work on Endymion, which he had begun in 1872 and laid aside before the 1874 election.
Urged by a clergyman to turn her thoughts to Jesus Christ in her final days, she said she could not: "You know Dizzy is my J.C." In 1873, Gladstone brought forward legislation to establish a Catholic university in Dublin.
He returned to the Opposition, before leading the party to winning a majority in the 1874 general election.
The Conservatives would not again have a majority in the House of Commons until 1874. ===Bentinck and the leadership=== Peel successfully steered the repeal of the Corn Laws through Parliament, and was then defeated by an alliance of all his enemies on the issue of Irish law and order; he resigned in June 1846.
Disraeli sent the successful expedition against Tewodros II of Ethiopia under Sir Robert Napier. ===Opposition leader; 1874 election=== With Gladstone's Liberal majority dominant in the Commons, Disraeli could do little but protest as the government advanced legislation.
As part of that change, Gladstone took on the office of Chancellor, leading to questions as to whether he had to stand for re-election on taking on a second ministry—until the 1920s, MPs becoming ministers, thus taking an office of profit under the Crown, had to seek re-election. In January 1874, Gladstone called a general election, convinced that if he waited longer, he would do worse at the polls.
She did so again in 1874, when he fell ill at Balmoral, but he was reluctant to leave the Commons for a house in which he had no experience.
Nevertheless, his biographer Robert Blake doubts that his subject had specific ideas about foreign policy when he took office in 1874.
When Disraeli returned as Prime Minister in 1874 and went to kiss hands, he did so literally, on one knee; and, according to Richard Aldous in his book on the rivalry between Disraeli and Gladstone, "for the next six years Victoria and Disraeli would exploit their closeness for mutual advantage." Victoria had long wished to have an imperial title, reflecting Britain's expanding domain.
Roberts undertook a successful punitive expedition against the Afghans over the next six weeks. ===1880 election=== Gladstone, in the 1874 election, had been returned for Greenwich, finishing second behind a Conservative in the two-member constituency, a result he termed more like a defeat than a victory.
Among the honours he arranged before resigning as Prime Minister on 21 April 1880 was one for his private secretary, Montagu Corry, who became Baron Rowton. Returning to Hughenden, Disraeli brooded over his electoral dismissal, but also resumed work on Endymion, which he had begun in 1872 and laid aside before the 1874 election.
He consequently was a strong supporter of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 which allowed the archbishops to go to court to stop the ritualists. Disraeli's last completed novels were Lothair (1870) and Endymion (1880).
Also enacted were the Public Health Act 1875, modernising sanitary codes through the nation, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act (1875), and the Education Act (1876). Disraeli's government also introduced a new Factory Act meant to protect workers, the Conspiracy, and Protection of Property Act 1875, which allowed peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act (1875) to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts.
His brief first premiership, and the first year of his second, gave him little opportunity to make his mark in foreign affairs. ====Suez==== The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, cut weeks and thousands of miles off the sea journey between Britain and India; in 1875, approximately 80% of the ships using the canal were British.
On 14 November 1875, the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, Frederick Greenwood, learned from London banker Henry Oppenheim that the Khedive was seeking to sell his shares in the Suez Canal Company to a French firm.
According to Aldous, "the unpopular Royal Titles Act, however, shattered Disraeli's authority in the House of Commons". ====Balkans and Bulgaria==== In July 1875 Serb populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then provinces of the Ottoman Empire, rose in revolt against their Turkish masters, alleging religious persecution and poor administration.
He maintained a close friendship with Queen Victoria, who in 1876 elevated him to Earl of Beaconsfield.
Lord Stanley (who had succeeded his father, the former Prime Minister, as Earl of Derby) became Foreign Secretary and Sir Stafford Northcote the Chancellor. In August 1876, Disraeli was elevated to the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden.
Five days before the end of the 1876 session of Parliament, on 11 August, Disraeli was seen to linger and look around the chamber before departing the Commons.
Disraeli called them "coffee-house babble" and dismissed allegations of torture by the Ottomans since "Oriental people usually terminate their connections with culprits in a more expeditious fashion". Gladstone, who had left the Liberal leadership and retired from public life, was appalled by reports of atrocities in Bulgaria, and in August 1876, penned a hastily written pamphlet arguing that the Turks should be deprived of Bulgaria because of what they had done there.
Now we are obliged to work from a new point of departure, and dictate to Turkey, who has forfeited all sympathy." In spite of this, Disraeli's policy favoured Constantinople and the territorial integrity of its empire. Disraeli and the cabinet sent Salisbury as lead British representative to the Constantinople Conference, which met in December 1876 and January 1877.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
Now we are obliged to work from a new point of departure, and dictate to Turkey, who has forfeited all sympathy." In spite of this, Disraeli's policy favoured Constantinople and the territorial integrity of its empire. Disraeli and the cabinet sent Salisbury as lead British representative to the Constantinople Conference, which met in December 1876 and January 1877.
Nevertheless, the conference failed to reach agreement with the Turks. Parliament opened in February 1877, with Disraeli now in the Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield.
He spoke only once there in the 1877 session on the Eastern Question, stating on 20 February that there was a need for stability in the Balkans, and that forcing Turkey into territorial concessions would do nothing to secure it.
As Disraeli, by then in poor health, continued to battle within the cabinet, Russia invaded Turkey on 21 April, beginning the Russo-Turkish War. ====Congress of Berlin==== The Russians pushed through Ottoman territory and by December 1877 had captured the strategic Bulgarian town of Plevna; their march on Constantinople seemed inevitable.
The British installed a new ruler, and left a mission and garrison in Kabul. British policy in South Africa was to encourage federation between the British-run Cape Colony and Natal, and the Boer republics, the Transvaal (annexed by Britain in 1877) and the Orange Free State.
In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy.
At the end of January 1878, the Ottoman Sultan appealed to Britain to save Constantinople.
Popular opinion was with Disraeli, though some thought him too soft for not immediately declaring war on Russia. With the Russians close to Constantinople, the Turks yielded and in March 1878, signed the Treaty of San Stefano, conceding a Bulgarian state which would cover a large part of the Balkans.
Amid British preparations for war, the Russians and Turks agreed to discussions at Berlin. In advance of the meeting, confidential negotiations took place between Britain and Russia in April and May 1878.
Once this was secretly agreed, Disraeli was prepared to allow Russia's territorial gains. The Congress of Berlin was held in June and July 1878, the central relationship in it that between Disraeli and Bismarck.
Although Russia yielded, Czar Alexander II later described the congress as "a European coalition against Russia, under Bismarck". The Treaty of Berlin was signed on 13 July 1878 at the Radziwill Palace in Berlin.
In 1878 the Russians sent a mission to Kabul; it was not rejected by the Afghans, as the British had hoped.
In December 1878, he was offered the Liberal nomination at the next election for Edinburghshire, a constituency popularly known as Midlothian.
As a result of these social reforms the Liberal-Labour MP Alexander Macdonald told his constituents in 1879, "The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty." ====Patronage and Civil Service reform==== Gladstone in 1870 had sponsored an Order in Council, introducing competitive examination into the Civil Service, diminishing the political aspects of government hiring.
Disraeli and the cabinet reluctantly backed him, and in early January 1879 resolved to send reinforcements.
Disraeli sent General Sir Garnet Wolseley as High Commissioner and Commander in Chief, and Cetewayo and the Zulus were crushed at the Battle of Ulundi on 4 July 1879. On 8 September 1879 Sir Louis Cavagnari, in charge of the mission in Kabul, was killed with his entire staff by rebelling Afghan soldiers.
On his advice, Gladstone accepted the offer in January 1879, and later that year began his Midlothian campaign, speaking not only in Edinburgh, but across Britain, attacking Disraeli, to huge crowds. Conservative chances of re-election were damaged by the poor weather, and consequent effects on agriculture.
Four consecutive wet summers through 1879 had led to poor harvests.
Amid an economic slump generally, the Conservatives lost support among farmers. Disraeli's health continued to fail through 1879.
With Gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign, his Liberals defeated Disraeli's Conservatives at the 1880 general election.
Despite his public confidence, Disraeli recognised that the Conservatives would probably lose the next election, and was already contemplating his Resignation Honours. Despite this pessimism, Conservatives hopes were buoyed in early 1880 with successes in by-elections the Liberals had expected to win, concluding with victory in Southwark, normally a Liberal stronghold.
Among the honours he arranged before resigning as Prime Minister on 21 April 1880 was one for his private secretary, Montagu Corry, who became Baron Rowton. Returning to Hughenden, Disraeli brooded over his electoral dismissal, but also resumed work on Endymion, which he had begun in 1872 and laid aside before the 1874 election.
The work was rapidly completed and published by November 1880.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician, who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
When Parliament met in January 1881, he served as Conservative leader in the Lords, attempting to serve as a moderating influence on Gladstone's legislation. Suffering from asthma and gout, Disraeli went out as little as possible, fearing more serious episodes of illness.
Under Gladstone Britain took control of Egypt in 1882.
His will was proved in April 1882 at £84,019 18 s.
Disraeli did not have things all his own way: he intended that Batum be demilitarised, but the Russians obtained their preferred language, and in 1886, fortified the town.
Agitators and Promoters in the Age of Gladstone and Disraeli: A Biographical Dictionary of the Leaders of British Pressure Groups founded between 1865 and 1886 (2 vol 1983), includes thousands of activists. (translated by Hamish Miles) Miller, Henry.
A later Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, described the canal in 1909 as "the determining influence of every considerable movement of British power to the east and south of the Mediterranean". ====Royal Titles Act==== Although initially curious about Disraeli when he entered Parliament in 1837, Victoria came to detest him over his treatment of Peel.
As part of that change, Gladstone took on the office of Chancellor, leading to questions as to whether he had to stand for re-election on taking on a second ministry—until the 1920s, MPs becoming ministers, thus taking an office of profit under the Crown, had to seek re-election. In January 1874, Gladstone called a general election, convinced that if he waited longer, he would do worse at the polls.
Film historian Roy Armes has argued that historical films helped maintain the political status quo in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s by imposing an establishment viewpoint that emphasized the greatness of monarchy, empire, and tradition.
London: John Murray, 1929), a famous classic; contains vol 1–4 and vol 5–6 of the original edition Life of Benjamin Disraeli volume 1 1804–1837, Volume 2 1837–1846, Volume 3 1846–1855, Volume 4 1855–1868, Volume 5 1868–1876, Volume 6 1876–1881.
Film historian Roy Armes has argued that historical films helped maintain the political status quo in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s by imposing an establishment viewpoint that emphasized the greatness of monarchy, empire, and tradition.
"Benjamin Disraeli." History Today (Sep 1951) 1#9 pp 23–30. Malchow, Howard LeRoy.
In 2007 Parry wrote, "The tory democrat myth did not survive detailed scrutiny by professional historical writing of the 1960s [which] demonstrated that Disraeli had very little interest in a programme of social legislation and was very flexible in handling parliamentary reform in 1867." Despite this, Parry sees Disraeli, rather than Peel, as the founder of the modern Conservative party.
Lord John Manners, in 1843 at the time of Young England, wrote, "could I only satisfy myself that D'Israeli believed all that he said, I should be more happy: his historical views are quite mine, but does he believe them?" Blake (writing in 1966) suggested that it is no more possible to answer that question now than it was then.
In 1972 BHAbbott stressed that it was not Disraeli but Lord Randolph Churchill who invented the term "Tory democracy", though it was Disraeli who made it an essential part of Conservative policy and philosophy.
Agitators and Promoters in the Age of Gladstone and Disraeli: A Biographical Dictionary of the Leaders of British Pressure Groups founded between 1865 and 1886 (2 vol 1983), includes thousands of activists. (translated by Hamish Miles) Miller, Henry.
In 2007 Parry wrote, "The tory democrat myth did not survive detailed scrutiny by professional historical writing of the 1960s [which] demonstrated that Disraeli had very little interest in a programme of social legislation and was very flexible in handling parliamentary reform in 1867." Despite this, Parry sees Disraeli, rather than Peel, as the founder of the modern Conservative party.
The Conservative politician and writer Douglas Hurd wrote in 2013, "[Disraeli] was not a one-nation Conservative—and this was not simply because he never used the phrase.
(1982 to 2014), ending in 1868.
Disraeli the Novelist (Routledge, 2016). Bright, J.
Disraeli: The Novel Politician (Yale UP, 2016). Clausson, Nils.
"Disraeli, Gladstone and the personification of party, 1868–80." in Miller, Politics personified (Manchester University Press, 2016). Monypenny, William Flavelle and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield (2 vol.
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