Benjamin Disraeli - eBooks in PDF format from eBooks-Library.com Born: Dec. 21, 1804 - London, England Died: Apr. 19, 1881 - London, England Disraeli was educated at Lincoln's Inn and published his first novel, Vivian Gray, in 1824. In spite of his long and illustrious political career, Disraeli wrote many novels including The Young Duke (1831), Contarini Fleming (1832), Alroy (1833), Ixion in Heaven (1833), The Infernal Marriage (1834), The Rise of Iskander (1834), Henrietta Temple (1837), Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845), Lothair (1870) and Endymion (1880). He entered Parliament in 1837, was leader of the opposition in 1848, chancellor of the exchequer in 1852, 1858 and again in 1865.

He was elected to prime minister in 1868, but resigned later that year when the Liberals won the election. Returned as prime minister in 1874, he served in that post until 1880. Awarded a peerage in 1876, Disraeli took the title of the first earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli also wrote much non-fiction including biographies and political history. eBook Code Benjamin Disraeli - Victorian Literature - Oxford Bibliographies LAST MODIFIED: 29 May 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199799558-0135 Introduction Benjamin Disraeli (b. 1804–d. 1881) is unique among Victorian novelists in that, outside of specialists in Victorian literature, he is much better known as a politician and statesman (he was leader of the Conservative Party, and twice prime minister) than as a novelist.

Historians are as interested in him as are literary critics, if not more so, and consequently his novels have long been mined for information about Disraeli the historical figure rather than approached as works of literature and studied in relation to literary history in the 19th century. His novels have been read with two principal goals in mind: (1) to better understand the mind of the enigmatic man who wrote them, and (2) as historical documents that will shed light on Disraeli’s political career and the policies he advocated. The first of these approaches has tended to produce biographical readings of the novels, even in a time when biographical approaches to literature are no longer fashionable. The goal of historians and literary critics alike has been to peep behind the mask and uncover the real Disraeli. The second approach, reflecting the turn to history and politics in literary studies, has produced historical readings that tend to see the novels as more or less reliable reflections of ideas existing outside the text, either in history or in politics.

Viewing the novels as containers of political ideas, or as reflections of dominant Victorian ideologies, is particularly prevalent in criticism of Disraeli’s major novels—the Young England trilogy consisting of Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845), and Tancred (1847)—which are widely read either as the manifesto of Young England, a rather loose political grouping of Tory MPs that Disraeli was widely taken to be the leader of, or as examples of a sub-genre of the Victorian novel known, variously, as the “condition-of-England” novel, the social-problem novel, or the industrial novel. When reading criticism of the novels, then, one needs to be aware that much critical commentary on them is not written by literary critics—and thus, strictly speaking, is not literary criticism at all—and is often motivated by non-literary purposes.

Nevertheless, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries there has been a reevaluation of Disraeli by historians and, to a lesser extent, by literary scholars, focusing on “the role played in Disraeli’s conception of life and politics by his Jewishness and his romanticism” ( Smith 1996 , cited under Biographies ). A major new focus of recent criticism of the novels has been the vexing question of Disraeli’s Jewishness and, to a lesser extent, Orientalism in his novels. Particularly after the publication of Edward Said’s influential Orientalism in 1978, there was a renewed interest in the representation of the East in Disraeli’s fiction, with critics divided over whether (as Said claimed) Disraeli contributed to the construction of the Orient as “Other,” or whether he admired Oriental culture and saw his mission as one of reuniting the West with its Eastern origins. Biographies Because of his distinguished political career, his long career as a novelist (from 1826 to 1880), his enigmatic personality, and his puzzling pronouncements on race and religion, Disraeli has attracted a large number of biographers.

Indeed, the biographical approach, to both his political career and his fiction, has dominated scholarship and commentary on him. Biographies tend to be divided between those that see Disraeli as ambitious, manipulative, and less than principled ( Blake 1966 and Ridley 1995 ) and those that admire him ( Weintraub 1993 ). Most biographies contain discussions of the novels, but since his biographers have not been literary scholars, they tend to read the novels either as historical documents or as revelations of their author’s inner life (or both), and only rarely as works of literature. Early biographies, such as Meynell 1903 and Monypenny and Buckle 1929 , are of limited use for criticism of the novels. Ridley and Weintraub reflect, respectively, the two prevailing attitudes to Disraeli: admiring and skeptical. Of the biographies since Blake 1966 , Smith 1996 has received the highest praise and is probably the most balanced. Of the many popular biographies Bradford 1982 and Hibbert 2004 are probably the best.

A note of caution: biographies published before the Disraeli Project and the University of Toronto Press began publishing the Letters could not take into account the thousands of letters uncovered by John P. Matthews and later scholars and need to be supplemented with later ones. Blake, Robert. Disraeli. New York: St. Martin’s, 1966. Still regarded as the most authoritative biography of Disraeli. Balanced and judicious, this also contains the best critical commentary on the novels by a biographer. Bradford, Sarah. Disraeli. London: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982.

The Bradenham Edition of the Novels and Tales of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield Volume I - Vivian Grey Volume II - The Young Duke Volume III - Popanilla and Other Tales Volume IV Contarini Fleming, A Psychological Romance Volume V - Alroy Volume VI - Henrietta Temple, A Love Story Volume VII - Venetia Volume VIII - Coningsby, or The New Generation Volume IX - Sybil, or The Two Nations Volume X - Tancred, or The New Crusade Volume XI - Lothair Volume XII - Endymion and Falconet With an Introduction to each volume by Philip Guedalla 1926 - London - Peter Davies 9" x 6.5", xix, 520, vi, 350, vii, 367, vii, 364, vii, 282, viii, 453, viii, 504, xv, 503, viii, 492, viii, 501, viii, 467, xiii, 502pp | Scarce and decorative antiquarian books

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Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 19 April 1881) was a British Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister. Before and during his political career, Disraeli was well-known as a literary and social figure. He mainly wrote romances, of which Sybil and Vivian Grey are perhaps the best-known today. He is unusual among British Prime Ministers for having gained equal social and political renown. Disraeli turned towards literature, motivated in part by a desperate need for money, and brought out his first novel, Vivian Grey, in 1826. Disraeli's biographers agree that Vivian Grey was a thinly-veiled re-telling of the affair of the Representative, and it proved very popular on its release, although it also caused much offence within the Tory literary world when Disraeli's authorship was discovered.

After producing a Vindication of the English Constitution, and some political pamphlets, Disraeli followed up Vivian Grey with a series of novels, The Young Duke (1831), Contarini Fleming (1832), Alroy (1833), Venetia and Henrietta Temple (1837). During the same period he had also written The Revolutionary Epick and three burlesques, Ixion, The Infernal Marriage, and Popanilla. Of these only Henrietta Temple (based on his affair with Henrietta Sykes, wife of Sir Francis William Sykes, 3rd Bt) was a true success. During the 1840s Disraeli wrote three political novels collectively known as "the Trilogy"Sybil, Coningsby, and Tancred.Disraeli's relationships with other male writers of his period were strained or non-existent. After the disaster of The Representative John Gibson Lockhart became a bitter enemy and the two never reconciled.

One contemporary who tried to bridge the gap, William Makepeace Thackeray, established a tentative cordial relationship in the late 1840s only to see everything collapse when Disraeli took offence at a burlesque of him which Thackeray penned for Punch. Disraeli took revenge in Endymion (published in 1880), when he caricatured Thackeray as "St. Barbe". CONDITION The bindings are tight and firm. There is some wear to the extremities including some rubbing and a few marks to the boards. The pages are uncut and some remain unopened. Internally the pages are generally clean and bright with some slight spotting to the pastedowns. There are small bookseller's stickers to the front pastedowns, and a rubber stamp imprint with a name and address on the front blank endpapers. Overall the volumes are in very good condition. ADD TO BASKET Disraeli's sensations for a jaded public - Telegraph Book Reviews Disraeli's sensations for a jaded public Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli’s autobiographical novels were the Victorian precursors of celebrity memoirs, and as eagerly awaited as the latest installment of Dickens, says Daisy Hay.

Benjamin Disraeli by Ape Photo: © Photos 12 / Alamy By Daisy Hay 12:30AM BST 16 Apr 2012 It is a truism of modern publishing that bestseller lists are dominated by books popular because of who their authors are, rather than what they say. Commentators bemoan this as a sign of a debased literary culture but there is nothing new about the phenomenon. In the 19th century Benjamin Disraeli’s novels attracted large advances, massive publicity and legions of eager readers not only because of their merit, but because of the author’s star power. In view of this year’s Dickens bicentenary celebrations, it is intriguing to remember that there were moments in the Victorian period when Disraeli’s novels were as eagerly awaited as the next instalment of Bleak House. Yet no one reads Disraeli’s novels now. He is remembered as the man who transformed the Conservative Party and presided over the birth of modern party politics. But Disraeli was also a compulsively autobiographical novelist who captured his contemporaries in print and sold them to a delighted public long before it became de rigueur for politicians to publish diaries and memoirs.

He was not the first celebrity to sell books on the basis of reputation alone; but he paved the way for a publishing industry founded on selling the illusion of insight into the private lives of the rich and famous. Disraeli’s literary career had an unpromising start. In 1826, well before he entered politics, he published his first novel, Vivian Grey, a coming-of-age tale of aristocratic escapades which was ridiculed by reviewers but lapped up by a middle-class readership. Vivian Grey was a “silver-fork novel” (the derogatory nickname was coined by Hazlitt), a sub-genre of fiction popular in the 1820s and 1830s that focused on the romantic activities of the elite. Disraeli satirised several well-known figures in Vivian Grey, chief among them the publisher John Murray. When word got out that the author was no aristocrat but a callow bourgeois, he was eviscerated in the popular press. Related Articles From Coningsby to American Wife: politics in fiction 05 Jan 2011 Undaunted, Disraeli continued to churn out novels well into the 1830s.

He wrote fast: necessarily so, since he was deeply in debt and always desperately in need of the next advance. His novels were frothy and designed to sell. They were also commendably experimental: each had a different theme and style. In The Young Duke he focused once more on the exploits of high society; Contarini Fleming, by contrast, was an autobiographical tale of creative and emotional isolation. He was not above exploiting his love life, either. Henrietta Temple, which sold plenty, related the tempestuous history of Disraeli’s relationship with Henrietta Sykes. Venetia relied for its success on the celebrity of others, retelling the stories of Shelley and Byron and imagining a future in which the poets lived into middle age. As Disraeli produced one novel after another during the 1830s, he also made repeated attempts to get elected to Parliament. He eventually succeeded in 1837, when he was selected to stand for the Tories at Maidstone. Novel-writing was laid aside as he turned his attention to political promotion. His progress was slow. Disraeli was viewed by his colleagues with some suspicion, not least because of his reputation as a dandified novelist.

His maiden speech was a disaster and, in 1841, Robert Peel refused to give him a place in his government, despite receiving a desperate plea from Disraeli’s wife, Mary Anne. Disillusioned with Peel and relegated to the back benches, Disraeli began to gather a coterie of young MPs around him, yoking them into an informal parliamentary group called “Young England”. “Young England” proclaimed the need for heroic political figures who would inspire the people through their genius, creativity and capacity for imaginative understanding. In 1844 Disraeli put this theory into practice, publishing his first novel since entering parliament eight years earlier. Coningsby was quite different from his previous work – although again it included portraits of many contemporaries, chief among them his Young England acolytes, Lord John Manners and George Smythe. Its focus was political, as was that of the two novels that followed it: Sybil, published in 1845 and Tancred, which appeared in 1847. These were the novels on which Disraeli staked his claim to be taken seriously as a writer, and in which he combined social and political analysis with flights of imaginative fancy.

They are also novels that rise above his other work, and have something important to say about fairness and social inequality. In particular Sybil, his greatest novel, gave us one enduring political concept. Britain, wrote Disraeli in that book, is divided into “Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets: the rich and the poor”. Sybil’s description of the “two nations” lives on in “One Nation Conservatism” and resonates more strongly than ever today. In 1846 Disraeli’s opposition to the repeal of the Corn Laws brought about the downfall of Peel, and his own political ascendancy began. Novel-writing was abandoned as he became first leader of the Conservatives in the House of Commons, then leader of the House, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and finally, in 1868, Prime Minister. It wasn’t until he resigned as Prime Minister only a few months after taking office that he returned to fiction. This time excitement at the prospect of a new Disraeli novel was palpable.

The newspapers buzzed with rumours about the new work, Lothair, for weeks before its publication. No one knew its subject (the power of the Catholic Church in England) but that was immaterial. “Mr Disraeli has provided a new sensation for a jaded public,” ran one article. “The English mind was startled when a retired novelist became Prime Minister. It has been not less surprised as the announcement that a retired Prime Minister is about again to become a novelist.” Published in 1870, Lothair was such a success that a street in Wandsworth was renamed for it by express permission of the Board of Works, and Dickens spoke publicly of Disraeli’s “illustrious” return to the “Brotherhood of Literature”. Nor was Disraeli’s popularity confined to Britain. One American publisher made plans to have the whole of Lothair sent down the transatlantic telegraph in order to steal a march on rival firms, only to be told by the directors of the Associated Cable Companies that the transmission of a three-volume novel would halt all other telegraph traffic between Britain and the United States for several days, and could therefore not be allowed.

Ten years later, when he resigned as Prime Minister for the second time, Disraeli again returned to novel-writing to enliven his retirement. His final work, Endymion, was published in 1880 and earned him a fee of £10,000, then the largest advance ever paid for a work of fiction. Endymion revisited the scenes of his political apprenticeship in the 1830s and satirised many prominent personalities of the 19th century. The newspapers printed keys to the novel so that the public could match its characters with their real-life equivalents, and this time Disraeli extended his caricatures to his literary contemporaries. Dickens appeared in its pages as “Gushy”, an unbearably sentimental novelist, and Thackeray as the discontented “St Barbe”, whose satire of polite society is motivated by rage at his exclusion from its ranks. Endymion tells us something of Disraeli’s views of his literary rivals, but what did they think of him? His success and celebrity generated a certain amount of envy, as did the size of his advances.

Dickens was kind about him in public, recognising the affection in which he was held, but was disdainful of his politics in private, labelling him “conscience-less”. Trollope loathed both the man and his work, writing in his Autobiography that his “glory has been the glory of pasteboard and the wealth of tinsel. The wit has been the wit of hairdressers, and the enterprise the enterprise of mountebanks.” Was Trollope right? There is little doubt that Disraeli’s novels are flawed: his heroes and heroines are paper cut-outs and his plots have a tendency to creak. Nevertheless, they also open a window on to the political and social scene of the 19th century, and overflow with gossip and intrigue. In his own way, Disraeli shaped our literary inheritance just as surely as he did our political system. He knew that the lives of the rich and famous sell, and brought all his wit to his depiction of those lives. His are novels of their time, best read as social history, and they richly repay rediscovery for the insight they give into their world.

It may be that in 100 years historians will turn to celebrity memoirs to learn something about the obsessions of our age. They are unlikely, however, to describe the writers of those memoirs as, in 1847, one newspaper described their originator: “There is no modern novelist whose works excite so much public attention, are so much read, so much talked of, and so much admired as those of Mr Disraeli.” Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli 2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection . Related subjects: British History 1750-1900 ; Political People Template:Infobox Prime Minister 2 Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG , PC , FRS ( December 21, 1804 – April 19, 1881 ), born Benjamin D'Israeli was a British Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – the first and thus far only person of Jewish parentage to do so (although Disraeli was baptised in the Anglican Church at an early age).

Disraeli's most lasting achievement was the creation of the modern Conservative Party after the Corn Laws schism of 1846. Although a major figure in the protectionist wing of the Conservative Party after 1844, Disraeli's relations with the other leading figures in the party, particularly Lord Derby, the overall leader, were often strained. Not until the 1860s would Derby and Disraeli be on easy terms, and the latter's succession of the former assured. From 1852 onwards, Disraeli's career would also be marked by his often intense rivalry with William Ewart Gladstone , who eventually rose to become leader of the Liberal Party. In this duel, Disraeli was aided by his warm friendship with Queen Victoria , who came to detest Gladstone during the latter's first premiership in the 1870s. In 1876 Disraeli was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Beaconsfield, capping nearly four decades in the House of Commons . Before and during his political career, Disraeli was well-known as a literary and social figure, although his novels are not generally regarded as belonging to the first rank of Victorian literature.

He mainly wrote romances, of which Sybil and Vivian Grey are perhaps the best-known today. He was and is unusual among British Prime Ministers for having gained equal social and political renown. Early life Isaac D'Israeli Father of Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli was descended from Italian Sephardic Jews on both sides of his family, although he claimed Spanish ancestry. With this he may have just been referring to the fact that all Sephardim ultimately originate in Spain . His father was the literary critic and historian Isaac D'Israeli who, though Jewish , in 1817 had Benjamin baptised in the Church of England , following a dispute with their synagogue. The elder D'Israeli (Benjamin changed the spelling in the 1820s by dropping the foreign-looking apostrophe) himself was content to remain outside organized religion. Benjamin at first attended a small school, the Reverend John Potticary's school at Blackheath (later to evolve into St Piran's School). Beginning in 1817, Benjamin attended Higham Hall, in Walthamstow.

His younger brothers, in contrast, attended the superior Winchester College, a fact which apparently grated on Disraeli and may explain his dislike of his mother, Maria D'Israeli. His father groomed him for a career in law, and Disraeli was articled to a solicitor in 1821. Law was, however, uncongenial, and by 1825 he had given it up. Disraeli, determined to obtain independent means, speculated on the stock exchange as early as 1824 on various South American mining companies. The recognition of the new South American republics on the recommendation of George Canning had led to a considerable boom, encouraged by various promoters. In this connexion, Disraeli became involved with the financier J. D. Powles, one such booster. In the course of 1825, Disraeli wrote three anonymous pamphlets for Powles, promoting the companies. That same year Disraeli's financial activities brought him into contact with the publisher John Murray who, like Powles and Disraeli, was involved in the South American mines.

Accordingly, they attempted to bring out a newspaper, The Representative, to promote both the cause of the mines and those politicians who supported the mines, specifically Canning. The paper was a failure, in part because the mining "bubble" burst in late 1825, financially ruining Powles and Disraeli. Also, according to Disraeli's biographer, Lord Blake, the paper was "atrociously edited", and would have failed regardless. Disraeli's debts incurred from this debacle would haunt him for the rest of his life. Literary career a Young Disraeli by Sir Francis Grant, 1852 Disraeli now turned towards literature, and brought out his first novel, Vivian Grey, in 1826. Disraeli's biographers agree that Vivian Grey was a thinly-veiled re-telling of the affair of the Representative, and it proved very popular on its release, although it also caused much offence within the Tory literary world when Disraeli's authorship was discovered. The book, which was initially published anonymously, was purportedly written by a "man of fashion" – someone who moved in high society.

Disraeli, then just twenty-three, did not move in high society, and the numerous solecisms present in Vivian Grey made this painfully obvious. Reviewers were sharply critical on these grounds of both the author and the book. Furthermore, Murray believed that Disraeli had caricatured him and abused his confidence–an accusation denied at the time, and by the official biography, although subsequent biographers (notably Blake) have sided with Murray. After producing a Vindication of the English Constitution, and some political pamphlets, Disraeli followed up Vivian Grey by a series of novels, The Young Duke (1831), Contarini Fleming (1832), Alroy (1833), Venetia and Henrietta Temple (1837). During the same period he had also written The Revolutionary Epick and three burlesques, Ixion, The Infernal Marriage, and Popanilla. Of these only Henrietta Temple (based on his affair with Lady Henrietta Sykes) was a true success. During the 1840s Disraeli wrote three political novels collectively known as "the Trilogy"–Sybil, Coningsby, and Tancred.

Disraeli's relationships with other writers of his period (most of whom were male), were strained or non-existent. After the disaster of the Representative John Gibson Lockhart was a bitter enemy and the two never reconciled. Disraeli's preference for female company prevented the development of contact with those who were not alienated by his opinions, comportment, or background. One contemporary who tried to bridge the gap, William Makepeace Thackeray, established a tentative cordial relationship in the late 1840s only to see everything collapse when Disraeli took offence at a burlesque of him which Thackeray had penned for Punch. Disraeli took revenge in Endymion (published in 1880), when he caricatured Thackeray as "St. Barbe". Parliament Sir Robert Peel, Bt. Prime Minister 1834-35, 1841-46 Disraeli had been considering a political career as early as 1830, before he departed England for the Mediterranean .

His first real efforts, however, did not come until 1832, during the great crisis over the Reform Bill, when he contributed to an anti- Whig pamphlet edited by John Wilson Croker and published by Murray entitled England and France: or a cure for Ministerial Gallomania. The choice of a Tory publication was regarded as odd by Disraeli's friends and relatives, who thought him more of a Radical. Indeed, Disraeli had objected to Murray about Croker inserting "high Tory" sentiment, writing that "it is quite impossible that anything adverse to the general measure of Reform can issue from my pen." Further, at the time Gallomania was published, Disraeli was in fact electioneering in High Wycombe in the Radical interest. Disraeli's politics at the time were influenced both by his rebellious streak and by his desire to make his mark. In the early 1830s the Tories and the interests they represented appeared to be a lost cause.

The other great party, the Whigs, was anathema to Disraeli: "Toryism is worn out & I cannot condescend to be a Whig." Though he initially stood for election, unsuccessfully, as a Radical, Disraeli was a Tory by the time he won a seat in the House of Commons in 1837 representing the constituency of Maidstone. The next year he settled his private life by marrying Mary Anne Lewis, the widow of Wyndham Lewis, Disraeli's erstwhile colleague at Maidstone. Lord John Manners Friend of Disraeli, and leading figure in the Young England movement Although a Conservative, Disraeli was sympathetic to some of the demands of the Chartists 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, helping to found the Young England group in 1842 to promote the view that the landed interests should use their power to protect the poor from exploitation by middle-class businessman. During the twenty years between the Corn Laws and the Second Reform Bill Disraeli would seek a Tory-Radical alliances, to little avail.

Prior to the 1867 Reform Bill the working class did not possess the vote and therefore had little tangible political power. Although Disraeli forged a personal friendship with John Bright, a Lancashire manufacturer and leading Radical, Disraeli was unable to convince Bright to sacrifice principle for political gain. After one such attempt, Bright noted in his diary that Disraeli "seems unable to comprehend the morality of our political course." Protection Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel passed over Disraeli when putting together his government in 1841 and Disraeli, hurt, gradually became a sharp critic of Peel's government, often deliberately adopting positions contrary to those of his nominal chief. The best known of these cases was the Maynooth grant in 1845 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 . The end of 1845 and 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.

An alliance of pro free-trade Conservatives (the "Peelites"), Radicals, and Whigs carried repeal, and the Conservative Party split: the Peelites moved towards the Whigs, while a "new" Conservative Party formed around the protectionists, led by Disraeli, Bentinck, and Lord Stanley (later Lord Derby). This split had profound implications for Disraeli's political career: almost every Conservative politician with official experience followed Peel, leaving the rump bereft of leadership. As one biographer wrote, "[Disraeli] found himself almost the only figure on his side capable of putting up the oratorical display essential for a parliamentary leader." Looking on from the House of Lords, the Duke of Argyll wrote that Disraeli "was like a subaltern in a great battle where every superior officer was killed or wounded." If the remainder of the Conservative Party could muster the electoral support necessary to form a government, then Disraeli was now guaranteed high office.

However, he would take office with a group of men who possessed little or no official experience, who had rarely felt moved to speak in the House of Commons before, and who, as a group, remained hostile to Disraeli on a personal level, his assault on the Corn Laws notwithstanding. Disraeli's friendship with the Bentinck family was cemented in 1848 when Lord Henry Bentinck and Lord Titchfield loaned him £25,000 (equivalent to almost £1,500,000 today) so that he could purchase Hughenden Manor, in Buckingham county. This purchase allowed him to stand for the county, which was "essential" if one was to lead the Conservative Party at the time. He and Mary Anne alternated between Hughenden and several homes in London for the remainder of their marriage.

Office The Earl of Derby Prime Minister 1852, 1858-59, 1866-68 The first opportunity for the protectionist Tories under Disraeli and Stanley to take office came in 1851, when Lord John Russell's government was defeated in the House of Commons over the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851. Disraeli was to have been Home Secretary, with Stanley (becoming the Earl of Derby later that year) as Prime Minister. The Peelites, however, refused to serve under Stanley or with Disraeli, and attempts to create a purely protectionist government failed. Russell resumed office, but resigned again in early 1852 when a combination of the protectionists and Lord Palmerston defeated him on a Militia Bill. This time Lord Derby (as he had become) took office, and appointed Disraeli Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Disraeli's first and primary responsibility was to produce a Budget for the coming fiscal year. He proposed to reduce taxes on malt and tea ( indirect taxation); additional revenue would come from an increase in the House tax.

More controversially, Disraeli also proposed to alter the workings of the Income Tax ( direct taxation) by "differentiating"–i.e., different rates would be levied on different types of income. The establishment of the income tax on a permanent basis had been the subject of much inter-party discussion since the fall of Peel's ministry, but no conclusions had been reached, and Disraeli was criticised for mixing up details over the different "schedules" of income. He was also hampered by an unexpected increase in defence expenditure, which was forced on him by Derby and Sir John Pakington (leading to his celebrated remark to John Bright about the "damned defences"). This, combined with bad timing and perceived inexperience led to the failure of the Budget and consequently the fall of the government in December of that year. William Ewart Gladstone 's final speech on the failed Budget marked the beginning of over twenty years of mutual parliamentary hostility, as well as the end of Gladstone's formal association with the Conservative Party. Opposition With the fall of the government Disraeli and the Conservatives returned to the opposition benches. Derby's successor as Prime Minister was the Peelite Lord Aberdeen, whose ministry was composed of both Peelites and Whigs.

Disraeli himself was succeeded as chancellor by Gladstone. The second Derby government Lord Palmerston's government collapsed in 1858 amid public fallout over the Orsini affair and Derby took office at the head of a purely 'Conservative' administration. He again offered a place to Gladstone, who declined. Disraeli remained leader of the House of Commons and returned to the Exchequer. As in 1852 Derby's was a minority government, dependent on the division of its opponents for survival. The principal measure of the 1858 session would be a bill to re-organise governance of India, the Indian Mutiny having exposed the inadequacy of dual control. The first attempt at legislation was drafted by the President of the Board of Control, Lord Ellenborough, who had previously served as Governor-General of India (1841-44). The bill, however, was riddled with complexities and had to be withdrawn. Soon after, Ellenborough was forced to resign over an entirely separate matter involving the current Governor-General, Lord Canning. Faced with a vacancy, Disraeli and Derby tried yet again to bring Gladstone into the government.

Disraeli wrote a personal letter to Gladstone, asking him to place the good of the party above personal animosity: "Every man performs his office, and there is a Power, greater than ourselves, that disposes of all this..." In responding to Disraeli Gladstone denied that personal feelings played any role in his decision then and previously to accept office, while acknowledging that there were differences between him and Derby "broader than you may have supposed." Gladstone also hinted at the strength of his own faith, and the role it played in his public life, when he addressed Disraeli's most personal and private appeal: “ I state these points fearlessly and without reserve, for you have yourself well reminded me that there is a Power beyond us that disposes of what we are and do, and I find the limits of choice in public life to be very narrow.—W. E. Gladstone to Disraeli, 1858 ” With Gladstone's refusal Derby and Disraeli looked elsewhere and settled on Disraeli's old friend Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who became Secretary of State for the Colonies; Derby's son Lord Stanley, succeeded Ellenborough at the Board of Control.

Stanley, with Disraeli's assistance, proposed and guided through the house the India Act, under which the subcontinent would be governed for sixty years. The East India Company and its Governor-General were replaced by a viceroy and the Indian Council, while at Westminster the Board of Control was abolished and its functions assumed by the newly-created India Office, under the Secretary of State for India. The 1867 Reform Bill After engineering the defeat of a Liberal Reform Bill introduced by Gladstone in 1866, Disraeli and Derby introduced their own measure in 1867. William Ewart Gladstone Four-time Prime Minister This was primarily a political strategy designed to give the Conservative party control of the reform process and the subsequent long-term benefits in the Commons, similar to those derived by the Whigs after their 1832 Reform Act.

The Reform Act of 1867 extended the franchise by 938,427 — an increase of 88% — by giving the vote to male householders and male lodgers paying at least 10 pounds for rooms and eliminating rotten boroughs with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and granting constituencies to fifteen unrepresented towns, and extra representation in parliament to larger towns such as Liverpool and Manchester, which had previously been under-represented in Parliament .. This act was unpopular with the right wing of the Conservative Party, most notably Lord Cranborne (later the Marquess of Salisbury), who resigned from the government and spoke against the bill, accusing Disraeli of "a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals." Cranborne, however, was unable to lead a rebellion similar to that which Disraeli had led against Peel twenty years earlier. Prime Minister First government Derby's health had been declining for some time and he finally resigned as Prime Minister in late February of 1868; he would live for twenty months.

Disraeli's efforts over the past two years had dispelled, for the time being, any doubts about him succeeding Derby as leader of the Conservative Party and therefore Prime Minister. As Disraeli remarked, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole." The Marquess of Salisbury Three-time Prime Minister However, the Conservatives were still a minority in the House of Commons, and the enaction of the Reform Bill required the calling of new election once the new voting register had been compiled. Disraeli's term as Prime Minister would therefore be fairly short, unless the Conservatives won the general election. He made only two major changes in the cabinet: he replaced Lord Chelmsford as Lord Chancellor with Lord Cairns, and brought in George Ward Hunt as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Disraeli and Chelmsford had never got along particularly well, and Cairns, in Disraeli's view, was a far stronger minister. Disraeli's first premiership was dominated by the heated debate over the established Church of Ireland . Although Ireland was (and remains) overwhelmingly Roman Catholic , the Protestant Church remained the established church and was funded by direct taxation.

An initial attempt by Disraeli to negotiate with Cardinal Manning the establishment of a Roman Catholic university in Dublin foundered in March when Gladstone moved resolutions to dis-establish the Irish Church altogether. The proposal divided the Conservative Party while reuniting the Liberals under Gladstone's leadership. While Disraeli's government survived until the December general election, the initiative had passed to the Liberals, who were returned to power with a majority of 170. Second government After six years in opposition, Disraeli and the Conservative Party won the election of 1874, giving the party its first absolute majority in the House of Commons since the 1840s. Under the leadership of R. A. Cross, the Home Secretary, Disraeli's government introduced various reforms, including the Artisans Dwellings Act (1875), the Public Health Act (1875), the Pure Food and Drugs Act (1875), the Climbing Boys Act (1875), and the Education Act (1876).

His government also introduced a new Factory Act meant to protect workers, the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act (1875) to allow peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act (1878) to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts. Imperialism Disraeli and Queen Victoria , during the latter's visit to Hughenden at the height of the Eastern crisis. Disraeli was a stauch supporter of the expansion and preservation of the British Empire . He introduced the Royal Titles Act, which created Queen Victoria Empress of India, putting her at the same level as the Russian Tsar. He also, over the objections of his own cabinet, purchased 44% of the shares of the Suez Canal Company. Difficulties in South Africa (epitomised by the defeat of the British Army at the Battle of Isandlwana), as well as Afghanistan, weakened his government and led to his party's defeat in the 1880 election. The Eastern Question Disraeli and Gladstone clashed over Britain's Balkan policy.

Disraeli saw the situation as a matter of British imperial and strategic interests, keeping to Palmerston's policy of supporting the Ottoman Empire against Russian expansion. Gladstone, however, saw the issue in moral terms, for Bulgarian Christians had been massacred by the Turks and Gladstone therefore believed it was immoral to support the Ottoman Empire. Disraeli achieved a diplomatic success at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, in limiting the growing influence of Russia in the Balkans and breaking up the League of the Three Emperors. He was elevated to the House of Lords in 1876 when Queen Victoria (who liked Disraeli both personally and politically) made him Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden. Death In the general election of 1880 Disraeli's Conservatives were defeated by Gladstone's Liberals. Disraeli became ill soon after and died in April 1881. His literary executor, and for all intents and purposes his heir, was his private secretary, Lord Rowton. Personal life and family Benjamin was the second child and eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli and Maria Basevi.

His siblings included Sarah (1802–1859), Naphtali (1807), Ralph (1809–1898), and James (1813–1868). Before his entrance into parliament Disraeli was involved with several different women, most notably Lady Henrietta Sykes (the wife of Sir Francis Sykes, Bt), who served as the model for Henrietta Temple. His relationship with Henrietta would eventually cause him serious trouble beyond the usual problems associated with a torrid affair. It was Henrietta who introduced Disraeli to Lord Lyndhurst, with whom she later became romantically involved. As Lord Blake observed: "The true relationship between the three cannot be determined with certainty...there can be no doubt that the affair [figurative usage] damaged Disraeli and that it made its contribution, along with many other episodes, to the understandable aura of distrust which hung around his name for so many years." Disraeli's Judaism Although born of Jewish parents, Disraeli was baptised in the Christian faith at the age of thirteen, and remained an observant Anglican for the rest of his life.

At the same time, he considered himself ethnically Jewish and did not view the two positions as incompatible. Disraeli's governments First Disraeli Ministry (February–December 1868) Second Disraeli Ministry (February 1874–April 1880) Works by Disraeli Vivian Grey, available at Project Gutenberg. ) Popanilla, available at Project Gutenberg. ) The Rise of Iskander (1834; The Rise of Iskander, available at Project Gutenberg. ) Coningsby (Nonsuch Classics): Amazon.co.uk: Benjamin Disraeli: 9781845882150: Books Coningsby (Nonsuch Classics) One of these items is dispatched sooner than the other. Show details Buy the selected items together This item:Coningsby (Nonsuch Classics) by Benjamin Disraeli Paperback Â£6.00 Only 5 left in stock (more on the way). Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£10. Details Only 10 left in stock (more on the way). Sent from and sold by Amazon. FREE Delivery on orders over Â£10.

Details Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Apple To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. or Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here , or download a FREE Kindle Reading App . Product details Publisher: Nonsuch Publishing (1 July 2007) Language: English Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 1 x 16.8 cm Average Customer Review: Product Description About the Author Benjamin Disraeli is perhaps the best known and certainly the most colorful of Britain's Prime Ministers during the long reign of Queen Victoria. He was also a prolific writer.

His novelistic trilogy: Sybil, Coningsby, and Tancred and later works: Lothair and Endymion would alone earn him a special place in English life and literature, but it is his career as the leading Conservative of the century and writings and speeches on events of the age that earn him a special place in the pantheon of parliamentary politics. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item? By Dr. N. A. Hall on 23 July 2008 Format: Paperback Coningsby was published in 1844 and was the first in Disraeli's trilogy of 'political' novels (the others being Sybil and Tancred). The story revolves around the ealy life of Harry Coningsby. Harry is the orphaned grandson of the Marquess of Monmouth, but Harry's parents incurred the wrath of Monmouth by their marriage. Harry is restored to his granfather's favour and sent to school at Eton. The story follows Harry's career at Eton and Cambridge. While at Eton, Harry saves the life of Oswald Millbank - the son of a northern industrialist.

This commences a friendship between Oswald and Harry and leads Harry to fall in love with Oswald's sister, Edith. In recent years, some historians have dismissed Disrael's political novels as a source for Disrael's creed. This notion can hardly be supported. The story of Harry Coningsby's early life as readable, but it is Disraeli's political critique which makes 'Coningsby' a fascinating read for those interested in Victorian politics. 'Coningsby' is firmly set against the political backround of the years between the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 (which widened the voting franchise) and the fall of Lord Melbourne's Whig ministry in 1841. Disraeli comments and expounds political views throughout the novel, although generally placing his views in the mouths of one or other of the novel's characters. In 'Coningsby', we find a critigue of the Toryism of Peel (which Disraeli perceived to be unprincipled), utilitarianism and the Whigs. In the end, Disraeli seems to suggest that there can be a unity of interest between traditional landed elites and the new 'millocracy' through some form of Tory Paternalism.

Lothair: Amazon.co.uk: Benjamin Disraeli: 9781406861426: Books Benjamin Disraeli Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Apple To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. or Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here , or download a FREE Kindle Reading App . Product details Publisher: Echo Library (28 Aug. 2007) Language: English Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 1.9 x 22.9 cm Average Customer Review: Product Description About the Author Benjamin Disraeli is perhaps the best known and certainly the most colorful of Britain's Prime Ministers during the long reign of Queen Victoria. He was also a prolific writer.

His novelistic trilogy: Sybil, Coningsby, and Tancred and later works: Lothair and Endymion would alone earn him a special place in English life and literature, but it is his career as the leading Conservative of the century and writings and speeches on events of the age that earn him a special place in the pantheon of parliamentary politics. Customer Reviews

Question: Which UK Prime Minister wrote 19 novels including Coningsby, Sybil and Endymion?
Answer: Benjamin Disraeli