Prime Ministers of Great Britain political party 1721-42 Sir Robert Walpole - Restored confidence in the country following the South Sea Bubble financial crash of 1720. Dominated the political scene during the reigns of George I and George II. George II made Walpole a gift of 10 Downing Street. Walpole resigned as a consequence of his perceived mis-handling in dealing with the War of Jenkins' Ear . Whig 1742-43 Earl of Wilmington - Suffering poor health for most of his time as Prime Minister, he died in office. Whig 1743-54 Henry Pelham - During his time in the post he oversaw the the British involvement in the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744-48, the 1745 Jacobite Rising and the adoption of the Gregorian calender . He died in office. Whig 1754-56 Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle - Assumed the office of Prime Minister just 10 days after the death of his brother Henry Pelham.

During the Seven Years' War, he was blamed for the loss of Minorca and was replaced by the Duke of Devonshire. Whig 1756-57 William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire - In a government effectively controlled by Pitt the Elder, Devonshire's administration was brought to end following the dismissal of Pitt by the king, it was replaced by the Second Newcastle Ministry. Whig 1757-62 Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle - Returning to office with Pitt the Elder as Southern Secretary, this government helped steer Britain to ultimate victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War. Whig 1762-63 John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute - A favourite of George III, he was the first Scot to hold the top office. Unpopular with the 'great unwashed', he introduced a tax on cider in order to help pay for the Seven Years' War. He resigned following fierce criticism of his handling of the peace negotiations.

Tory The Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Viscount Melbourne 1828-30 Arthur Welleslley, 1st Duke of Wellington - The second Irish-born Prime Minister and second veteran general, perhaps more famous as a soldier of the Napoleonic Wars than a politician. Is said to have commented after his first Cabinet meeting: “An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.” He introduced the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, removing many of the restrictions on Catholics in the UK. Resigned after a vote of no confidence. Tory 1830-34 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey - Famous for the blend of tea named after him, his political achievements included the Reform Act of 1832, which started the process of electoral change that we recognise today. His other legacies included the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire and restrictions concerning the employment of children. He resigned after disagreements over his Irish policies. Whig 1834 William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne - The last Prime Minister to be dismissed by a Sovereign, King William IV.

Whig 1834-35 Sir Robert Peel 2nd Baronet - At the second time of asking, Peel accepted King William IV’s invitation to form a government. Head of a minority government, he resigned following a number of defeats in Parliament. Whig 1835-41 William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne - Returning to office for the second time, Melbourne found the new Queen Victoria much more agreeable than William IV. Tutoring the young queen in the ways of politics, they formed a close relationship. He resigned after a series of parliamentary defeats. Whig 1841-46 Sir Robert Peel 2nd Baronet - Returning to office for the second time, Peel introduced important employment laws that banned women and children from working underground in mines, in addition The Factory Act of 1844 limited the hours of work for children and women. Unable to feed a starving Ireland, he finally succeeded in repealing the Corn Laws. Conservative 1846-52 Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell - Russell was the last Whig Prime Minister. His Public Health Act of 1848 improved the sanitary conditions of towns and cities.

He was in office at the time of The Great Exhibition of 1851 . Whig 1852 Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby - Considered by many to be the father of the modern Conservative party, his government collapsed when the budget of his Chancellor, Benjamin Disraeli, was rejected by the house. Conservative 1852-55 George Hamilton Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen - A cousin of the poet Lord Byron, his government was dominated by a war with Russia. He resigned after losing a vote of confidence into his handling of the Crimean War. Peelite 1855-58 Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston - An Irish peer, his India Bill of 1858 transferred control of the East India Company to the Crown. Liberal 1858-59 Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby - Returning to office for the second time, his Jews Relief Act of 1858, removed barriers to Jews entering Parliament.

Conservative 1859-65 Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston - Returning to office for the second time, his ministry was dominated by the American Civil War and the resulting suffering caused by the Lancashire Cotton Famine . Hale and hearty to the end, he died in office at the tender age of just 81. Liberal 1865-66 Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell - Returning to office for the second time, after the untimely death of Palmerston. Liberal 1866-68 Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby - Returning to office for the third and final time, his Reform Act of 1867 doubled the number of adult males that could vote in England and Wales. Conservative Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, W E Gladstone 1868 Benjamin Disraeli - Just 10 years after the barriers to Jews entering Parliament had been removed, Britain has its first, and so far only, Jewish Prime Minister. In accepting the post, 'Dizzy' is said to have declared, “I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole”.

Conservative 1868-74 William Ewart Gladstone - Gladstone led the greatest reforming administrations of the 19th century. His policies were intended to improve individual liberty by scrapping barriers to freedom and personal advancement. A heavy defeat at the 1874 general election allowed his arch-rival Disraeli to once again reach the top of the greasy pole. Liberal 1874-80 Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield - Returning to office for the second time at the age of 70, his policies introduced a large amount of social legislation, including providing housing for the poor and greatly improved sanitation. His relationship with Queen Victoria helped to return her to public life, proclaiming her Empress of India. Anglo-Zulu Wars . Conservative 1880-85 William Ewart Gladstone - Gadstone's second administration suffered a number of set-backs in foreign policy, including a humiliating defeat in the First Boer War and failing to rescue General Gordon in Sudan.

Liberal 1885-86 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury - Salisbury became leader of the Conservative party following the death of Disraeli in 1881, he reluctantly became Prime Minister and formed a minority government. Conservative 1886 William Ewart Gladstone - Now aged 76, Gladstone's introduction of a Home Rule Bill for Ireland split the Liberal Party. Liberal 1886-92 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury - With the split in the Liberal Party, Salisbury attempted to contain the Irish problem by a combination of firm government and reform. Creation of Rhodesia , modern day Zimbabwe, with its capital city named Salisbury. Conservative 1892-94 William Ewart Gladstone - Now well into his 80s, this 'Grand Old Man' of British politics was returned to office for a fourth term and once again introduced the Irish Home Rule Bill. Although passed by the House of Commons, the bill was rejected by the Lords. Gladstone submitted his fourth and final resignation.

Liberal 1894-95 Archibold Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery - Reluctantly accepted the post of Prime Minister following the resination of Gladstone. In a short lived administration plagued by Cabinet disputes, he resigned having achieved his lifes three ambitions... to marry an heiress, own a Derby winning horse and to be Prime Minister. Liberal 1895-1902 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury - Returned to office for the third and final time. During his tenure the Boer War broke out in 1899, ending in 1902. He retired in favour of his nephew Balfour. Conservative Lord Salisbury, Arthur James Balfour, H H Asquith 1902-05 Arthur James Balfour - His Education Act of 1902 standardised the educational system of England and Wales, handing powers from school boards to Local Education Authorities (LEAs). His cabinet split on the issue of free trade policies.

Conservative 1905-08 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman - Glasgow born 'C-B' was the first in the top job to be given the official title of ‘Prime Minister’. Outspoken on the 'barbarities' of the Boer War, he restored independence to the Transvaal and Orange Free State in South Africa. Liberal 1908-15 Herbert Henry Asquith - Asquith became Prime Minister following the resignation of 'CB'. He took charge in troubled times, with Irish Home Rule and Women’s Suffrage the burning issues of the day. The Old Age Pension Act of 1908 laid the foundation of the modern welfare state. This was followed by the National Insurance Act of 1911, that provided an income for working people suffering illness or unemployment. He also led Britain into the First World War . Liberal 1915-16 Herbert Henry Asquith - In order to gain maximum support for the ongoing war Asquith formed a coalition government. The conflict however, was not going well and so with deadlock in the trenches, Asquith resigned.

coalition 1916-22 David Lloyd George - The only Prime Minister to have spoken Welsh as his first language, Lloyd George accepted an invitation to form a government following the resignation of his fellow Liberal, Asquith. A man of great energy and dynamism, he was widely touted as the man who had won the war and promised... ‘a land fit for heroes’. The Anglo-Irish Treaty led to the establishment of the Irish Free State. The public outcry that followed his 'cash for honours' scandal saw him ousted from power. coalition 1922-23 Andrew Bonar Law - After Lloyd George had been removed from office by the Conservative members of his cabinet, the king invited the Canadian-born Bonar Law to form a new government. He lasted just 209 days in office before resigning due to ill health and died just 6 months later. Conservative 1923-24 Stanley Baldwin - Just a few months into office and much to the surprise of all around him, Baldwin called an early general election on the issue of protectionist trade tariffs.

The policy was an attempt to resolve Britain's economic problems, it achieved however, the remarkable feat of reuniting the Liberals and letting Labour into power for the first time. Conservative 1924 James Ramsay MacDonald - The very first Labour Prime Minister, MacDonald came from a Scottish working class background. As head of a minority government, he was reliant on the support of the Liberals. Frustrated by his inability to introduce meaningful legislation he called an early election. Labour 1924-29 Stanley Baldwin - In his second term in office, Baldwin was responsible for several notable social achievements including extending the right to vote to women aged over 21. He amazed the political world by inviting Winston Churchill, who at that time was a Liberal MP, to be his Chancellor of the Exchequer. He successfully steered the country through the rocky waters of the General Strike of 1926. Conservative 1929-31 Ramsey MacDonald - In his second minority government, MacDonald appointed the first ever female minister, Margaret Bondfield.

Just a few months into his term however, the world was shaken by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Labour 1931-35 Ramsey MacDonald - With his Labour government divided on how to resolve an economic crisis that included the doubling of unemployment levels; MacDonald resigned but was reappointed at the head of a national coalition government (with support from the Conservative and Liberal parties). This move cost him the support of his own party and he once again resigned national coalition 1935-37 Stanley Baldwin - Returning to office for the third time, his major achievement in this last phase of his career was to steer the country through the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936. Recognising the threat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, Baldwin started a programme of re-arming the country. He was later criticised for not doing more to prepare. Conservative Lloyd George, Stanley Baldwin, Sir Winston Churchill 1937-40 Neville Chamberlain - When Baldwin retired after the coronation of George VI, Chamberlain was the obvious choice for leader of the party. Following a meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich 1938, he famously returned declaring “I believe it is peace for our time”.

Following the invasion of Poland, Chamberlain declared war on Germany on 3 September, 1939 . Conservative 1940-45 Sir Winston Churchill - Following Chamberlain's resignation, Churchill was appointed as Prime Minister of an all-party coalition government. The speeches he made through his first summer in charge established a policy of 'no surrender', and the subsequent military alliances that he formed with both the USA and Soviet Union steered the Allies to victory in World War II. Shortly after VE Day , Churchill was surprisingly defeated in a General Election. coalition 1945-51 Clement Attlee - After leading Labour to a landslide victory, Attlee quickly set about implementing his parties manifesto pledges. With the country effectively bankrupt, he Labour Prime Minister Pictures | Getty Images Prime Minister January 01, 1941 License Fay Compton (1894 - 1978) as Queen Victoria and John Gielgud (1904 - 2000) as...

Fay Compton (1894 - 1978) as Queen Victoria and John Gielgud (1904 - 2000) as Benjamin Disraeli , standing on a balcony of Buckingham Palace in a scene from the film 'Prime Minister', a biopic of the 19th century premier, directed by Thorold Dickinson for Warner Brothers. LessMore What did Queen Victoria do that was important? | Reference.com What did Queen Victoria do that was important? A: Quick Answer Queen Victoria established the modern role of a monarch in a constitutional monarchy and exerted her influence to promote the British Empire's expansion and reforms benefiting the poor, according to the website of The British Monarchy. During her 67-year reign of Britain, the Empire experienced immense social, political and industrial change. Her longevity, combined with her grace and reclusive nature, led to her becoming a national icon of moral strictness. Full Answer Queen Victoria ruled during a time when the British monarch held little real political power. Nevertheless, she used her title and personality to influence public affairs as she saw fit. The effects of her behind-the-scenes politicking were observable in foreign policy.

Victoria successfully pressed her ministers to avoid involving the nation in the Prussia-Austria-Denmark War, thereby saving Britain from the costs of massive military engagement. According to the official website of The British Monarchy, Victoria prevented a Franco-German war in 1875 by writing a persuasive letter to the Emperor of Germany, whose son had married her daughter. Through a personal relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria indirectly shaped the foreign policy that made Britain a world empire. During her reign, the Crown took over rule of India from the East India Company; the Royal Titles Act made Victoria Empress of India. Victoria also supported a number of acts that democratized the country, including the establishment of the secret ballot, easing of voting requirements and enacting of wage increases for the working class. Disraeli - definition and meaning Disraeli Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition Disraeli, Benjamin. First Earl of Beaconsfield. Known as "Dizzy.” 1804-1881. British politician and novelist.

He served as prime minister (1868 and 1874-1880) and was instrumental in extending the power and scope of the British Empire. from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. n. British statesman who as Prime Minister bought controlling interest in the Suez Canal and made Queen Victoria the empress of India (1804-1881) Etymologies Sorry, no etymologies found. Examples It was Benjamin Disraeli, not William Gladstone, who was concerned with the "two nations" that the Industrial Revolution was creating. BBC - History - British History in depth: Queen Victoria and her Prime Ministers Queen Victoria and her Prime Ministers By Christopher Hibbert Last updated 2011-02-17 Queen Victoria reigned for over 60 years, and in that time had to get along with many (male) politicians. Which of them knew how to please her, and who annoyed her the most? Christopher Hibbert analyses her very personal approach to the high affairs of state.

On this page Print this page Lord Melbourne 'He treats her with unbounded respect', wrote the diarist Charles Greville, of the behaviour of her first Prime Minister, the Whig Lord Melbourne, towards the 18-year-old Queen Victoria. 'He consults her tastes and wishes and puts her at her ease by his frank and natural manners, while he amuses her by his quaint, queer, epigrammatic turn of mind, and his varied knowledge upon all subjects.' ...she herself said that she loved him 'like a father'. Victoria basked in Melbourne's skilful flattery. Her shyness, he assured her, was not only appealing, it was indicative of a sensitive temperament. Her smallness, of which she was continually conscious, was a positive advantage to a queen; her inexperience was all to the good: she came to her duties fresh and unprejudiced. Melbourne endeavoured to curb her tendency to intolerance, and to a truthful directness that verged on tactlessness, but the advice was given in such a kind and fatherly way that she never resented it.

Nor did she mind when he warned her that, having inherited a tendency to plumpness from her German forebears, she was liable to grow very fat. While the Queen's feelings for Melbourne, as Greville suggested, may have been sexual, 'though she did not know it', she herself said that she loved him 'like a father'. She forgave him when he began talking to himself and when he fell asleep after dinner, snoring loudly, as he often did in chapel. She listened to him carefully when he instructed her about the political problems of the day, about the workings of Parliament and the Cabinet, and about the mysteries of the constitution. It cannot, however, be said that Lord Melbourne aroused the conscience of the young, naïve girl whom it was his duty to educate and instruct. Indeed, he assured her, for instance, that attempts by Lord Shaftesbury to improve the conditions of children working in the mines were quite unnecessary. Nor did he give her sound advice when a court lady-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, dying of cancer of the liver, was falsely accused of becoming pregnant by Victoria's 'bête noir', Sir John Conroy.

The young queen was at first inclined to believe the worst of Lady Flora, as she did of Conroy. When the matter became a public scandal, the Queen's early popularity began to fade away. Her carriage was stoned at Lady Flora's funeral, and she was hissed at while she was at the theatre. She was also under attack at Ascot, where two ladies in the crowd shouted 'Mrs Melbourne!' at her. Top Sir Robert Peel The Queen became embroiled in the first serious constitutional crisis of her reign when, at the beginning of 1839, she heard the alarming news that Melbourne's Whig government, facing defeat on a colonial issue in the House of Commons, would have to resign. The Duke of Wellington was shocked by her petulance at the time, and by her tearful distress at the prospect of having to deal with Tories, which were one of the things, she said, like insects and turtle soup, she hated most in all the world. Although he was a confirmed Tory, the Queen could have tolerated Wellington as Melbourne's successor; but he protested that he was too old and deaf, and told her that she must summon the Tory leader, Sir Robert Peel.

She was mortified by this: Peel was so difficult to talk to; his extreme shyness in her presence made her feel shy too, while his nervous mannerisms, his irritating habits of pointing his toes and thrusting out his hands to shake down his cuffs, reminded her of a dancing master. When he tentatively asked for some changes in her household, in which most of her ladies were Whigs or married to Whigs, she refused to consider the matter. Faced by her stubborn pertness, Peel was compelled to give way, and Melbourne remained in office. ...when he was forced to resign, she was as sorry to part with him as he was to leave her. In 1841, however, after a general election, the Tories came to power under Peel and the Queen, by then married to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was persuaded to take a less hostile view of her new Prime Minister. Indeed, under the influence of Prince Albert, she came to share her husband's high opinion of Peel's character and attachments, and to approve his policies.

He, for his part, in his dealings with the queen, did all he could to follow the advice of Melbourne, who asked Charles Greville to pass it on for him: 'Whenever Peel does anything or has anything to propose [Melbourne said] let him explain to her clearly his reasons. The Queen is not conceited; she is aware there are many things she does not understand, and she likes to have them explained to her elementarily, not at length and in detail but shortly and clearly.' Some time later, on this occasion through Prince Albert's private secretary, Sir George Anson, Melbourne added another piece of advice for Peel: 'Don't irritate her by talking at her about religion'. Peel took care to follow this advice also, and, when he was forced to resign, she was as sorry to part with him as he was to leave her. It was, he said, 'one of the most painful moments' of his life. And when he died in 1850, she deeply lamented the loss of 'a kind and true friend', her 'worthy Peel, a man of unbounded loyalty, courage, patriotism and highmindedness'.

Top The Lords Russell and Palmerston Victoria felt Peel's loss even more keenly since his successor was the Liberal Lord John Russell, son of the Duke of Bedford. He was a short and emaciated man, not noticeably taller than his dumpy monarch - who found him stubborn, opinionated and graceless. Worse than this, he either could not or would not curb the excesses of his tiresome, high-handed Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, who provided her with drafts of despatches after the originals had been sent, took no notice of her or her husband's suggested amendments to them, and, having agreed to mend his ways, carried on as before. The Queen told Russell more than once that the day would come when she would have to insist on Palmerston's dismissal. This, however, was not to be; and in 1855, during the war against Russia in the Crimea, Palmerston came to power as the only one of her ministers considered capable of leading the country to victory. The Queen was horrified: the rude old man was over 70 by then, deaf and short-sighted with wobbly false teeth and dyed hair.

Palmerston, moreover, had greatly shocked Prince Albert by stumbling into the bedroom of one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting at Windsor, in the unfulfilled hope of seducing her. Yet, against all expectations, difficult as he had been as Foreign Secretary, Palmerston proved perfectly amenable in office, polite and accommodating. The Queen told Russell more than once that the day would come when she would have to insist on Palmerston's dismissal. Prince Albert agreed that of all the Prime Ministers they had had, Lord Palmerston was the one who gave the least trouble. It was fortunate that he had mellowed, for it was he who had to deal with the queen when she was overwhelmed with grief at the death of her beloved husband in 1861. She was inconsolable at her loss, and retreated from the affairs of state into a lonely purdah from which, for many years, it proved impossible to entice her. At first in her distress she feared she would go mad. She felt she could not bear to see her ministers alone, and she told the Prime Minister that they would have to conduct their business either through one of her daughters or through General Grey, her Private Secretary.

When Lord Palmerston pressed her to accept the fact that this method of conducting business was impossible, she gave way with great and tearful reluctance. But she insisted that she was not up to the strain of attending meetings of the Privy Council. In this difficulty a strange compromise was reached. The recently appointed Clerk of the Council was Arthur Helps, an astute and tactful man whom the Queen came to like and to trust; it was agreed that he and the requisite number of councillors should stand in one room while the Queen should sit in the next with the door between them open. She would then authorise Helps to give her assent to the matters laid before the councillors for their approval. Top Disraeli, Gladstone and the later years Six years later the Queen's misery was much alleviated by the appointment of the Conservative Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. From the beginning Disraeli set out to woo and flatter her with an infallible instinct for the phrase, the gesture, the compliment, the overture that would most delight her. He was later to tell a colleague who had asked for advice how to handle the Queen, 'First of all, remember she is woman'. He never forgot this himself.

'The present man will do well', she told her eldest daughter. 'He is very peculiar, thoroughly Jewish looking ... but very clever and sensible ... He is full of poetry, romance and chivalry. When he knelt down to kiss my hand, he said "In loving loyalty and faith."' All this was in marked contrast to Disraeli's great rival, the Liberal, WE Gladstone, who, she said, addressed her as though she were a public meeting. She could not bear Gladstone, that 'mischievous firebrand, arrogant, tyrannical and obstinate', a 'half-crazy and in many ways ridiculous, wild and incomprehensible old fanatic'. She had to put up with him intermittently from 1868 until 1894; and when he died in 1898 she could not - truthful and obstinate as ever - bring herself to say that she was sorry. From the beginning Disraeli set out to woo and flatter her... Her final years were far more tranquil.

The Tory Lord Salisbury, who formed his first cabinet in 1885, was infinitely more understanding than Gladstone, and well understood that Victoria 'was not to be overpressed, never dictated to'. Lord Rosebery, Salisbury's Liberal rival, was equally amenable, although not always reliable: he required, and was given, frequent lectures as though he were a schoolboy. A criticism by him of the House of Lords, for instance, provoked a stern rebuke: he should never have spoken in a manner calculated 'to flatter useless Radicals' without first consulting the queen and obtaining her sanction. Throughout Victoria's reign she had held to the belief, inculcated in her by Prince Albert's German mentor, Baron von Stockmar, that the Prime Minister was merely the 'temporary head of the Cabinet', while the monarch was the 'permanent premier'. It was a supposition that the monarchy in the next century was obliged to abandon.

Benjamin Disraeli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Benjamin Disraeli 20 February 1874 – 21 April 1880 Monarch 27 February 1868 – 1 December 1868 Monarch 6 July 1866 – 29 February 1868 Monarch 26 February 1858 – 11 June 1859 Monarch 27 February 1852 – 17 December 1852 Monarch Church of England Judaism (until age 13) Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG , PC , FRS , born Benjamin D'Israeli, (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 . A teenage convert to Anglicanism , he was nonetheless the country's first and thus far only Prime Minister of Jewish heritage.

[1] [2] [3] [4] He played an instrumental role in 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 Gladstone , who eventually rose to become leader of the Liberal Party . In this feud, 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 a part of the Victorian literary canon . 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. He was twice successful as the Glasgow University Conservative Association 's candidate for Rector of the University , holding the post for two full terms between 1871 and 1877. Contents [ edit ] Early life Disraeli's biographers believe he was descended from Iberian Sephardic Jews . He claimed Spanish ancestry, possibly referring to the ultimate origin of his family heritage in Spain prior to the expulsion of Jews in 1492, after which many Jews emigrated temporarily to northern Italy before moving to the Netherlands and then England. [5] He was the second child and eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli , a literary critic and historian, and Maria Basevi. Benjamin changed the spelling in the 1820s by dropping the apostrophe.

[6] His siblings included Sarah (1802–1859), Naphtali (1807), Ralph (1809–1898), and James (1813–1868). [7] Benjamin at first attended a small school, the Reverend John Potticary's school at Blackheath . [8] His father had Benjamin baptised in 1817 following a dispute with their synagogue . The elder D'Israeli was content to remain outside organized religion. From 1817, Benjamin attended Higham Hall , in Walthamstow . His younger brothers, in contrast, attended the superior Winchester College . His father groomed him for a career in law, and Disraeli was articled to a solicitor in 1821. In 1824, Disraeli toured Belgium and the Rhine Valley with his father and later wrote that it was while travelling on the Rhine that he decided to abandon the law: "I determined when descending those magical waters that I would not be a lawyer." [9] On his return to England he speculated on the stock exchange 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 connection, 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. [10] 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, which ruined 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.

[11] Before his entrance into parliament, Disraeli was involved with several women, most notably Lady Henrietta Sykes (the wife of Sir Francis Sykes, Bt), who served as the model for Henrietta Temple. 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." [12] 1839 he settled his private life by marrying Mary Anne Lewis , the rich widow of Wyndham Lewis , Disraeli's erstwhile colleague at Maidstone. Mary Lewis was 12 years his senior, and their union was seen as being based on financial interests, but they came to cherish one another. Isaac D'Israeli [ edit ] Literary career Disraeli turned towards literature after his financial disaster, 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. The book, initially anonymous, 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, John 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.

[13] A Young Disraeli by Sir Francis Grant, 1852 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.

[14] Disraeli's preference for female company prevented the development of contact with those who were otherwise 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 penned for Punch. Disraeli took revenge in Endymion (published in 1880), when he caricatured Thackeray as "St. Barbe". [15] Critic William Kuhn argued much of Disraeli's fiction can be read as "the memoirs he never wrote", revealing the inner life of a politician for whom the norms of Victorian public life appeared to represent a social straitjacket – particularly with regard to his allegedly "ambiguous sexuality." [16] Prime Minister 1834–35, 1841–46 Lord John Manners Friend of Disraeli, and leading figure in the Young England movement 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. [17] 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." [18] 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 . 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 businessmen. During the twenty years between the Corn Laws and the Second Reform Bill Disraeli would seek a Tory-Radical alliance, 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." [19] [ edit ] 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. [20] 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." [21] 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." [22] 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. [23] [ edit ] Bentinck and the Leadership Lord George Bentinck Conservative leader in the commons 1846–48 In 1847 a small political crisis occurred which removed Bentinck from the leadership and highlighted Disraeli's differences with his own party. In the preceding general election , Lionel de Rothschild had been returned for the City of London . Ever since Catholic Emancipation, members of parliament were required to swear the oath "on the true faith of a Christian." Rothschild, an unconverted Jew, could not do so and therefore could not take his seat. Lord John Russell , the Whig leader who had succeeded Peel as Prime Minister and like Rothschild a member for the City of London, introduced a Jewish Disabilities Bill to amend the oath and permit Jews to enter Parliament.

Disraeli spoke in favour of the measure, arguing that Christianity was "completed Judaism," and asking of the House of Commons "Where is your Christianity if you do not believe in their Judaism?" [24] While Disraeli did not argue that the Jews did the Christians a favor by killing Christ , as he had in Tancred and would in Lord George Bentinck , [25] his speech was badly received by his own party, [26] which along with the Anglican establishment was hostile to the bill. [27] Samuel Wilberforce , Bishop of Oxford and a friend of Disraeli's, spoke strongly against the measure and implied that Russell was paying off the Jews for "helping" elect him. [28] Every member of the future protectionist cabinet then in parliament (except Disraeli) voted against the measure. One member who was not, Lord John Manners, stood against Rothschild when the latter re-submitted himself for election in 1849. Bentinck, then still Conservative leader in the Commons, joined Disraeli in speaking and voting for the bill, although his own speech was a standard one of toleration.

[29] In the aftermath of the debate Bentinck resigned the leadership and feuded with Stanley, leader in the Lords and overall leader, who had opposed the measure and directed the party whips–in the Commons–to oppose the measure as well. Bentinck was succeeded by Lord Granby ; Disraeli's own speech, thought by many of his own party to be blasphemous, ruled him out for the time being. [30] Even as these intrigues played out, Disraeli was working with the Bentinck family to secure the necessary financing to purchase Hughenden Manor , in Buckinghamshire . 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. These negotiations were complicated by the sudden death of Lord George on 21 September 1848, but Disraeli obtained a loan of £ 25,000 (equivalent to almost £1,500,000 today) from Lord George's brothers Lord Henry Bentinck and Lord Titchfield .

[31] Within a month Granby resigned the leadership in the commons, feeling himself inadequate to the post, and the party functioned without an actual leader in the commons for the remainder of the parliamentary session. At the start of the next session, affairs were handled by a triumvirate of Granby, Disraeli, and John Charles Herries –indicative of the tension between Disraeli and the rest of the party, who needed his talents but mistrusted the man. This confused arrangement ended with Granby's resignation in 1851; Disraeli effectively ignored the two men regardless. [32] [ edit ] The first Derby government The Earl of Derby Main article: Who? Who? Ministry 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. Other possible ministers included Sir Robert Inglis , Henry Goulburn , John Charles Herries , and Lord Ellenborough .

The Peelites , however, refused to serve under Stanley or with Disraeli so long as the question of free trade remained unsettled, and attempts to form a purely protectionist government failed. Derby supposedly remarked at the time, "Pshaw! These are not names which I can put before the Queen!" [33] Russell resumed office, but resigned again in early 1852 when a combination of the protectionists and Lord Palmerston defeated him on a Militia Bill. [34] This time Lord Derby (as he had become) took office, and to general surprise appointed Disraeli Chancellor of the Exchequer . [35] Disraeli had offered to stand aside as leader of the House of Commons in favour of Palmerston, but the latter declined. The primary responsibility of a mid-Victorian chancellor was to produce a Budget for the coming fiscal year. Disraeli 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.

[36] 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 consensus had been reached, and Disraeli was criticised for mixing up details over the different "schedules" of income. Disraeli's proposal to extend the tax to Ireland gained him further enemies, and he was also hampered by an unexpected increase in defence expenditure, which was forced on him by Derby and Sir John Pakington ( Secretary of State for War and the Colonies ) (leading to his celebrated remark to John Bright about the "damned defences"). [37] 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. [38] 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. No Conservative reconciliation remained possible so long as Disraeli remained leader in the House of Commons. [ edit ] 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. [ edit ] The second Derby government The Viscount Palmerston Prime Minister 1855–58, 1859–65 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. [39] 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 . [40] 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 [41] ” 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 . [42] [ edit ] 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.

It was thought that if the Conservatives were able to secure this piece of legislation, then the newly enfranchised electorate may return their gratitude to the Tories in the form of a Conservative vote at the next general election. As a result, this would give the Conservatives a greater chance of forming a majority government. After so many years in the 'stagnant backwaters' of British politics, this seemed most appealing. The Reform Act 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 .

[43] 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." [44] Cranborne, however, was unable to lead a rebellion similar to that which Disraeli had led against Peel twenty years earlier. The Marquess of Salisbury Three-time Prime Minister Derby's health had been declining for some time and he finally resigned as Prime Minister in late February 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." [45] However, the Conservatives were still a minority in the House of Commons, and the passage 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. [46] Disraeli's first premiership was dominated by the heated debate over the established Church of Ireland . Although Ireland was 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 disestablish 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.

[47] Main article: Second Disraeli ministry 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 stewardship of R. A. Cross , the Home Secretary , Disraeli's government introduced various reforms, including the Artisan's and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 , the Public Health Act 1875 , the Sale of Food and Drugs 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 (1875) to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts.

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." [48] Main article: Eastern Question Disraeli and Queen Victoria , during the latter's visit to Hughenden Manor at the height of the Eastern crisis. Disraeli was, according to some interpretations, a supporter of the expansion and preservation of the British Empire in the Middle East and Central Asia . In spite of the objections of his own cabinet and without Parliament's consent, he obtained a short-term loan from Lionel de Rothschild in order to purchase 44% of the shares of the Suez Canal Company . Before this action, though, he had for the most part opted to continue the Whig policy of limited expansion, preferring to maintain the then-current borders as opposed to promoting expansion. 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.

According to Blake, Disraeli believed in upholding Britain's greatness through a tough, "no nonsense" foreign policy that put Britain's interests above the "moral law" that advocated emancipation of small nations. [49] 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. Blake further argued that Disraeli's imperialism "decisively orientated the Conservative party for many years to come, and the tradition which he started was probably a bigger electoral asset in winning working-class support during the last quarter of the century than anything else". [49] A leading proponent of the Great Game , Disraeli introduced the Royal Titles Act 1876 , which created Queen Victoria Empress of India , putting her at the same level as the Russian Tsar. In his private correspondence with the Queen, he proposed "to clear Central Asia of Muscovites and drive them into the Caspian ". [50] In order to contain Russia's influence, he launched an invasion of Afghanistan and signed the Cyprus Convention with Turkey, whereby this strategically placed island was handed over to Britain.

New Crowns for Old depicts Disraeli as Abanazer from the pantomime version of Aladdin offering Victoria an imperial crown in exchange for a royal one. Disraeli cultivated a public image of himself as an Imperialist with grand gestures such as conferring on Queen Victoria the title “Empress of India”. Disraeli scored another diplomatic success at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, in preventing Bulgaria from gaining full independence, limiting the growing influence of Russia in the Balkans and breaking up the League of the Three Emperors . However, 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. [ edit ] Title and death Disraeli 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. In the general election of 1880 Disraeli's Conservatives were defeated by Gladstone's Liberals, in large part owing to the uneven course of the Second Anglo-Afghan War .

The Irish Home Rule vote in England contributed to his party's defeat. Disraeli became ill soon after and died in April 1881. He is buried in a vault beneath St Michael's Church in the grounds of his home Hughenden Manor , accessed from the churchyard. Against the outside wall of the church is a memorial erected in his honour by Queen Victoria. His literary executor , and for all intents and purposes his heir, was his private secretary, Lord Rowton . [ edit ] Disraeli's Jewishness 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. [51] At the same time, he was culturally Jewish and believed the two positions to be compatible. A famous quote of his response to an anti-semitic snide remark by a British politician runs as follows: "Yes, I am a Jew, and when the ancestors of the right honourable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon", to which it is said was replied; "This 'Island' was never not known to us.

Exactly where is it that you are coming from?" [1] Adam Kirsch, in his biography of Disraeli, states that his Jewishness was "both the greatest obstacle to his ambition and its greatest engine. [52] Much of the criticism of his policies was couched in anti-Semitic terms. He was depicted in political cartoons with a big nose and curly black hair, called "Shylock" and "abominable Jew," and portrayed in the act of ritually murdering the infant Britannia. [53] Sybil, or the Two Nations: Benjamin Disraeli: 9781605973401: Amazon.com: Books Sybil, or the Two Nations One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details Buy the selected items together This item:Sybil, or the Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli Paperback $17.29 Only 1 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details Esther Waters (Oxford World's Classics) by George Moore Paperback $14.28 Only 15 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item? Special Offers and Product Promotions Explore more great deals on thousands of titles in our Deals in Books store . Editorial Reviews 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.

Question: Benjamin Disraeli was British Prime Minister during the reign of which monarch?
Answer: Queen Victoria