Encyclopedia
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield,
KG,
PC, FRS was an
English 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
Disraeli descended from
Italian Sephardic Jews from both his maternal and paternal sides, although he claimed Spanish ancestry during his own lifetime, 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 himself was content to remain outside organized religion. Benjamin at first attended a small school, the Reverend John Potticary's school at
Blackheath . 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 destined him for the law, and he was articled to a solicitor in 1821. The law was, however, uncongenial, and by 1825, he gave it up. Disraeli was apparently determined to obtain independent means, and 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 and aggrandizers. 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.
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 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, ruining Powles and Disraeli. Also, according to Disraeli's biographer, Lord Blake, the paper was "atrociously edited", and would have failed anyway. Disraeli would be indebted for the rest of life.
Literary career
Disraeli now turned towards literature, and brought out his first novel,
Vivian Grey, in 1827. 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 have sided with Murray.
After producing a
Vindication of the British Constitution, and some political pamphlets, Disraeli followed up
Vivian Grey by a series of novels,
The Young Duke ,
Contarini Fleming ,
Alroy ,
Venetia and
Henrietta Temple . 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 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 , were strained or non-existent. His 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 , when he caricatured Thackeray as "St. Barbe."
Parliament
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 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 if not offensive 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 apparently 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 progressive
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.
Although nominally 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 middle class, helping to found the Young England group in 1842 to promote the view that the rich should use their power to protect the poor from exploitation by the middle class. During the twenty years which separated the Corn Laws and the Second Reform Bill Disraeli would seek Tory-Radical alliances, to little avail.
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 the 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-Peel Conservatives, Radicals, and Whigs carried repeal, but the Conservative Party split: Peel and his followers, known as Peelites, moved towards the Whigs, while a "new" Conservative Party formed around the protectionists, led by Disraeli, Bentinck, and
Lord Stanley .
Office
The first Derby government
The first opportunity for Disraeli, Stanley, and the protectionist Tories to take office had come in 1851, when
Lord John Russell's government had been defeated in the House of Commons over the Ecclesiastical Titles Act 1851. Disraeli was to have been Home Secretary, with Stanley 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 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 ; additional revenue would come from an increase in the House tax. More controversially, Disraeli also proposed to alter the workings of the
Income Tax 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 . 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.
Nonetheless,
William Ewart Gladstone's final speech on the Budget marked the beginning of over twenty years of mutual parliamentary hostility and the end of Gladstone's formal association with the Conservative Party.
The second and third Derby governments
Derby returned to office in 1858 and once again made Disraeli chancellor and leader of the House of Commons+. The principal measure of the 1858 session was 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 India Office, under the newly-created Secretary of State for India. Disraeli worked closely with
Lord Stanley, Derby's son and the President of the Board of Control, to guide the measure through the house.
After engineering the defeat of a Liberal Reform Bill introduced by Gladstone in 1866, Disraeli and Derby introduced their own measure in 1867.
This was primarily a political strategy designed to give Conservatives control of the reform process and thereby long term benefits in the Commons, similar to those derived by the Whigs after the 1832 Reform Act. The
Reform Act of 1867 extended the franchise by 938,427 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 underrepresented in
Parliament.. This act was unpopular with the right wing of the Conservative Party, most notably
Lord Cranborne , 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 another 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."
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 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 mid-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.
Second government
However, in the election that followed, William Gladstone and the Liberals were returned to power with a majority of 170. After six years in opposition, Disraeli and the Conservative Party won the election giving the party its first absolute majority in the House of Commons since the 1840s. Disraeli's government introduced various reforms, such as the Artisans Dwellings Act , the Public Health Act , the Pure Food and Drugs Act , the Climbing Boys Act , and the Education Act . His government also introduced a new Factory Act meant to protect workers, the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act to allow peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act to enable workers to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts.
Disraeli was a staunch British
imperialist and helped strengthen the
British Empire with his support for the construction of the
Suez Canal. He also 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. However, difficulties in South Africa, epitomised by the defeat of the British Army at the
Battle of Isandlwana, and Afghanistan weakened his government and likely led to his party's defeat in the 1880 election.
He was elevated to the House of Lords in 1876 when
Queen Victoria made him
Earl of Beaconsfield and
Viscount Hughenden. He and Gladstone clashed again over Britain's Balkan policy. Disraeli saw the situation as a matter of British imperial and strategic interests; that is, keeping to
Palmerston's policy of supporting the Ottoman Empire against Russian expansion. Gladstone, however, saw the situation as a moral one because Bulgarian Christians had been massacred by the Turks and therefore he believed it was immoral to support the Turks. Gladstone embarked on his "Midlothian campaign" in 1879 denouncing what he called "Beaconsfieldism". 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 , Naphtali , Ralph , and James .
Before his entrance into parliament Disraeli was involved with several different women, most notably Lady Henrietta Sykes , 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 regarded himself racially Jewish and did not view the two positions as incompatible.
Disraeli's governments
Works by Disraeli
Fiction
- Vivian Grey
- Popanilla
- The Young Duke
- Contarini Fleming
- Alroy
- The Infernal Marriage
- Ixion in Heaven
- The Revolutionary Epick
- The Rise of Iskander
- Henrietta Temple
- Venetia
- The Tragedy of Count Alarcos ; )
- Coningsby, or the New Generation
- Sybil, or The Two Nations
- Tancred, or the New Crusade
- Lothair
- Endymion
- Falconet
Non-fiction
- An Inquiry into the Plans, Progress, and Policy of the American Mining Companies
- Lawyers and Legislators: or, Notes, on the American Mining Companies
- The present state of Mexico
- England and France, or a Cure for the Ministerial Gallomania
- What Is He?
- The Letters of Runnymede
- Lord George Bentinck
Biographies of Disraeli
- Robert Blake, Disraeli
- Sarah Bradford, Disraeli
- Christopher Hibbert, Disraeli and His World
- Christopher Hibbert, Disraeli, a Personal History
- André Maurois, Disraeli
- William Monypenny and George Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881
- Hesketh Pearson, Dizzy
- Jane Ridley, Young Disraeli, 1804-1846
- Paul Smith, Disraeli: A Brief Life
- Stanley Weintraub, Disraeli
Films featuring Disraeli
...
, Mary Peach
- Mrs. Brown is a 1997 [i] movie [i] starring Dame Judi Dench [i], Billy Connolly [i], Geoffrey Palmer [i] ...
Sir Antony Sher
Notes
References
- Blake, Robert. Disraeli. New York: St Martin's Press, 1966.
- Cline, C. L. "Disraeli and Peel's 1841 Cabinet." The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 11, No. 4. , pp. 509-512.
- .— "Disraeli and Thackeray." The Review of English Studies. Vol. 19, No. 76. , pp. 404-408.
- Conancher, J. B. The Emergence of British Parliamentary Democracy in the Nineteenth Century. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1971.
- .— "Peel and the Peelites, 1846-1850." The English Historical Review. Vol. 73, No. 288 , 431-452.
- Endelman, Todd M. "Disraeli's Jewishness Reconsidered." Modern Judaism, Vol. 5, No. 2, Gershom Scholem Memorial Issue. , pp. 109-123.
- Gash, Norman. Review of Disraeli, by Robert Blake. The English Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 327. , 360-364
- Ghosh, P. R. "Disraelian Conservatism: A Financial Approach." The English Historical Review. Vol. 99, No. 391 , 268-296.
- Graubard, Stephen R. Review of Disraeli, by Robert Blake. The American Historical Review, Vol. 73, No. 1. , 139.
- Jerman, B. R. The Young Disraeli. 1960.
- Matthew, H. C. G. "Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Politics of Mid-Victorian Budgets." The Historical Journal. Vol. 22, No. 3. , 615-643.
- Merritt, James D. "The Novelist St. Barbe in Disraeli's Endymion: Revenge on Whom?" Nineteenth-Century Fiction. Vol. 23, No. 1. , pp. 85-88.
- Trevelyan, G. M. The Life of John Bright. London: Constable, 1913.
- Veliz, Claudio. "Egana, Lambert, and the Chilean Mining Associations of 1825." The Hispanic American Historical Review . Vol. 55, No. 4 , 637-663.
See also
External links
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