Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881) was a British politician and novelist who served twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom, briefly in 1868 and then from 1874 to 1880. [1] Born into a Jewish family and baptised as a child, he rose through the Conservative Party to become its dominant figure, reshaping it around a combination of social reform and imperial ambition. [2] He was created Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876 and is remembered as much for his long rivalry with William Gladstone as for his own legislation.
Early life
Benjamin Disraeli was born in London on 21 December 1804, the son of the literary scholar Isaac D'Israeli. His family was Jewish; after a dispute with his synagogue, his father had the children baptised into the Church of England in 1817, a step that later proved decisive, since practising Jews were then barred from sitting in Parliament. [1]
He did not attend university, instead being articled to a firm of solicitors. Early speculation in South American mining shares and an unsuccessful newspaper venture left him heavily in debt, a burden he carried for decades. [3]
Writer and early politics
Disraeli first made his name as a novelist. Vivian Grey (1826) drew on London society, and his later political trilogy of Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845) and Tancred (1847) set out the ideas of the Young England movement. [1] Sybil, subtitled The Two Nations, described the gulf between rich and poor in industrial Britain and supplied a phrase that entered political vocabulary.
After several failed attempts he entered the House of Commons in 1837 as member for Maidstone. He came to prominence in 1846 by leading the Conservative revolt against Sir Robert Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws, a split that broke the party and left Disraeli as the chief spokesman of the protectionist remnant. [2]
Government and premierships
Disraeli served three terms as Chancellor of the Exchequer in minority Conservative governments. He steered the Reform Act of 1867 through the Commons, roughly doubling the electorate in England and Wales by extending the vote to many urban working-class householders. [2] He became prime minister in February 1868 but was defeated at the general election later that year by Gladstone.
Returning to office with a majority in 1874, he presided over a substantial programme of domestic legislation covering public health, artisans' dwellings, food and drug purity, factory hours and trade union rights, measures associated with what became known as Tory democracy. [1]
Foreign and imperial policy
Disraeli's second ministry is best remembered for its foreign policy. In 1875 he arranged the purchase of the Khedive of Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal Company, securing a British stake in the route to India. [3] The following year the Royal Titles Act conferred on Queen Victoria the title Empress of India.
At the Congress of Berlin in 1878 he negotiated a settlement of the crisis arising from Russia's war with the Ottoman Empire, returning claiming to have secured "peace with honour" and bringing Cyprus under British administration. [4] Costly and inconclusive wars in Afghanistan and southern Africa, together with agricultural depression, contributed to his defeat in the 1880 election.
Later life and legacy
Disraeli was raised to the peerage as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876 and was appointed a Knight of the Garter. He published a final novel, Endymion, in 1880, and died in Mayfair, London, on 19 April 1881. [1]
He enjoyed a notably warm relationship with Queen Victoria, in sharp contrast to Gladstone, and the two men's rivalry structured British politics for a generation. Later Conservatives adopted him as a founding figure of the party's modern identity, and the Primrose League was established in his memory. [2]
