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Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party lead…
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politics · Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1868; 1874–1880) · politician · novelist · writer · biographer · finance minister · also Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, Viscount Hughenden of Hughenden Disraeli, Dizzy, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield
Born 21 December 1804 · Died 19 April 1881 · Q82006
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2026· 18 entries
“My temperament is dreamy and sentimental. People who paint me all make the mistake of giving me a violent expression”
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“You have done a wise thing. This is progress. It will be popular; a nation likes progress.”
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“it is impossible to sweep them aside as a mere bag of burglar”
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“the terrible disaster has shaken me to the centre”
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“Lord Salisbury and I have brought you back peace—but a peace I hope with honour.”
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“he is in the mud and there I leave him.”
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“Had it not been for these unhappy”
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“it is settled; you have it, madam!”
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“you will not shrink from the additional heavy responsibility”
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“alternated between a menace and a sigh”
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“only he could command the cordial support, en masse, of his present colleagues”
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“chance of holding office. When Cecil”
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“it is quite impossible that anything adverse to the general measure of Reform can issue from my pen.”
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The Tribune: The care of the public health is the first duty of the statesman. — Benjamin Disraeli
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The Guardian: ‘We’re seeing lots of people who feel dizzy’: how heatwaves are taking a toll on people’s health and the NHS
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The Telegraph: One Nation Toryism has degenerated from Disraeli to net zero and ECHR zealotry
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Mint: Quote of the day by Benjamin Disraeli on dedication: ‘The secret of success is…’
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2024· 1 entry
National Review: Benjamin Disraeli’s National Review
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2017· 1 entry
Foreign Policy: Only the Ghost of Benjamin Disraeli Can Fix Theresa May’s Omnishambles Brexit
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2016· 1 entry
The Guardian: Disraeli by David Cesarani review – the Jewish prime minister and antisemitism
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2013· 3 entries
The Guardian: The 100 best novels: No 11 – Sybil by Benjamin Disraeli (1845)
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The Guardian: Disraeli: Or the Two Lives by Douglas Hurd and Edward Young – review
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"[Disraeli] was not a one-nation Conservative—and this was not simply because he never used the phrase
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2012· 1 entry
The Guardian: Benjamin Disraeli – pass notes No 3,259
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2007· 1 entry
Parry wrote, "The tory democrat myth did not survive detailed scrutiny by professional historical writing of the 1960s [which] demonstrated that Disraeli had very little interest in a programme of social legislation and
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1929· 1 entry
“personified the kind of paternalistic, kindly, homely statesmanship that appealed to a significant proportion of the cinema audience ... Even workers attending Labour party meetings deferred to leaders with an elevated social background who showed they cared.”
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1913· 1 entry
“All is race; there is no other truth”
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1909· 1 entry
As "the determining influence of every considerable movement of British power to the east and south of the Mediterranean"
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1903· 1 entry
“I never deny; I never contradict; I sometimes forget.”
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1881· 13 entries
Died 1881-04-19.
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“Amusement to an observing mind is study.”
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“If you are not very clever, you should be conciliatory.”
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“Success is the child of audacity.”
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“My idea of an agreeable person," said Hugo Bohun, "is a person who agrees with me.”
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“When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.”
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“He made his conscience not his guide bnt his accomplice.”
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“Finality, Sir, is not the language of politics.”
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“This shows how much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.”
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“A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.”
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“Assassination has never changed the history of the world.”
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“Despair is the conclusion of fools.”
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“Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.”
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1880· 3 entries
Election lost: 1880 election.
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Campaign: 1880 election.
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1880–1881).
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1879· 1 entry
"The Conservative party have done more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty
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1878· 3 entries
Awarded Knight of the Garter (1878).
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The Russians sent a mission to Kabul; it was not rejected by the Afghans, as the British had hoped
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Faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy
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1876· 4 entries
Career landmark: Lord Privy Seal (1876–1878).
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Elevated him to the peerage as Earl of Beaconsfield
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Career landmark: member of the House of Lords (1876–1881).
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Career landmark: Leader of the House of Lords (1876–1880).
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1874· 5 entries
Career landmark: Leader of the House of Commons (1874–1876).
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When he fell ill at Balmoral, but he was reluctant to leave the Commons for a house in which he had no experience
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And went to kiss hands, he did so literally, on one knee; according to Richard Aldous in his book on the rivalry between Disraeli and Gladstone, "Victoria and Disraeli would exploit their closeness for mutual advantage
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Career landmark: member of the 21st Parliament of the United Kingdom (1874–1876).
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1874–1880).
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1873· 1 entry
Gladstone brought forward legislation to establish a Catholic university in Dublin
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1872· 1 entry
On the recovery of the Prince of Wales from illness, while Gladstone was met with silence
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1870· 1 entry
Had sponsored an Order in Council, introducing competitive examination into the Civil Service, diminishing the political aspects of government hiring
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1869· 1 entry
Cut weeks and thousands of miles off the sea journey between Britain and India; in 1875, approximately 80% of the ships using the canal were British
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1868· 5 entries
Career landmark: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1868–1868).
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1868–1874).
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Disraeli had Victoria make his wife Mary Anne Viscountess Beaconsfield in her own right in lieu of a peerage for himself
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Career landmark: member of the 20th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1868–1874).
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Disraeli became prime minister briefly before losing that year's general election
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1866· 2 entries
Career landmark: Leader of the House of Commons (1866–1868).
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Career landmark: Chancellor of the Exchequer (1866–1868).
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1865· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the 19th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1865–1868).
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1864· 1 entry
With Tories outraged over Palmerston's handling of the territorial dispute between the German Confederation and Denmark known as the Schleswig-Holstein Question
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1863· 1 entry
Left him a large legacy, which helped clear his debts
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1862· 1 entry
Disraeli met Prussian Count Otto von Bismarck and said of him, "be careful about that man, he means what he says"
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1861· 1 entry
Disraeli said little publicly, but like most Englishmen expected the South to win
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1859· 3 entries
Which would have resulted in a modest increase to the franchise
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1859–1866).
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Career landmark: member of the 18th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1859–1865).
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1858· 2 entries
Baron Lionel de Rothschild became the first MP to profess the Jewish faith
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Career landmark: Leader of the House of Commons (1858–1859).
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1857· 2 entries
Disraeli took a keen interest, having been a member of a select committee in 1852 which considered how best to rule the subcontinent, and had proposed eliminating the governing role of the British East India Company
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Career landmark: member of the 17th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1857–1859).
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1855· 1 entry
A restive Parliament considered a resolution to establish a committee on the conduct of the war
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1854· 1 entry
Caused a lull in party politics; Disraeli spoke patriotically in support
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1853· 1 entry
Publisher David Bryce issued reworked versions of all the novels up to Sybil in a uniform edition in which Disraeli's sister Sarah (1802–1859) played a significant editorial role
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1852· 4 entries
Career landmark: Leader of the House of Commons (1852–1852).
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Career landmark: member of the 16th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1852–1857).
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Derby led a minority government, dependent on the division of its opponents for survival
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1852–1858).
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1847· 1 entry
A small political crisis removed Bentinck from the leadership and highlighted Disraeli's differences with his own party
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1846· 1 entry
Prime Minister Robert Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain
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1843· 2 entries
“You shall have that estate, but you shall do something for it: you shall feed the poor; you shall endow the Church; you shall defend the land in case of war; and you shall execute justice and maintain truth to the poor for nothing.”
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At the time of Young England, wrote, "could I only satisfy myself that D'Israeli believed all that he said, I should be more happy: his historical views are quite mine, but does he believe them
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1842· 1 entry
And 1843, seeking to establish himself as an expert on foreign affairs and international trade
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1839· 1 entry
Disraeli married Mary Anne Lewis, the widow of Wyndham Lewis
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1837· 1 entry
Victoria came to detest him over his treatment of Peel
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1836· 1 entry
And was also taken up by the party's leading hostess, Lady Londonderry
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1835· 1 entry
Disraeli stood for the last time as a Radical, again unsuccessfully contesting High Wycombe
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1834· 1 entry
Was introduced to the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, by Henrietta Sykes, wife of Sir Francis Sykes
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1832· 1 entry
During the great crisis over the Reform Bill
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1826· 1 entry
And published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76
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1825· 3 entries
Disraeli convinced him that he should proceed
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Disraeli wrote three anonymous pamphlets for Powles, promoting the companies
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And 1826 were probably the trigger for a serious nervous crisis affecting him over the next four years: "He had always been moody, sensitive, and solitary by nature, but now became seriously depressed and lethargic
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1816· 1 entry
Isaac felt free to leave the congregation following a second dispute
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1813· 1 entry
With the Bevis Marks Synagogue, his father renounced Judaism and had the four children baptised into the Church of England in July and August 1817
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1804· 1 entry
Born 1804-12-21.
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