Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli (born December 21, 1804, London, England—died April 19, 1881, London) was a British statesman and novelist who was twice prime minister (1868, 1874–80) and who provided the Conservative Party with a twofold policy of Tory democracy and imperialism.

Early life

Disraeli was of Italian-Jewish descent, the eldest son and second child of Isaac D’Israeli and Maria Basevi. The most important event in Disraeli’s boyhood was his father’s quarrel in 1813 with the synagogue of Bevis Marks, which led to the decision in 1817 to have his children baptized as Christians. Until 1858, Jews by religion were excluded from Parliament; except for the father’s decision, Disraeli’s political career could never have taken the form it did.

Disraeli was educated at small private schools. At the age of 17 he was articled to a firm of solicitors, but he longed to become notable in a more sensational manner. His first efforts were disastrous. In 1824 he speculated recklessly in South American mining shares, and, when he lost all a year later, he was left so badly in debt that he did not recover until well past middle age. Earlier he had persuaded the publisher John Murray, his father’s friend, to launch a daily newspaper, the Representative. It was a complete failure. Disraeli, unable to pay his promised share of the capital, quarreled with Murray and others. Moreover, in his novel Vivian Grey (1826–27), published anonymously, he lampooned Murray while telling the story of the failure. Disraeli was unmasked as the author, and he was widely criticized.

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Disraeli suffered what would later be called a nervous breakdown and did little during the next four years. He wrote another extravagant novel, The Young Duke (1831), and in 1830 began 16 months of travel in the Mediterranean countries and the Middle East. These travels not only furnished him with material for Oriental descriptions he used in later novels but also influenced his attitude in foreign relations with India, Egypt, and Turkey in the 1870s.

Back in England, he was active in London social and literary life, where his dandified dress, conceit and affectation, and exotic good looks made him a striking if not always popular figure. He was invited to fashionable parties and met most of the celebrities of the day. His novel Contarini Fleming (1832) has considerable autobiographical interest, like many of his novels, as well as echoes of his political thought.

Political beginnings

By 1831 Disraeli had decided to enter politics and sought a seat in Buckinghamshire, near Wycombe, where his family had settled. As an independent radical, he stood for and lost High Wycombe twice in 1832 and once in 1835. Realizing that he must attach himself to one of the political parties, he made a somewhat eccentric interpretation of Toryism, which some features of his radicalism fitted. In 1835 he unsuccessfully stood for Taunton as the official Conservative candidate. His extravagant behaviour, great debts, and open liaison with Henrietta, wife of Sir Francis Sykes (the prototype of the heroine in his novel Henrietta Temple [1837]), all gave him a dubious reputation. In 1837, however, he successfully stood for Maidstone in Kent as the Conservative candidate. His maiden speech in the House of Commons was a failure. Elaborate metaphors, affected mannerisms, and foppish dress led to his being shouted down. But he was not silenced. He concluded, defiantly and prophetically, “I will sit down now, but the time will come when you will hear me.”

Before long, Disraeli became a speaker who commanded attention. He established his social position by marrying in 1839 Mary Ann Lewis, the widow of Wyndham Lewis, who had a life interest in a London house and £4,000 a year. She was deeply devoted to Disraeli, and, when he teased her in company that he had married for her worldly goods, she would say, “Dizzy married me for my money but if he had the chance again he would marry me for love.” Her husband agreed.

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Breach with Peel

The Conservative leader, Sir Robert Peel, encouraged Disraeli, but, when in 1841 the Conservatives won the election and Peel became prime minister, Disraeli was not given office in the cabinet. He was mortified at the rebuff, and his attitude toward Peel and his brand of Conservatism became increasingly critical. A group of young Tories, nicknamed Young England, and led by George Smythe (later Lord Stangford), looked to Disraeli for inspiration, and he obliged them, notably in his novel Coningsby; or, The New Generation (1844), in which the hero is patterned on Smythe, and the cool, pragmatic, humdrum, middle-class Conservatism that Peel represented is contrasted to Young England’s romantic, aristocratic, nostalgic, and escapist attitude.

In 1845, when the combination of the Irish famine and the arguments of Richard Cobden convinced Peel to repeal the protective duties on foreign imported grain known as the Corn Laws, Disraeli found his issue. Young England could rally against Peel not only their own members but the great mass of the country squires who formed the backbone of the Conservative Party. As lieutenant to Lord George Bentinck, the nominal leader of the rebels, Disraeli consolidated the opposition to Peel in a series of brilliant speeches. His invective greatly embittered the battle and created lasting resentment among Peel’s followers. While Disraeli and his fellow protectionists could not stop the repeal of the Corn Laws because the Whigs also backed the bill, the rebels put Peel in the minority on another issue and forced him to resign in 1846.