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Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli

Prime Ministers · 19th century

Benjamin Disraeli

1804–1881 · British

Conservative

In office: 1868; 1874–1880

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a novelist, dandy and the only British Prime Minister of Jewish birth (he was baptised an Anglican at 12). After leading the Tory protectionists against Peel in 1846, he steered the Second Reform Act of 1867 through the Commons and became PM in 1868. His great second ministry (1874–1880) bought Britain's stake in the Suez Canal, made Queen Victoria Empress of India, won "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin, and passed major social reforms. His rivalry with Gladstone defined Victorian politics.

How to spot them

  • ▸'Dizzy'; novels Coningsby, Sybil (the 'Two Nations') and Tancred
  • ▸Purchase of Suez Canal shares, 1875; Victoria made Empress of India, 1876
  • ▸'Peace with honour' from the Congress of Berlin, 1878; Cyprus acquired
  • ▸Primrose Day (19 April) and the Primrose League; Hughenden Manor
  • ▸Created Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876

In office

Purchase of the Khedive's shares in the Suez Canal (1875)

Bought for about four million pounds with a loan from the Rothschilds

Royal Titles Act making Queen Victoria Empress of India (1876)

Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877

'Peace with honour' at the Congress of Berlin (1878)

Checked Russian gains after the Russo-Turkish War; Britain gained Cyprus

Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845)

Condition-of-England novel about the rich and the poor as two nations

Second Reform Act, 'dishing the Whigs' (1867)

Piloted through the Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Derby

Artisans' Dwellings Act and Public Health Act (1875)

Part of the social reforms of his second ministry

Key ideas

  • One Nation Conservatism: reconciling the 'two nations' of rich and poor under Crown, Church and Empire
  • Tory democracy: extending the vote to working men and winning their support for Conservatism

Quick-fire facts

  • •Only British Prime Minister born into a Jewish family; baptised into the Church of England in 1817
  • •His failed maiden speech (1837) ended: 'The time will come when you will hear me'
  • •Other novels include Vivian Grey (1826), Coningsby (1844), Tancred (1847), Lothair (1870) and Endymion (1880)
  • •Queen Victoria's favourite; he flattered her and called her 'the Faery'
  • •On his deathbed he reportedly declined a royal visit: 'She would only ask me to take a message to Albert'
  • •Primrose Day, 19 April, marks the anniversary of his death; primroses were said to be his favourite flower
  • •His wife Mary Anne was created Viscountess Beaconsfield in her own right in 1868
  • •Lived at Hughenden Manor, Buckinghamshire, now owned by the National Trust

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Sources