Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

The Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC (21 December, 1804 – 19 April, 1881) was a British statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister – the first and thus far only person of Jewish descent to do so, although Disraeli was baptized 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.

Early life

Disraeli descended from Portuguese Sephardic Jews from both his maternal and paternal sides. His father was the literary critic and historian Isaac D'Israeli who, though Jewish, had Benjamin baptised and raised in the Church of England. The elder D'Israeli (Benjamin apparently changed the spelling in the 1820s) himself was content to remain outside organized religion. Beginning in 1817 Benjamin attended Higham Hall, in Epping Forest. 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.

Related Topics:
Sephardic Jews - Isaac D'Israeli - Jew - Baptised - Church of England - 1817 - Higham Hall - Epping Forest - Winchester College - Maria D'Israeli

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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 connexion Disraeli became involved with the financier J. D. Powles, one such booster. In the course of 1825 Disraeli wrote three pamphlets (anonymously) for Powles, promoting the companies.

Related Topics:
1821 - 1825 - 1824 - George Canning

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That same year Disraeli's financial activities brought him into contact with the publisher John Murray. Murray, 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 probably would have failed anyway. The debts which Disraeli incurred through this affair would dog him the rest of his life.

Related Topics:
John Murray - The Representative - Lord Blake

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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 Disrael's authorship was discovered. The book, which was initially published anonymously, was purportedly written by a "man of fashion" – someone who moved in society. Disraeli, then just twenty-three, did not move in 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, although subsequent biographers (notably Blake) have sided with Murray.

Related Topics:
Vivian Grey - 1827

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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 (1831), Contarini Fleming (1832), Alroy (1833), Venetia and Henrietta Temple (1837). 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 (based on his affair with Henrietta Sykes) was a true success.

Related Topics:
Vindication of the British Constitution - The Young Duke - 1831 - Contarini Fleming - 1832 - Alroy - 1833 - Venetia - Henrietta Temple - 1837 - The Revolutionary Epick - Ixion - The Infernal Marriage - Popanilla - Henrietta Sykes

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