Disraeli died in 1881. His literary executor was his private secretary, Montagu Corry (Lord Rowton), who seems to have contemplated writing a biography of his chief. Certainly no one would have been better qualified to ‘Boswellize’ Disraeli. But when he died in 1903 nothing had been done. In the interval not only had several unofficial lives – mostly of dubious value – appeared, but also the official biography of Gladstone, whose death had occurred only five years earlier, in 1898. In the circumstances the Beaconsfield Trustees, of whom Lord Rothschild was the key figure, were anxious to have something done as soon as possible. After offering the job for a fee of £20,000 to Lord Rosebery, who declined it, they chose W. F. Monypenny, a distinguished Times journalist. He began work in 1906. His first volume, covering the years 1804–37, appeared in 1910, and the second (1837–46) in November 1912. But he was in failing health and died a few days later. The Trustees then invited G. E. Buckle, who had recently resigned the editorship of The Times as a result of disagreement with Lord Northcliffe. The remaining four volumes were published at intervals over the next eight years, the last two appearing together in 1920.
The six-volume work, running to at least one and a quarter million words, is rightly described in the notice of Buckle in the Dictionary of National Biography as both ‘a quarry and a classic’. Not least of its virtues is the great quantity of Disraeli’s letters published there for the first time. All subsequent writers about Disraeli must acknowledge their debt to Monypenny and Buckle. Perhaps one day some wealthy foundation will finance a complete edition of the correspondence of the best letter-writer among all English statesmen. Till that day the official biography remains the nearest equivalent.
It is now sixty years since that work was begun and nearly half a century since it was completed. During that time there have been studies of aspects of Disraeli’s career and of English history in which use has been made of his papers, and Professor B. R. Jerman in his The Young Disraeli (1960) has exploited them in order to unravel details of Disraeli’s early life. There have also, of course, been numerous biographies based on printed sources. But there has been no attempt at a fresh appraisal of his whole career, based on the papers and on the information which has subsequently become available. This biography is an attempt to fill this gap.
Politics was the breath of Disraeli’s life and it is the political side of his career which is most in need of re-examination, although other aspects, too, such as his reckless and raffish youth, need to be reconsidered. It is impossible to deal with the political background otherwise than at some length. This is therefore a long book, but perhaps the reader will console himself with the thought that it is not as long as Monypenny and Buckle.
R.B.
Christ Church, Oxford
July 1966