Benjamin Disraeli

Sir Benjamin Disreali was born on the 21st December 1804 in London. When he was a child he was educated in private schools at Blackheath and Wulthamstow. Disreali`s religion was Jewish until 1817 when his father, the writer Isaac D’Israeli, had a disagreement with his synagogue and converted the entire family to Christianity. From the ages 17 to 20 he was a law apprentice. During the same period of time he bought and sold shares to make money but suffered heavy financial losses. In the end he had to write novels to pay off debts, the first of which was “Vivien Grey” written in 1826.

In 1830 he travelled to Spain, the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East. From 1832 to 1835 he tried 4 times to get into parliament, first as a Radical and then three times as a Tory. He wasn`t really interested in which party he belonged to he just wanted to get into power. Even with the four defeats he became well known. The reason for this was the pamphlets he issued and the letters he wrote to the London Times where he complained about the failure of the church and state to fulfil their duty of improving the working and living conditions of the majority of people.

He eventually won a seat in the House of Commons in the election of 1837. He nearly ruined his career when he made his maiden speech and the other politicians laughed at him because of the way he spoke and the way he was dressed. While being an MP he tried to get support for his policies to improve conditions for factory workers. He also continued to write novels and like Dickens he used them to express his views on the need for government reforms for improved working and living conditions for the working classes. Robert Peel the Prime Minister and leader of Disraeli’s party (The Tory Party) repealed the Corn Laws which controlled the price of corn, restricted imports and kept the price of corn high. Disraeli had fought to keep the Corn Laws as he feared our farmers would suffer. This split the Tory party with half supporting Peel and half supporting Disreali. Because of this the Tories lost the next election to the Liberals.

In 1847 Disreali supported Lord John Russell in lifting the ban on people of the Jewish religion being a Member of Parliament.

In 1852 he at last got a post in Government which gave him some power when he become the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the Minister in charge of the national econamy) and he held that post 3 times. In 1859 as Conservative leader in the House of Commons he introduced a bill to give all taxpayers the right to vote but it failed. However he suceeded with an even better bill named the Reform Act of 1867 which gave householders the vote, but men only.

In 1868 the previous Prime Minster, Edward Geoffrey Stanley, retired and Disraeli took his place, but unluckily the Tories got defeated later that year. For 6 years Disraeli was leader of the opposition to Wiliam Gladstone. In 1874 it was a great year for Disreali because the Tories won the election and he became Prime Minister again but this time in his own right. Much to Queen Victoria’s delight because she adored Disraeli and disliked Gladstone. Disraeli and the Queen became close friends.

• These are some of his important achievements as Prime Minister:
  
  
• He changed the laws to improve housing and working conditions.
• He protected and increased the British Empire.
• He borrowed £4,000,000 to purchase for the government the shares in the Suez Canal that were owned by the Khedive of Egypt.
• In 1876 he created the title Empress of India for Queen Victoria and in turn she created him 1st Earl of Beaconsfield.
• He took part in the 1878 Congress of Berlin which redrew the boundaries of South Eastern Europe after the defeat of Turkey in the Russo-Turkish War. He deprived Russia of many of the advantages of victory and ensured that they did not gain any strategic advantages in the Mediterranean.

This photographic portrait was taken of Disraeli by order of Queen Victoria.

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