Benjamin Disraeli

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Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli.Profile.jpg

Name Benjamin Disraeli (21 December 1804- 19 April 1881)
Nicknames Dizzy (his wife and Queen Victoria), The Unicorn (media at the time)
Politics
Party Conservative
Constituency Maidstone (1837 - 1841), Shrewsbury (1841 - 1847), Buckinghamshire (1847 - 1876)
Positions • Prime Minister
• Chancellor of the Exchequer
Likes Trees
Dislikes ?
Friends You can link to their pages here
Enemies William Gladstone
Relationships
Partners Mary Anne Disraeli (1839 - 1872) (m. 28 August 1839 )
Children Child 1 (year born), Child 2 (year born), etc
Personal Attributes
Nationality ?
Religion Jewish by birth, Anglican from the age of 12
Sexuality Subject to ongoing academic discussion, generally understood to be straight
Height In feet and inches
Eye Colour ?
Handedness ?
Accent ?
Languages You can delete this line if they only know English

A quote about or by the person. It doesn't matter if you can't find one, just leave it blank. ~ The source, if known

Arguably the architect of modern party politics, Disraeli is best know for being Prime Minister and really, really pissing off William Gladstone.

Life and Career[edit | edit source]

Early Life[edit | edit source]

Born in London to a Jewish family, his family converted to Chrisianity following his father falling out with the local community and believing that his children would have a better chance of success in life if they were not Jewish.

Disraeli's siblings were Sarah (1802–1859), Naphtali (born and died 1807), Ralph (1809–1898), and James ("Jem") (1813–1868). He was close to his sister, and on affectionate but more distant terms with his surviving brothers.

He spent a lot of his early life touring the world, learning and generally being a hipster of his time, particularly with his sister's fiance, William Meredith. The trip was financed partly by a book Disraeli wrote, The Young Duke. The tour was cut short suddenly by Meredith's death from smallpox in Cairo in July 1831. Despite this tragedy, and the need for treatment for a sexually transmitted disease on his return, Disraeli felt enriched by his experiences.

Pre-political Career[edit | edit source]

Just before his 17th birthday, he became a clerk to a firm of solicitors in London. Aged 20 he lost money by gambling on the Stock Exchange, and helped to launch The Representative, a newspaper intended to usurp The Times, but it soon failed.

Was an author for quite a while but his books did best when people didn't know that he'd written them. He went on to produce an anonymously-written satirical novel, Vivian Grey, published in April 1826, earning him £200, which caricatured a former business partner. Success, however, turned to slander when his authorship was revealed. The stress caused by this, and by his continuing debts, drove him to suffer a nervous breakdown.

He also wrote some serious works but these didn't do as well as the gossip/parody stuff. Disraeli continued to write and produce books throughout his career as an MP.

Early Political Career[edit | edit source]

He had political ideas which were not completely consistent with any of the major groups in politics, instead picking and choosing bits from each (as well aas philosophy, religion and other sources). He eventually chose the Tories. He spent a long time getting close to politicians hoping they'd give him a seat. It eventually paid off.

Parliamentary Career[edit | edit source]

The Tory party had principles by which it would and did stand for bad and for good. All this Dizzy destroyed.~ William Gladstone

In the election in July 1837 Disraeli won a seat in the House of Commons as one of two members, both Tory, for the constituency of Maidstone.

He made his maiden speech in December of the same year. However, unlike today when maiden speeches are generally heard without interruption, Disraeli was shouted down. This was probably due to the fact that he had turned up wearing a bottle green frock coat, a white waistcoat laced with chains and large, fancy pantaloons.

Some tables. Appointments should go at the end of their main Government or Opposition section. Greatest moments can go at the end of the section, or wherever it seems most appropriate.

Full List of Appointments
Every job they've ever held as an MP or Lord, from a lowly PPS to Prime Minister. You don't have to include committees, but you should include committee chairmanships. For modern MPs this information can be easily gathered from The Public Whip, but doing so is about as exciting as watching paint dry, so if you don't feel like it just leave the table for someone to fill in later.

If they've only ever been a backbencher, you can delete the table.

• Job 1 Title (Start date [day] [month], [year] - End date [day] [month], [year])

• Job 2 Title (Start date [day] [month], [year] - End date [day] [month], [year])
• Etc

I will not go down to posterity speaking bad grammar.~ Disraeli, on his deathbed, while correcting the Hansard draft of his last speech in the House of Lords

Personal Life[edit | edit source]

Had an affair with Henrietta Sykes (married to Sir Francis Sykes) who was also having an affair with Lord Lyndhurst. Disraeli and Lyndhurst ended up becoming friends, as their shared not just a taste in women but in politics and gossip as well.

Disraeli ended up marrying Mary Anne Lewis in 1839, a widow 12 years his senior who had a substantial income. Or so Disraeli believed - it turned out that her fortune wasn't as large and Disraeli had hoped. However, by the time that he discovered this, he was already madly in love with her. They stayed together until her death in 1873.

Appearance[edit | edit source]

When he was younger, Disraeli often dressed flamboyantly and in many colours. He took two different canes while touring the world, one for the morning and one for the evening.

As he grew older and tried to be taken more seriously, he tended to favour black or darker colours and more conventional cuts.

Dyed his hair black all through his life because he couldn't stand the idea of going grey.

Sexuality[edit | edit source]

He had many relationships with women but there is some evidence to suggest that he also had male lovers.

Academics disagree about his sexuality and the extend to which his male relationships were platonic or romantic. He certainly wrote a lot about attractive young men, and there were rumours that Disraeli was sleeping with his siser's fiance when the two men were touring the world, but nothing conclusive has ever been found. Other historians have suggested that Disrealu knew exactly what he was doing and was courting controversy. Who knows?

Portrayal[edit | edit source]

In the Media[edit | edit source]

Newspapers at the time were pretty against him for most of it, a lot of antisemitism was thrown at him.

In Culture[edit | edit source]

There was a film about him in the 1920s.

Despite never actually uttering the works, he generally hailed as the architect of "One Nation"ism - in fact, Disraeli only ever talked about two nations in his book Sybil.

In Fanon[edit | edit source]

Foppish and possibly magical.

Meme[edit | edit source]

Sparring or sleeping with Gladstone.

Shipping[edit | edit source]

Most often shipped with William Gladstone due to their decades long rivalry.