The first ever full biographical study of Lord Derby - the first British statesman to become prime minister three times and the longest serving leader in the history of British party politics. A book that is likely to seriously affect the way we think not only about Derby himself, but also about Victorian politics and society more generally.

The first full biographical study of Lord Derby - the first British statesman to become prime minister three times and the longest serving leader in the history of British party politics. A book that will seriously affect the way we think not only about Derby himself, but also about Victorian politics and society more generally.

This is a biographical study of Lord Derby - the first British statesman to become prime minister three times and the longest serving leader in the history of British party politics.

Modernity and the Victorians diagnoses a disorder in the scholarship on Victorian Britain, and proposes an interpretative remedy. It argues that the 'modernization theory' beloved of twentieth-century social scientists cannot be made to fit the facts of nineteenth-century British history. In its place, the book lays out in sweeping terms an alternative conception of the political and social dynamics of the period, centred on the past, morality, and community. Intended in part as a companion volume to Angus Hawkins' previous synthetic study Victorian Political Culture: "Habits of Heart and Mind" (2015), the book offers a deliberately bracing challenge to a swathe of received wisdoms which, it asserts, have misled students of modern Britain. Modernity and the Victorians is at once a piece of twentieth-century intellectual history, a contribution to the history of scholarship, a commentary on more recent historiography, and an attempt to intervene in current debates about the practice and future of political history. It is a mature and humane essay by a historian who devoted the whole of his career to making sense of the Victorians. A preface by Alex Middleton sets the book in context with Hawkins' earlier scholarship, and reflects on his wider contribution to the historiography of modern Britain. The volume will be of interest not only to students of nineteenth-century Britain, but also to intellectual historians, historiographers, historically-minded social scientists, and anyone interested in how present preoccupations can distort readings of the past.

A riveting portrait of Queen Victoria and the ten prime ministers who headed British government during her sixty-three-year reign It is generally accepted that Queen Victoria reigned but did not rule. This couldn’t be more wrong. A passionate and opinionated leader, Victoria was born to govern with no room for doubt about her historic destiny or the might of the empire that was built in her name. When it came to her involvement in state affairs, Victoria herself acknowledged that she had held strong “likes and dislikes” for the various prime ministers who served throughout her political evolution from headstrong teenager to seasoned leader. Anne Somerset’s Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers charts the feuds and affectionate interactions Victoria had with her ten premiers in often hilarious detail, from her adoration of Benjamin Disraeli, her favorite prime minister who filled her life with “poetry, romance, and chivalry,” to her detestation for William Gladstone, a man she deemed a “dangerous old fanatic.” Drawing extensively on unpublished sources such as material from the Royal Archives and never-before-seen prime ministerial papers, Somerset casts a fresh and highly illuminating perspective not just on Victoria, but on the exceptional politicians who served her in a time of massive global change.

The Times Literary Supplement recently praised the Benjamin Disraeli Letters volumes as ‘a remarkable series … on its way to becoming one of the landmarks of Victorian-era scholarship.’ Each volume provides a unique record of Disraeli’s daily activities as well as rare glimpses into his decision-making process and his relationships with colleagues and political foes. This latest volume covers 1865 to 1867, crucial years leading up to Disraeli’s first ministry in 1868. During this period, the prime minister, Lord Derby, and Disraeli, chancellor of the exchequer, grappled with a number of challenges. Their greatest accomplishment, however, was the passage of a landmark franchise reform bill that expanded the electorate in England to an unprecedented extent. The story is told through 697 letters, of which 525 have never before been published and 78 only in part. Thoroughly annotated, the notes often include the other side of Disraeli’s correspondence – including many letters from Derby and Queen Victoria. Finally, this volume is cross-referenced with the previous ones to obtain as complete a picture as possible of political events during Disraeli’s lifetime.