Benjamin Disraeli Facts & Worksheets

Benjamin Disraeli, also known as “Dizzy,” was born on December 21, 1804, in London, England, and died on April 19, 1881, also in London. He was the Earl of Beaconsfield and the Viscount Hughenden of Hughenden. He is a British statesman and novelist who served as prime minister twice and gave the Conservative Party a dual doctrine of empire and Tory democracy.

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Key Facts & Information

Early Life

• Disraeli was the eldest son and second child of Isaac D’Israeli and Maria Basevi, who were of Italian-Jewish origin. The most significant incident of Disraeli’s childhood was his father’s dispute with the Bevis Marks’ synagogue in 1813, which led to the decision to have his children baptized as Christians in 1817. 
• Before 1858, Jews were barred from Parliament based on their religion; Disraeli’s political career would not have taken the shape it did if not for his father’s decision.
• Disraeli attended modest private schools for his education. At 17, he was articled to a law company, but he yearned to achieve fame more dramatically.  In 1824, Disraeli carelessly invested in South American mining shares, and a year later, when he lost everything, he was left so deeply in debt that he would not recover until far past middle age.
• Earlier, he had convinced his father’s friend, publisher John Murray, to create a daily newspaper called the Representative. It was an utter failure. Disraeli argued with Murray and the others because he could not pay his pledged capital contribution. Moreover, in his anonymously published 1826–1827 novel Vivian Grey, he imitated Murray while recounting the failure. Disraeli was identified as the author and received widespread criticism.
• Disraeli afterwards experienced a nervous collapse and was inactive for the following four years. In 1830, he began a 16-month journey around the Mediterranean and the Middle East, during which he composed The Young Duke (1831). Not only did his experiences abroad provide fodder for the Oriental descriptions that would appear in later works, but they also shaped his perspective on the countries of India, Egypt, and Turkey throughout the 1870s.
• Returning to England, he participated in London’s social and literary world. His dandified attire, conceit and affectation, and exotic good looks made him a striking, though not always widespread, presence. He attended elite social gatherings and interacted with many historical figures. His 1832 novel Contarini Fleming, like many of his other works, is replete with autobiographical details and political allusions.

Political Career

• Disraeli decided to run for office in 1831, and he and his family moved to Buckinghamshire, not far from Wycombe. In 1832 and 1835, as an independent radical, he ran for and lost High Wycombe three times.
• He needed to align himself with one of the political parties, so he adopted a novel interpretation of Toryism into which elements of his radicalism fit. In 1835, he unsuccessfully ran as the official Conservative candidate for Taunton. His expensive behavior, large debts, and affair with Henrietta, wife of Sir Francis Sykes, all contributed to his shady reputation. In 1837, he successfully ran as the Conservative candidate for Maidstone in Kent.

Parliament

• His first address in the Commons was a disaster. Extensive metaphors, overdone gestures, and a fashionable appearance caused him to be called out. He was not, however, silenced. Defiantly and prophetically, he said, “I will sit down now, but there will come a moment when you will hear me.”
• Disraeli quickly gained a reputation as an orator who demanded attention. In 1839, he married Mary Ann Lewis, the recently deceased wife of Wyndham Lewis, who brought £4,000 annually in addition to a life interest in a London property. She was devoted to Disraeli, and when he taunted her in front of others that he had married her for her wealth, she would respond, “If he had the chance again, he would marry me for love.” Her spouse agreed. 

Breech with Peel

• Although Sir Robert Peel, leader of the Conservatives, supported Disraeli, the latter was not included in Peel’s cabinet after the Conservatives’ 1841 election victory and Peel’s subsequent appointment as prime minister. He felt terrible about being turned down, and his feelings about Peel and his style of conservatism got worse.
• Disraeli’s Coningsby, or, The New Generation (1844), was a literary touchstone for the Young England wing of the Conservative Party, led by George Smythe (later Lord Stanford). The novel’s protagonist is based on Smythe, and it contrasts Peel’s icy, pragmatic, humdrum, middle-class conservatism with the more romantic, aristocratic, nostalgic, and escapist outlook of the Young England faction.
• In 1845, when Peel abolished protective levies on foreign imported grain because of the Irish famine and Richard Cobden’s arguments, Disraeli realized he had a problem. So, Young England was able to work together against Peel and the vast majority of rural squires who were the backbone of the Conservative Party.
• As Lord George Bentinck’s lieutenant and the de facto head of the rebels, Disraeli used a series of great speeches to unite the opposition against Peel. His insults significantly aggravated the conflict and left Peel’s supporters with lifelong bitterness. The Whigs’ support for repealing the Corn Laws meant that Disraeli and the other protectionists in the government could not block it. But in 1846, Peel was in the minority on another issue because of the rebels, which led to his resignation. 

High Position

• With Bentinck’s death and most former Conservative ministers supporting Peel, Disraeli became the House of Commons opposition leader. After being elected as a Buckinghamshire representative in 1847, he bought Hughenden Manor in 1848. His social and political standing improved. He remained financially unstable.
• Disraeli was named chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852 by the Earl of Derby, head of the Conservative Party, despite his objections that he knew nothing about money. Disraeli’s 1852 budget brought down the government, although he wasn’t responsible. 
• The free-trade majority in the House of Commons was determined to prevent measures that helped farmers, even if they didn’t contain protection. Disraeli was forced to offer such plans to please his followers. Tory opposition lasted until 1858.
• Derby created a minority government with Disraeli as chancellor. Disraeli felt no need to let the Whigs monopolize legislative change; therefore, he proposed a moderate reform bill in 1859. The statement appeared too customized to help his party; thus, it was defeated, and the Tories lost power for six years.
• In 1865, Tories resisted Lord Russell’s moderate reform program, which led to a mutiny. Derby’s third minority cabinet had Disraeli as chancellor. Queen Victoria and Lord Derby proposed a Conservative reform package. Disraeli presented it in the Commons and fought for it with zeal and parliamentary expertise. Due to the Liberals’ majority, he was forced to accept their changes, which deleted most safeguards. The final measure was more democratic than most Conservatives expected and tripled eligible voters. 

Prime Minister: First Term

• Disraeli became prime minister in 1868 after Derby retired from politics, and the Liberals won the election in 1868. Disraeli established a new norm by stepping down before the start of Parliament. In the 12 years that followed the commencement of Disraeli’s political career, politics shifted from a disorderly assemblage of ill-defined, fluctuating factions. Disraeli and William E. Gladstone, the two party leaders, were bitter rivals who drove a wedge between their respective camps.
• Disraeli took a firm grip on the party leadership beginning in 1872. He preserved the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the church from extreme Liberal policy; he consolidated the empire, focusing on India; promoted social reform; and enunciated a robust foreign strategy, especially against Russia.
• Disraeli’s wife passed away from cancer in 1872 after a protracted battle. Her death resulted in financial losses: her London home and her riches were inherited by her cousins. At age 68, he was in poor condition, yet he threw himself into the political arena. He began a romantic relationship with Lady Bradford and Lady Chesterfield, with whom he communicated about politics and his personal views until his death.
• His political prospects shifted after Gladstone’s government lost. Disraeli claimed that there was still too much work to do before dissolving Parliament and that a minority administration would hinder his party’s chances of winning when Gladstone resigned. With apprehension, Gladstone returned to the presidency, but within a year, he abolished Parliament. Disraeli’s efforts to develop party organization and election machinery paid handsomely in 1874.

Prime Minister: Second Term

• Disraeli came to power too late to make a difference. During his second ministry, he experienced fast aging. Yet, despite Gladstone’s distaste, he could put together a formidable government and get the support of the monarch, a political moderate. Disraeli saw her as a person, but Gladstone saw a political machine.
• The Artizans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act paved the way for effective slum clearance. The 1875 Public Health Act formalized this law. A series of progressive factory acts passed in  1874 and 1882 protected workers from exploitation.
• The Imperial and international policy of Disraeli was even more in the public spotlight. First accomplishment: buying Suez Canal stock. Isma’il Pasha, Egypt’s extravagant and wasteful khedive, wanted to sell his Suez Canal Company shares.
• Disraeli proposed naming Queen Victoria “Empress of India” in 1876. Disraeli would have delayed the event if the queen hadn’t persisted. His poor health made leading the Commons a strain, so he accepted a peerage and became the House of Lords leader, acquiring the titles Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden of Hughenden.
• The Russian-Turkish conflict had been dormant since the Crimean War until Christian Ottoman subjects rebelled in the 1850s. Russia invaded Turkey in 1877 and reached Constantinople in 1878. Disraeli correctly predicted that a show of might would convince the exhausted Russians to negotiate.
• In 1878, a European Congress in Berlin had to approve Russia’s pan-Slavist Treaty of Stefano imposed on Turkey. Beaconsfield got every advantage he wanted. He returned to London declaring “peace with glory.” He declined a dukedom but accepted the Order of the Garter. After Afghanistan, South Africa, the agricultural crisis, and the industrial collapse, his wealth fell.
• Conservatives lost badly in 1880. Beaconsfield remained party leader and wrote Endymion (3 volumes, 1880), a mellow, romantic autobiography. His health worsened quickly, and he died days before Queen Victoria’s coronation.

Benjamin Disraeli Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Benjamin Disraeli across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Benjamin Disraeli, who was a British statesman and novelist who served as prime minister twice and gave the Conservative Party a dual doctrine of empire and Tory democracy.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Benjamin Disraeli Facts
2. The Journey
3. The Conservative Leader
4. Timeline
5. Connections
6. Who’s Who
7. Tetris
8. Make It About It
9. The Leader
10. Quote
11. Romance of Politics

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