The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

Volume II: Achievement, 1851-1869

Angus Hawkins

The first ever biography of the 14th Earl of Derby
Makes full use of Derby's papers and extensive archive - as well as recently discovered sources
Completely revises the conventional view of Derby's personality, career, and significance
A book that is likely to modify our understanding of nineteenth-century British party politics, the history of the Conservative party, and the nature of public life in the Victorian age in general, including some of its most prominent figures

The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

Volume II: Achievement, 1851-1869

Angus Hawkins

Description

Lord Derby was the first British statesman to become prime minister three times. He remains the longest serving party leader in modern British politics, heading the Conservative party for twenty-two years from 1846 to 1868. He abolished slavery in the British Empire, established a national system of education in Ireland, was a prominent advocate for the 1832 Reform Act and, as prime minister, oversaw the introduction of the Second Reform Act in 1867. Yet no biography of Derby, based upon his papers and correspondence, has previously been published. Alone of all Britain's premiers, Derby has never received a full scholarly study examining his policies, personality, and beliefs. Largely airbrushed out of our received view of Victorian politics, Derby has become the forgotten prime minister.

This ground-breaking biography, based upon Derby's own papers and extensive archive, as well as recently discovered sources, fills this striking gap. It completely revises the conventional portrait of Derby as a dull and apathetic politician, revealing him as a complex, astute, influential, and significant figure, who had a profound effect on the politics and society of his time. As Hawkins shows, far from being an uninterested dilettante, Derby played an instrumental role in directing Britain's path through the historic opportunities and challenges confronting the nation at a time of increasing political participation, industrial pre-eminence, urban growth, colonial expansion, religious controversy, and Irish tragedy.

This book is likely not only to change our view of Derby himself but also fundamentally to affect our understanding of nineteenth century British party politics, the history of the Conservative party, and the nature of public life in the Victorian age in general, including some of its foremost figures, such as Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, William Gladstone, and Benjamin Disraeli.

Volume II opens with Derby's first period as prime minister in 1852 and takes us through to his death in 1869.

The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

Volume II: Achievement, 1851-1869

Angus Hawkins

The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

Volume II: Achievement, 1851-1869

Angus Hawkins

Author Information

Angus Hawkins, Director of International Programmes, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, and Fellow and Bursar of Kellogg College, Oxford

Angus Hawkins is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the History Faculty at the University of Oxford, Director of International Programmes in Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education, and Fellow and Bursar of Kellogg College, Oxford. He has published numerous books on Victorian politics, including Parliament, Party and the Art of Politics in Britain, 1855-1859 and British Party Politics, 1852-1886 and has won a number of prizes including the Gladstone Memorial Prize and the McCann Award.

The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

Volume II: Achievement, 1851-1869

Angus Hawkins

Reviews and Awards

Review from previous edition Magisterial biography. - Literary Review.

This, the first full-length biography of Derby to be written with access to the archives, will be the only one needed this century... The next volume is eagerly awaited. - Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Times

The first volume leaves him on the brink of his first ministry; the second volume is eagerly awaited...fine work - A. W. Purdue, THES

Hopefully readers will not have to wait long for the remainder of this impressive work. Meantime, the book's publishers should be congratulated on having produced a handsome, illustrated volume, at a fairly reasonable price. - Terry Jenkins, BBC History Magazine

Hawkins's...achievement [is] in bringing the mind of a reading public back to this curious and significant statesman. - Michael Bentley, TLS

OUP should be congratulated for publishing this book in two volumes...well-researched, well-written book. - Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Times

This is real history. Unlike so many political biographers, Hawkins has really mastered the archives. There is much in this book that is new, much that will permanently change interpretations of the period. It is about real politicians, not caricatures or faceless abstractions. Those who already have some acquaintance with the early years of the nineteenth century will find great pleasure in reading this book - Leslie Mitchell, Literary Review

It has clearly taken years of labour and will be the definitive work on its subject... After this very full, well-exectuted and revealing treatment there will not need to be another book about the 14th earl of Derby for a long time. - J. R. Parry, Parliamentary History

The second and concluding volume...was as scholarly, readable and distinguished as the first, no easy task. - Andrew Roberts, Sunday Telegraph

Dr Hawkins has supplied the need with comprehensive scholarship and lucid exposition. - Paul Smith, Times Literary Supplement

Without a study of Derby ... the political history of the years between the first two parliamentary Reform Acts (in 1832 and 1867) remains seriously incomplete. - Paul Smith, Times Literary Supplement

This is the most significant book on Victorian politics in half a century; all existing histories of Victorian politics and of the Conservative Party will need rewriting to take account of Hawkins's magisterial two volumes on the fourteenth Earl of Derby. - John Charmley, History Today

a rewarding read and one to which scholars will have to pay continuing attention ... remarkable - Allen Warren, History (Reviewing Volumes 1 and 2)