British Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury: 18th and 19th Centuries
Dick Leonards British Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury: The 18th and 19th Centuries surveys the lives and careers of all the 32 Prime Ministers from Sir Robert Walpole (172142) to Archibald Philip Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery (189495), in 32 succinct, informative and entertaining chapters.
Bringing to life the political achievements and personal idiosyncrasies of Britains rulers over the 18th and 19th centuries, the author recounts the circumstances which took them to the pinnacle of British political life, probes their political and personal strengths and weaknesses, assesses their performance in office and asks what lasting influence they have had. Along the way Leonard entertains and informs, revealing little-known facts about the private lives of each of the Prime Ministers, such as who was suspected to be an illegitimate half-brother of George III, who was assassinated in the House of Commons, and who spent his evenings prowling the streets of London, trying to reform prostitutes.
This book can also form part of a two-volume set published by Routledge including the companion volume Modern British Prime Ministers from Balfour to Johnson.
This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers of British political history, the Executive, government and British politics.
Dick Leonard is a journalist, author and former Labour MP. He was Assistant Editor of The Economist for 12 years, and has also worked for The Observer, the BBC, the Fabian Society, the Centre for European Policy Studies and the Publishers Association.
A great resource for students, scholars and the general public alike. It contains essential information on the prime ministers as leaders but also as people: how they ended up in the role, their character, achievements and weaknesses as well as providing fascinating insights into the broader political issues of their time.
Oliver Daddow, University of Nottingham, UK
Dick Leonard's book on British Prime Ministers is an excellent account of the changing role of the premiership in UK politics, and the twists and turns of political life. The book is of great interest to the general reader, but also a fantastic undergraduate and postgraduate teaching resource.
Patrick Diamond, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
A terrific read and also a major contribution to public debate.
David Marquand, University of Oxford, UK
BRITISH PRIME
MINISTERS FROM
WALPOLE TO
SALISBURY: THE 18TH AND
19TH CENTURIES
Volume One
Dick Leonard
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2021 Dick Leonard
The right of Dick Leonard to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
To the three generations of my family, to all of whom I owe so much: Irne (my wife), John and Marjorie (my brother and sister-in-law) Mark and Miriam (our children), Gabrielle and Phiroze (their partners) Jakob, Noa and Isaac (our grandchildren).
CONTENTS
PART I
The 18th century
PART II
The 19th century
1 Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford
2 Spencer Compton, first Earl of Wilmington
3 Henry Pelham
4 Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle
5 William Cavendish, fourth Duke of Devonshire
6 John Stuart, third Earl of Bute
7 George Grenville
8 Charles Watson-Wentworth, second Marquess of Rockingham
9 William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham
10 Augustus Henry Fitzroy, third Duke of Grafton
11 Frederick North, second Earl of Guilford
12 William Petty, first Marquess of Lansdowne (Lord Shelburne)
13 William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, third Duke of Portland
14 William Pitt, the Younger
15 Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth
16 William Grenville, Baron Grenville
17 Spencer Perceval
18 Robert Banks Jenkinson, second Earl of Liverpool
19 George Canning
20 Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich, Earl of Ripon
21 Arthur Wesley (Wellesley), Duke of Wellington
22 Charles Grey, second Earl Grey
23 William Lamb, second Viscount Melbourne
24 Robert Peel
25 Lord John Russell, first Earl Russell
26 Edward Stanley, fourteenth Earl of Derby
27 George Gordon, fourth Earl of Aberdeen
28 Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston
29 Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
30 William Ewart Gladstone
31 Robert Cecil, third Marquess of Salisbury
32 Archibald Philip Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery
Fifty-three men and two women have held the post of Prime Minister (or more technically, First Lord of the Treasury) in the past three centuries, since Sir Robert Walpole was appointed by King George I in 1721. Over the past 15 or so years I have made a close study of these 55 individuals with the aim of providing succinct accounts of their political careers, assessing their achievements and, where appropriate, drawing conclusions as to their relevance to the present day. The results of my labours were published in three separate volumes, which appeared between 2005 and 2011. The three books were combined and updated in 2014 into an omnibus edition, published under the title, A History of British Prime Ministers: Walpole to Cameron. By that time, Cameron was barely half-way through his premiership, which has since been completed and he has been followed by two successors, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
The time has now come for the whole work to be revised and updated, but a significant problem has arisen. The omnibus edition was already a bulky tome, of some 881 pages. A new edition, with an enlarged chapter on Cameron and new ones on May and Johnson, would have been pushing 1,000 pages and even more unwieldy. It has, therefore, been decided to split the work into two separate volumes, the present work covering the 18th and 19th centuries, and its companion the 20th and early 21st centuries, and published simultaneously under the title of Modern British Prime Ministers from Balfour to Johnson.
The two volumes are not based on a large amount of original research. So far as the first is concerned, my principal source has been a close reading of relevant historical works as well as the memoirs and biographies of the personalities involved. This is also true of the second volume, but it has been increasingly supplemented by my own observations of the political scene, during the course of a long career as a political journalist, and a much shorter one as an active politician and Member of Parliament. In these capacities, I have had some personal contact with all the Prime Ministers since Macmillan, though I knew only two of them Wilson and Callaghan at all well, and was not a close associate of either of them.
