The Viscountess Beaconsfield | |
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| Born | Mary Anne Evans 11 November 1792 |
| Died | 15 December 1872 (aged 80) |
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Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield ( née Evans; 11 November 1792 – 15 December 1872) was a British peeress and society figure who was the wife of the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.
Born in Brampford Speke, near Exeter in Devon, the only daughter of Commander John Viney-Evans and his cousin Eleanor Scrope-Viney (later Mrs Eleanor Yate). In 1815 at Clifton, Bristol, Mary married Wyndham Lewis, MP (1780–1838), a colleague of Benjamin Disraeli. In August 1839, the year following Lewis's death, she married Disraeli at St George's, Hanover Square, in London. Her fortune allowed him to purchase the estate of Hughenden in Buckinghamshire and to live in the style of an English gentleman. [1]
In recognition of Disraeli's services to the nation, Queen Victoria desired to ennoble him at the end of his first ministry. However, as he wished to remain in the House of Commons, his wife accepted the title in his place and was created Viscountess Beaconsfield, of Beaconsfield in the County of Buckingham, on 30 November 1868. [2] (After Mary's death, Disraeli accepted the title of Earl of Beaconsfield.)
Staid Victorians were often scandalised by Mary's uninhibited conversation but soon learned not to insult her within Disraeli's hearing. [3] Even Queen Victoria herself was said to be amused when Mary Anne commented, in response to a remark about some lady's pale complexion, "I wish you could see my Dizzy in his bath!" Once, at a house party where Lord Hardinge, a great soldier of the day, was in the room next to the Disraelis, Mary Anne announced at breakfast that she had slept the night before between the greatest soldier (Hardinge) and the greatest orator (Disraeli) of their times: Lady Hardinge was definitely not amused. [4]
Disraeli had been unimpressed by Mary Lewis when he first met her, but he came to understand that she was shrewder than her outward manner had led him to believe. She was a great help to him in editing the books he wrote, and spent 30 years taking care of him. [5] She once joked in public that although he had married her for her money he would do it again for love. [6] In later life she became increasingly eccentric, both in conversation and appearance, but her husband's devotion and loyalty to her never faltered. [7] She was some twelve years older than her husband but their romance continued until the day she died. [8]
In the spring of 1872, Mary became seriously ill, and by May it was clear that she was dying of stomach cancer. She rallied sufficiently to take a summer tour through the Home Counties with her husband. In November she felt well enough to hold a small dinner party for their close friends; but her condition deteriorated and she died on 15 December, at the age of eighty. [9]
"There was no care which she could not mitigate, and no difficulty which she could not face. She was the most cheerful and courageous woman I ever knew" her husband wrote after her death. [10] His great adversary William Gladstone, who had liked Mary, wrote him a letter of condolence. Disraeli, touched by this sympathy from a man who disliked him, replied that "Marriage is the greatest earthly happiness when founded on mutual sympathy." [11]
She is buried with Disraeli in a vault in the Church of St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden, in Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, close to the Disraeli family home, Hughenden Manor. The house is now in the care of the National Trust, and has been preserved in the state when it was occupied by the Disraelis. It is open to the public as a visitor attraction. [12]
George Arliss became renowned for his portrayal of the man in the 1911 play, Disraeli (which Arliss commissioned), in its 1917 revival, and in the 1921 and 1929 film adaptations. In all four productions, Arliss' wife, Florence Arliss (née Montgomery), appeared in the role of Mary.
In The Prime Minister, a 1941 British historical film starring John Gielgud as Disraeli, Mary is portrayed by Diana Wynyard.
In the four-part 1978 ATV miniseries Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic , written by David Butler, [13] she is portrayed by Mary Peach, opposite Ian McShane as Disraeli. [14] The miniseries was presented in the U.S. on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in 1980 [15] and was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series. [16]
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Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish origin. He was also a novelist, publishing works of fiction even as prime minister.
Disraeli is a 1929 American pre-Code historical film directed by Alfred E. Green, released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., and adapted by Julien Josephson (screenplay) and De Leon Anthony (titles) from the 1911 play Disraeli by Louis N. Parker.
Isaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. He is best known for his essays and his associations with other men of letters.
Earl of Beaconsfield, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory policies over those of his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone. Disraeli had also promoted the Royal Titles Act 1876 that had given Victoria the title of Empress of India. The subsidiary title of the earldom was Viscount Hughenden, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, 23+1⁄2 miles west-northwest of central London and 16 miles south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within five miles : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe.
Hughenden Manor, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, England, is a Victorian mansion, with earlier origins, that served as the country house of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. It is now owned by the National Trust and open to the public. It sits on the brow of the hill to the west of the main A4128 road that links Hughenden to High Wycombe.
George Arliss was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he won for his performance as Victorian-era British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) – as well as the earliest-born actor to win the honour. He specialized in successful biopics, such as Disraeli, Voltaire (1933), and Cardinal Richelieu (1935), as well as light comedies, which included The Millionaire (1931) and A Successful Calamity (1932).
Wyndham Lewis was a British politician and a close associate of Benjamin Disraeli.
Anne Elizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield was known as a political confidante.
Coningsby Ralph Disraeli, was a British Conservative politician, and MP for Altrincham.
George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, PC, styled Lord Stanhope until 1815, was a British Tory politician, courtier and race horse owner. He served as Master of the Buckhounds under Lord Melbourne from 1834 to 1835.
Margaret Dale was an American stage and film actress. She performed on Broadway for over fifty years and occasionally did films in the 1920s. She appeared in a large number of Broadway hits over the course of her years as an actress.
Lothair (1870) was a late novel by Benjamin Disraeli, the first he wrote after his first term as Prime Minister. It deals with the comparative merits of the Catholic and Anglican churches as heirs of Judaism, and with the topical question of Italian unification. Though Lothair was a hugely popular work among 19th century readers, it now to some extent lies in the shadow of the same author's Coningsby and Sybil. Lothair reflects anti-Catholicism of the sort that was popular in Britain, and which fueled support for Italian unification ("Risorgimento").
Primrose Day marked the anniversary of the death of the British statesman and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, on 19 April 1881. The day was marked each year into the 1920s, with arrangements of primroses left at Disraeli's tomb at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden and his statue in Parliament Square, and many supporters wearing primroses as buttonholes, garlands and hat decorations.
Disraeli (1921) is an American silent historical drama film directed by Henry Kolker and starring George Arliss. This film features Arliss's portrayal of Benjamin Disraeli. He had played the same role in the play Disraeli in 1911. Arliss also reprised this role in the 1929 sound film Disraeli.
St Michael and All Angels' Church is a Grade: II* listed Anglican church in the Hughenden Valley, Buckinghamshire, England, near to High Wycombe. It is closely associated with the nearby Hughenden Manor and the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli who is buried in the churchyard.
Disraeli is a 1916 British silent biographical film directed by Charles Calvert and Percy Nash and starring Dennis Eadie, Mary Jerrold and Cyril Raymond. The film was based on the 1911 play Disraeli by Louis N. Parker, which was adapted twice more, as a 1921 silent version and most famously in 1929 as an early sound film. It was made at Ealing Studios.
Sarah Brydges Willyams, born Sarah Mendez da Costa, was an English supporter and confidante of Benjamin Disraeli.
The Disraeli Monument is a Grade II* listed memorial erected in 1862 to the British writer and scholar Isaac D'Israeli, designed by the architect Edward Buckton Lamb. It is located on Tinker's Hill in the Hughenden Valley near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.
Daisy Hay is Associate Professor in English Literature and Life Writing at the University of Exeter and an author of non-fiction. Hay was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.
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