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. [1] 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 served as British prime minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880. He formed a close relationship with Queen Victoria, particularly after he was widowed in 1872. The primrose was reportedly Disraeli's favourite flower, and the queen would send him bunches of them from Windsor Castle and Osborne House. Disraeli often thanked the queen for her gifts of flowers, picking out the primroses for special praise. The queen unveiled a memorial to Disraeli at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden in 1882.
Contemporary reports noted that Victoria sent a wreath of primroses to Disraeli's funeral with a note "His favourite flowers: from Osborne: a tribute of affectionate regard from Queen Victoria". [2] [3] However, a few years later, a letter from the Queen's Private Secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, contradicted that suggestion. [4]
The first celebration of Primrose Day in 1882 was encouraged by the civil servant Sir George Birdwood, who wrote a letter to The Times noting an increase in sales of primroses before the anniversary, and he also proposed primrose decorations at St Stephen's Club. The success of the event in 1883 led to the creation of the Primrose League. [5] [6]
An 1885 painting by the Newlyn School artist Frank Bramley, now held by the Tate Gallery, depicts a young girl who has been gathering primroses on Primrose Day, sitting near an engraved portrait of Disraeli. Another Newlyn artist, Ralph Todd, painted a similar scene, now at Penlee House. [7]
In 1916, Pathé News recorded commemorative events, with a wreath laid at Disraeli's statue outside Westminster Palace. [8] Pathé recorded similar events through the 1920s, including Austen Chamberlain in 1921, Sir William Joynson-Hicks in 1923, and Diana Churchill in 1928.
The Primrose League was formed in 1883 to continue the legacy of Disraeli by spreading and popularising traditional Conservative ideals, including the British monarchy, the British Empire, the Anglican Church, and free enterprise. Promoted by Lord Randolph Churchill, who advocated Tory Democracy, the League grew rapidly, with over half a million members by 1887, a million by 1901 and over 2 million members by 1910, roughly equally women and men. The Primrose League faded with universal suffrage after the First World War when the Conservative Party pursued direct mass party membership, and was formally wound up in 2004.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer 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 born Jewish.
Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield was a British peeress and society figure who was the wife of the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, 23+1⁄2 miles northwest of central London and 16 miles 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.
Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook, was a prominent British Conservative politician. He held cabinet office in every Conservative government between 1858 and 1892. He served as Home Secretary from 1867 to 1868, Secretary of State for War from 1874 to 1878, Lord President of the Council from 1885 to 1886 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until 1886. In 1878, he was appointed Secretary of State for India and thereafter was elevated to the peerage, entering the House of Lords as Viscount Cranbrook. He has been described as a moderate, middle-of-the-road Anglican, and a key ally of Disraeli.
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the "Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. During his career Boehm maintained a large studio in London and produced a significant volume of public works and private commissions. A speciality of Boehm's was the portrait bust; there are many examples of these in the National Portrait Gallery. He was often commissioned by the Royal Family and members of the aristocracy to make sculptures for their parks and gardens. His works were many, and he exhibited 123 of them at the Royal Academy from 1862 to his death in 1890.
Sir John Eldon Gorst, was a British lawyer and politician. He served as Solicitor-General for England from 1885 to 1886 and as Vice-President of the Committee on Education between 1895 and 1902.
The Primrose League was an organisation for spreading Conservative principles in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883.
Stanhope Alexander Forbes was a British artist and a founding member of the influential Newlyn school of painters. He was often called 'the father of the Newlyn School'.
The leader of the Conservative Party is the highest position within the United Kingdom's Conservative Party. The current holder of the position is Rishi Sunak, who was elected to the position on 24 October 2022, following his unopposed victory in the party's leadership election.
Coningsby Ralph Disraeli, was a British Conservative politician, and MP for Altrincham.
Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869) was a British architect who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1824. Lamb was labelled a 'Rogue Gothic Revivalist', and his designs were roundly criticised for breaking with convention, especially by The Ecclesiologist. More recently Nikolaus Pevsner called him "the most original though certainly not the most accomplished architect of his day".
Frank Bramley RA was an English post-impressionist genre painter of the Newlyn School.
Penlee House is a museum and art gallery located in the town of Penzance in Cornwall, and is home to a great many paintings by members of the Newlyn School, including many by Stanhope Forbes, Norman Garstin, Walter Langley and Lamorna Birch. Penlee House is currently operated by Penzance Town Council in association with Cornwall Council. Well-known works from the renowned Newlyn School include The Rain It Raineth Every Day by Norman Garstin, School is Out by Elizabeth Forbes, Among the Missing by Walter Langley and On Paul Hill by Stanhope Forbes.
Elizabeth Adela Forbes was a Canadian painter who was primarily active in the UK. She often featured children in her paintings and School Is Out is one of her most popular works. She was friends with the artists James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Walter Sickert, both of whom influenced her work. Her etchings in particular are said to show the influence of Whistler.
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.
The 1908 Manchester North West by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 24 April 1908. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.
The statue of Benjamin Disraeli is an outdoor bronze sculpture by Mario Raggi, located at the west side of Parliament Square in London. It was unveiled in 1883 and became a Grade II listed building in 1970.
The Queen Victoria Memorial in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, is a Grade II* listed building. It stands in the centre of Dalton Square, Lancaster facing Lancaster Town Hall. It was erected in 1906, being commissioned and paid for by James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton.
Conservative or Tory government may refer to: