Benjamin Disraeli

Born in Bloomsbury in 1804, Disraeli became Anglican at twelve after his father left Judaism over a synagogue dispute. He entered the Commons in 1837 and rose by breaking with Prime Minister Robert Peel over the Corn Laws in 1846, making himself a major party figure. Through the 1850s and 1860s he served as Chancellor and Commons leader under Lord Derby, then took the premiership briefly in 1868 before losing the election. He won a majority in 1874 and governed through the Eastern question: he bought Britain into the Suez Canal, then at the 1878 Congress of Berlin secured Balkan peace on terms that favored Britain and checked Russia. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa, plus his refusal to restore grain tariffs during poor harvests, cost him the 1880 election to Gladstone. He died in 1881 at seventy-six, having written novels from 1826 to his final year.