Chapter 7: Tumultuous times, 1846-9

 

Item 74
Confidential man of business
Letter from Disraeli to Philip Rose, 6 Dec. 1846
Dep.Hughenden 307/1, fols. 7r-8r

'I want a confidential man of business in whose talents, zeal and fidelity, I can repose a complete trust': so wrote Disraeli in April 1846 to Philip - later Sir Philip - Rose (1816-83), a lawyer specialising in electoral litigation. 'The pressure of public life has become so extreme... that I can no longer attend to my public affairs...' (Dep. Hughenden 307/1, fols. 1-2, printed in M. G. Wiebe, Mary S. Millar, Ann P. Robson (eds.), Benjamin Disraeli Letters, Volume VI: 1852-1856 (Toronto, 1997), p. 226). Disraeli had known Rose, the son of the D'Israelis' doctor at Bradenham, for some while. This marks a new departure. Rose was entrusted with raising the £25,000 Disraeli needed to add to his own £10,000 to purchase the Hughenden estate and - among other things - dealing with his still - problematic finances. In this letter written on 6 December 1846 Disraeli alludes to the valuation of the estate timber.