Chapter 12: The Final Summit, 1874-80

 

Item 133
Lady Derby counsels
Letter to Disraeli from Lady Derby, 10 July 1876
Dep. Hughenden 113/4, fols. 92r-3r

As 1876 progress, ill health and murmurings over his leadership of the Government prompted Disraeli to consider resigning or moving to the House of Lords: 'The Elysian Fields'. Derby would have been his choice for Prime Minister and Hardy leader of the party in the Commons (Disraeli's role under Derby's father). But Derby declined and Disraeli went to the Lords. Here Lord Derby's wife, one of Disraeli confidantes, outlines her concerns about the succession and the method of selection and adds that Lord Derby, whom she refers to by his earlier title, was unaware that she was writing to him.