Chapter 13: The Final Chapter, 1880-1

Item 154
Disraeli's funeral, 26 April 1881
'Lord Beaconsfield's cortège outside Hughenden Church' by Alfred Maile 'from a sketch done on the spot', 1881
Watercolour
Reproduced by permission of Hughenden Manor (The National Trust)

Among the mourners at the funeral were the Prince of Wales, three leading Liberals (Lords Rosebery and Hartingdon and Sir William Harcourt); all bar one of Disraeli's last cabinet; close friends and family; and young Longman. A huge crowd gathered as unofficial mourners. Gladstone's absence was criticised. But when he came to deliver the formal tribute in the House, struggling to overcome what Roy Jenkins describes as his 'incomprehension' of Disraeli, he alighted on the one aspect of Disraeli he respected: his politcal courage - though inwardly probably dismissing it as that of a gambler (Jenkins, Gladstone, p. 459).