Table Of ContentConservatism and British
Foreign Policy, 1820–1920
The Derbys and their World
Edited by
Geoffrey Hicks
Conservatism and British
Foreign PoliCy, 1820–1920
To John Vincent
IV
Conservatism and British
Foreign Policy, 1820–1920
the derbys and their World
Edited by
geoFFrey hiCks
University of East Anglia, UK
© geoffrey hicks and the contributors 2011
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
geoffrey hicks has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be
identified as the editor of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Conservatism and British foreign policy, 1820–1920 : the derbys and their world.
1. derby, edward george geoffrey smith stanley, earl of, 1799–1869. 2. derby, edward
henry stanley, earl of, 1826–1893. 3. derby, edward george villiers stanley, earl of,
1865–1948. 4. Foreign ministers--great Britain-- history--19th century. 5. great Britain-
-Politics and government--19th century. 6. great Britain--Foreign relations--19th century.
7. Conservative Party (great Britain)--history--19th century. 8. great Britain--Politics
and government--1901–1936. 9. great Britain-- Foreign relations--1901–1936.
i. hicks, geoffrey.
941’.081’0922–dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Conservatism and British foreign policy, 1820–1920 : the derbys and their world / [compiled
by] geoffrey hicks. p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-0-7546-6929-6 (hardcover) -- isBn 978-0-7546-9658-2 (ebook) 1. great Britain-
-Politics and government--19th century. 2. great Britain--Politics and government--1901-1936.
3. Conservatism--great Britain--history--19th century. 4. Conservatism--great Britain--his-
tory--20th century. 5. derby, edward george geoffrey smith stanley, earl of, 1799-1869. 6.
great Britain--Foreign relations--19th century. 7. great Britain--Foreign relations--1901-1936.
8. Conservative Party (great Britain)--history. 9. derby, earls of. 10. stanley family.
i. hicks, geoffrey. ii. title.
da537.C66 2011
327.41009’034—dc22
2011013780
isBn 9780754669296 (hbk)
isBn 9780754696582 (ebk)
Printed and bound in great Britain by the
mPg Books group, Uk.
Contents
Preface vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Timeline xi
Introduction: The View from Knowsley 1
Geoffrey Hicks
1 Derby Redivivus: Reflections on the Political Achievement of the
Fourteenth Earl of Derby 19
Angus Hawkins
2 The Ultimate Test: The Fourteenth Earl, the Admiralty and the
Ministry of 1852 41
Andrew Lambert
3 The Fourteenth Earl and the ‘Political Chameleon’: Changing
Views of Palmerston from Knowsley 59
David Brown
4 The Struggle for Stability: The Fourteenth Earl and Europe,
1852‒1868 81
Geoffrey Hicks
5 ‘Only wants quiet riding’?: Disraeli, the Fifteenth Earl of
Derby and the ‘War-in-Sight’ Crisis 99
T.G. Otte
6 Britain’s ‘most isolationist Foreign Secretary’: The Fifteenth Earl
and the Eastern Crisis 1876‒1878 129
Bendor Grosvenor
7 Crossing the Floor: Mary Derby, the Fifteenth Earl and the Liberals,
1878‒1882 169
Jennifer Davey
8 Oiling the Entente: the Seventeenth Earl of Derby and the
Paris Embassy, 1918‒1920 189
David Dutton
vi Conservatism and British Foreign Policy, 1820–1920
9 Traditions of Conservative Foreign Policy 215
John Charmley
Index 229
Preface
The idea for this volume was conceived several years ago, but a collection of this
kind takes some time to produce; I am grateful to the contributors both for their
patience during a long process and for their tolerance of my editorial questions. I
am particularly grateful to Emily Yates and the staff at Ashgate, who have been so
helpful throughout the process. We are also grateful to the Earl and Countess of
Derby for welcoming us so warmly to Knowsley and for the deposit of invaluable
material at Liverpool City Record Office. Lloyd Mitchell and Catherine Armstrong
were important members of the original group of contributors, and I want to take
this opportunity both to acknowledge their early support and wish them well in
their new endeavours. Bendor Grosvenor was one of the original editorial team
and has been hugely supportive in reading through texts and offering comments.
Any editorial errors that remain, however, lie at my own door.
Much of the research being undertaken into the role of the Derbys would be
considerably more difficult without the contribution of one particular historian; the
work of Professor John Vincent on the Derby diaries, as the references throughout
this book attest, has been invaluable to scholars. In grateful acknowledgement
of his scholarship in the field over many decades, it is to him that this volume is
dedicated.
Geoffrey Hicks
September 2010
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Notes on Contributors
David Brown is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Strathclyde. He
has written widely on nineteenth-century British politics and his most recent book
is Palmerston: A Biography (Yale University Press, 2010). His previous works
include Palmerston and the politics of foreign policy 1846–55 (MUP, 2002).
John Charmley is Professor of Modern British History at the University of East
Anglia and editor of the journal History. His previous works include The Princess
and the Politicians: Sex, Intrigue and Diplomacy, 1812–40 (Viking, 2005). He is
currently working on a history of modern Conservatism.
Jennifer Davey is an Associate Tutor at the University of East Anglia. Her PhD
thesis examines the political career of Mary Catherine Stanley, the fifteenth
Countess of Derby. Her research interests include gender relations, high politics
and diplomacy in the nineteenth century.
David Dutton retired recently from the Ramsay Muir Chair of Modern History
at the University of Liverpool. Among his books are Paris 1918: The War Diary
of the 17th Earl of Derby (Liverpool University Press, 2001) and The Politics of
Diplomacy: Britain and France in the Balkans in the First World War (I.B. Tauris,
1998).
Bendor Grosvenor is a director of Philip Mould Fine Paintings, and a member of
the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Council on National Records and Archives. His
PhD thesis examined the foreign policy of the fifteenth Earl of Derby during the
Eastern Crisis of 1876–8.
Angus Hawkins is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the
History Faculty at the University of Oxford, Director of Public and International
Programmes in Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education and Bursarial
Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. He has recently published a two-volume
biography of the fourteenth Earl of Derby (OUP, 2007 and 2008).
Geoffrey Hicks is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of
East Anglia. His previous works include Peace, War and Party Politics: The
Conservatives and Europe, 1846–59 (MUP, 2007).
