The title Earl of Beaconsfield in the peerage of the United Kingdom

Peerage of the United Kingdom

The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...

 was created in 1876 for Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

 policies over those of his Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 rival, William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

. Disraeli had also promoted the Royal Titles Act 1876

Royal Titles Act 1876

The Royal Titles Act of 1876 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which officially recognized Queen Victoria as "Empress of India". This title had been assumed by her in 1876, under the encouragement of the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli...

 that had given Victoria the title of "Empress of India

Emperor of India

Emperor/Empress of India was used as a title by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II, and revived by the colonial British monarchs during the British Raj in India....

". Disraeli's subsidiary title was Viscount Hughenden.

In 1868, at the end of his first term as Prime Minister, Disraeli's wife Mary Anne had been created Viscountess Beaconsfield in her own right, allowing her husband to remain a member of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

. Mary died in 1872. When Disraeli became an earl in 1876 he automatically lost his seat in the Commons but remained Prime Minister, leading his government from the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

.

Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...

 is the name of a town in the county of Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

. For most of his parliamentary career, Disraeli served as a member for Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Buckinghamshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.Its most prominent member was...

. He owned an estate, Hughenden Manor

Hughenden Manor

Hughenden Manor is a red brick Victorian mansion, located in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. In the 19th century, it was the country house of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli...

, in the nearby town of High Wycombe

High Wycombe

High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...

, but never lived in Beaconsfield. His choice of title might have been partly influenced by the fact that in 1794 the conservative political philosopher and parliamentarian Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....

, whom Disraeli admired, had turned down King George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

's offer to raise him to the peerage as Lord Beaconsfield.

In 1878, Disraeli refused Queen Victoria's offer to make him a duke

Duke

A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

, accepting instead membership in the Order of the Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

. The Disraelis died without direct heirs and their titles became extinct; Hughenden Manor passed to Lord Beaconsfield's nephew Coningsby Ralph Disraeli.

Earls of Beaconsfield, creation 1876

• Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield
  • Died without issue; all titles became extinct upon his death in 1881

Viscount Beaconsfield, creation 1868

• Mary Disraeli, 1st suo jure Viscountess Beaconsfield
  • Married Benjamin Disraeli, later Earl of Beaconsfield. Peerage expired upon her death in 1872