Mary, Countess of Derby, and the Politics of Victorian Britain

Cover
Mary, Countess of Derby, and the Politics of Victorian Britain
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Images
A Note on Names
Family Trees
Introduction: Aristocratic women and Victorian political culture
	VICTORIAN POLITICAL CULTURE
	VICTORIAN POLITICAL FEMININITY
	SOURCES AND STRUCTURE
PART I: THE POLITICS OF HOME
	1: ‘History will judge us right’: A Political Life
	2: ‘It is the next best thing to a “chat” in St J squ’: Politics by Letter
		‘WE’VE KEPT THE ENVELOPES, NOT THE LETTERS’: MARY’S ARCHIVE
		‘I DARE SAY YOU HAVE MUCH BETTER INFORMATION THAN I ’: MARY’S LETTERS
		‘THE BEST INFORMED LADY ON POLITICAL SUBJECTS IN ENGLAND’: MARY’S POLITICAL NETWORKS
	3: ‘The most attentive hostess in the world’: Politics at Home
		THE LANDSCAPE OF POLITICAL CULTURE
		‘I HEARD SO OFTEN ABOUT HATFIELD AND ITS CHÂTELAINE’: POLITICAL ENTERTAINING AS MARCHIONESS OF SALISBURY
		‘I DEEPLY REGRET THE AFFAIRS OF LAST NIGHT’: MARY AND THE POLITICS OF REFORM
		‘THERE WAS A LOT OF POLITICAL INTEREST IN’: ENTERTAINING AT KNOWSLEY AND 23 ST JAMES’S SQUARE
PART II: THE POLITICS OF WESTMINSTER
	4: ‘That Miserable Party Spirit’: Mary and the Conservative Party
		‘THE LIFELESSNESS, UTTER STAGNATION’: IN OPPOSITION, 1868–1874
		‘BREAKING THE GROUND’: MARY AND THE FORMATION OF THE 1874 CABINET
		‘CABINET’S DRIFT INTO POLICY’: IN GOVERNMENT, 1874–1878
	5: ‘Begin afresh’: Mary and the Liberal Party
		‘BRING USEFUL MEN TOGETHER’: MARY’S POLITICAL ISOLATION 1878–1880
		‘MAKING SOME GREAT MISTAKE OR GAUCHERIES’: DERBY’S POLITICAL NEUTRALITY
		‘AN ACT LIKELY AND INTENDED TO INFLUENCE VOTERS’: MARY AND THE ELECTIONS OF 1880
		‘GOT THEMSELVES INTO TROUBLE’: THE POLITICS OF IRELAND
		‘WD DO BETTER IN AN EMERGENCY’: DERBY’S APPOINTMENT TO GLADSTONE’S CABINET, 1882
PART III: THE POLITICS OF DIPLOMACY
	6: ‘Amphibious Agents’: Aristocratic Women and Diplomatic Culture
		‘I HAVE NOT HEARD OF IT! WHAT WAS IT?’: MARY’S DIPLOMATIC APPRENTICESHIP
		‘PUTTING YOUR VIEWS BEFORE THE F SECY’: MARY’S DIPLOMATIC METHODS
		‘WHAT DIPLOMACY WAS ABOUT’: MARY’S DIPLOMATIC IDEAS
	7: ‘I am behind the Scenes’: The Eastern Crisis I
		‘I HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO SEE A RAY OF LIGHT’: THE BULGARIAN HORRORS
		‘I SEE THE HIDEOUS COMPLICATIONS OF RED TAPE & DIPLOMACY’: THE CONSTANTINOPLE CONFERENCE
		‘MY SMALL EFFORTS’: THE MARCH PROTOCOL
		‘MORBID DEPRESSION AND MELANCHOLY’: POLITICAL AND PERSONAL ANXIETIES, SPRING 1877
	8: ‘I should be open to the still graver charge of betraying H. M. Govt.’: The Eastern Crisis II
		‘WE ALL SEEM TO BE HOLDING OUR BREATHS & WAITING’: UNCERTAINTY AND THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR
		‘JE ME REFUSE D’ÊTRE WARNED’: GOSSIP AND RUMOUR DURING CHRISTMAS 1877
		‘NOT OF THE SLIGHTEST CONSEQUENCE’: THE POLITICS OF 1878
	Conclusion: ‘Female Politicians’?
Select Bibliography
	MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
	PUBLISHED CONTEMPORARY SOURCES
		Newspapers and Periodicals
		Published letters, diaries, and memoirs
		Other
	SECONDARY SOURCES
		Books
		Articles and Essays
		Other
Index