Overview

There is really in law no such office as that of Prime Minister. No statute grants him or her powers. Even the name came into official use only in 1878, and the Prime Minister as such only became known to the law in 1905. The office of Prime Minister has in fact been based on convention and has been shaped by personal and political factors; it is what the holder makes of it and that is why a sensible way to study the development of the office is by reading the biographies of its holders. Originally published in 1974 (volume 1) and 1975 (volume 2), beginning with Robert Walpole and including Edward Heath, the holder at the time, there had been forty-seven Prime Ministers in all. Yet there had been no book devoted exclusively to recording their characters, actions and achievements, to which the student or the interested general reader could turn for immediate information, even if they did not seek to read the whole 250-year record – in itself a fascinating story for the politically minded. To fill this gap leading political historians of the time were invited to contribute papers, each in their own special period, and we are presented, as a result, with a complete gallery of Prime Ministers, each paper revealing the constant interaction of personality and circumstance, and the whole collection providing an impressive record of the way the premiership changed with its various incumbents.

Full Product Details

Author:   Herbert van Thal
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   1.000kg
ISBN:  

9781041102632

ISBN 10:   1041102631
Pages:   412
Publication Date:   08 August 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Adult education ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction – The Office of Prime Minister G. W. Jones. 1. Sir Robert Walpole (1721–42) Geoffrey Holmes 2. The Earl of Wilmington (1742–43) Herbert Van Thal 3. Henry Pelham (1743–54) A. N. Newman 4. The Duke of Newcastle (1745–56; 1757–62) H. T. Dickinson 5. The Duke of Devonshire (1756–57) G. M. D. Howat 6. The Earl of Bute (1762–63) John Brewer 7. George Grenville (1763–65) P. D. G. Thomas 8. The Marquis of Rockingham (1765–66; April–July 1782) Paul Langford 9. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1766–68) Stanley Ayling 10. The Duke of Grafton (1768–70) Peter Durrant 11. Lord North (1770–82) John Cannon 12. The Earl of Shelburne (1782–83) Frank O’Gorman 13. The Duke of Portland (April–December 1783; 1807–09) E. A. Smith 14. William Pitt ‘the Younger’ (1783–1801; 1804–06) Peter Douglas Brown 15. Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth (1801–04) Philip Ziegler 16. Lord Grenville (1806–07) Peter Jupp 17. Spencer Perceval (1809–12) Joyce Marlow 18. The Earl of Liverpool (1812–27) Norman Gash 19. George Canning (April–August 1827) Elizabeth Longford 20. Viscount Goderich (1827–28) J. W. Derry 21. The Duke of Wellington (1828–30) John Clark 22. Earl Grey (1828–30) George Woodbridge 23. Viscount Melbourne (1834, 1835–9, 1839–41) Dorothy Marshall 24. Sir Robert Peel (1834–5, 1841–5, 1845–6) Asa Briggs. Notes on the Authors.

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Author Information

Herbert van Thal (1904–1983) was a British bookseller, publisher, agent, biographer, and anthologist.

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