Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield (11 November 1792–15 December 1872) was a British peeress and society figure, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.
Born Mary Anne Evans in Tongwynlais, Cardiff, she first married Wyndham Lewis, MP and after his death she remarried to Benjamin Disraeli. It was as in recognition of his services to the nation that Queen Victoria made Mary Anne a peeress in her own right, Viscountess Beaconsfield of Beaconsfield in the County of Buckingham, as Benjamin wished to remain in the House of Commons. (After Mary Anne's death he accepted the title of Earl of Beaconsfield.)
Staid Victorians were often scandalised by Mary Anne's uninhibited remarks but soon learned not to insult her within Disraeli's hearing. Even Queen Victoria herself was said to be amused when Mary Anne commented, in response to a remark about some lady's pale complexion, "I wish you could see my Dizzy in his bath!" Once, at a house party where Lord Hardinge, a great soldier of the day, was in the room next to the Disraelis, Mary Anne announced at breakfast that she had slept the night before between the greatest soldier (Hardinge) and the greatest orator (Disraeli) of their times, and Lady Hardinge was definitely not amused.
Disraeli had been unimpressed by Mary Anne when he first met her, but he came to understand that she was shrewder than her outwardly silly manner and non-sequiturs had led him to believe, and she was a great help to him in editing the books he wrote. He joked that he had married her for her money but would do it again for love, but the truth is that she was not really wealthy. She was some twelve years older than her husband, and he may not have known her true age, but their romance continued until the day she died.
She is buried with Disraeli in a vault in the Church of St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden in the Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, close to the Disraeli family home, Hughenden Manor. The house is now in the care of the National Trust and has been preserved in the state when it was occupied by the Disraelis, and is open to the public as a visitor attraction.
Famous quotes containing the words mary, anne and/or disraeli:
“A beautiful woman is born Queen of men and women both, as Mary Stuart was born Queen of Scots, whether men or women.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I do not want to be covetous, but I think I speak the minds of many a wife and mother when I say I would willingly work as hard as possible all day and all night, if I might be sure of a small profit, but have worked hard for twenty-five years and have never known what it was to receive a financial compensation and to have what was really my own.”
—Emma Watrous, U.S. inventor. As quoted in Feminine Ingenuity, ch. 8, by Anne L. MacDonald (1992)
“Finality is not the language of politics.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)