Lord Melbourne, 1779-1848 [Hardcover]

L. G. Mitchell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 1997

Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister of England from 1834-1841. As mentor and father-figure to the young Queen Victoria, he exerted considerable influence over the first few years of her reign. In this, the first biography in twenty years, Leslie Mitchell uses the Melbourne family papers to explore the man behind the politician at the heart of early Victorian politics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An excellent biography....Based on extensive research, Mitchell's book tells both the political and personal stories extremely well."--Choice

About the Author

L. G. Mitchell is Fellow and Praelector in Modern History at University College, Oxford. The leading scholar of the Whigs, his many books include the highly praised Charles James Fox (OUP 1992).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198205929
• ISBN-13: 978-0198205920
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Queen Victoria's First Prime Minister, March 23, 2006

By 

Notnadia (Currently upstairs.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lord Melbourne, 1779-1848 (Hardcover)

Melbourne's life story is simply amazing. From his outrageously popular mother (a Whig noblewoman whose multitude of sons each had different--perhaps royal--fathers) and crazily intense wife, Caroline Lamb (a woman who once bit a chunk out of a wine glass when she spied her lover speaking to another woman) to Melbourne's "sexual rivalry" with that poetical superstar of the nineteenth-century, Lord Byron ("mad, bad, and dangerous to know") to, yes, a political career that shone brightly on the world stage (the city of Melbourne, Australia is named for him) this man was the first Prime Minister of Victoria's long reign, and in some ways the one with whom she was closest. The tidbits of Melbourne's personal life and the (ahem) affairs of those around him are here in pleasing detail, but there is no skimping on his political career, or on the world of his times. I found this to be an enjoyable biography of a remarkable man who had the good fortune to dwell in an interesting period and know most of the great figures (of which he was certainly one) of his age.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars scholarly, and absorbing for even the non-academic, June 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Lord Melbourne, 1779-1848 (Hardcover)

Simply, I read this book because Dr. Mitchell's earlier book on Charles James Fox was so fascinating. While the personalities of the two great men must have made writng about Melbourne a bit harder to enliven, it is a fascinating biography of a man I previously knew very little about.