Description
Book SynopsisThis biography covers both the literary and political career of John Morley, later Lord Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923). As a writer, Morley made his reputation as the radical editor of The Fortnightly Review from 1867 to 1882. This was an influential periodical for which Morley commissioned articles by writers such as Leslie Stephen and Frederic Harrison, and for which Morley wrote many articles himself. As a politician, Morley worked very closely with William Ewart Gladstone, particularly in the two attempts to introduce legislation providing for Irish home rule, with a Dublin parliament. Finally, at the end of his political career, Morley served as secretary of state for India (1905–1910) in the great Liberal government of Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith. Working with the viceroy Lord Minto, Morley was responsible for the first tentative steps toward a democratic government in India. Morley was strongly opposed to militarism: he had stood out against the war with the Boers in South Africa and he resigned from office in 1915 in protest against the declaration of war on Germany. This biography utilizes extensive primary archival material, including Morley's own diaries and letters, which have only recently become available.
Trade ReviewThough mostly of interest to the aficionado of late Victorian high political intrigue, it is a reliable narrative, well contextualized and clearly written, which does not hide its subject’s flaws but betrays an ultimately attractive admiration for the dogged secular stoic of Blackburn. * Times Literary Supplement *
In Morley of Blackburn, Patrick Jackson has continued his commendable mission of breathing new life into under-studied and passed-over Victorian statesman like Morley. ... Morley of Blackburn is the first biography of Morley for more than 40 years. . . . It is a dense and throughly evidenced volume. ... There is much to commend in Morley of Blackburn. Its treatment of Morley and Irish home rule is thorough and authoritative. . . . It also deserves credit for its close attention to Morley's relationship with his Newcastle constituency and his role in electoral politics at the grassroots and nationally. Morley of Blackburn is an authoritative and mature work of scholarship, and can reasonably claim to be the most complete and satisfactory biography currently available. . . . Jackson certainly deserves considerable credit for writing an ambitious and thorough book that has helped reclaim Morley's reputation. * Journal of Liberal History *
Patrick Jackson has now given us a comprehensive biography of John Morley, an important man of letters as well as a prominent Liberal politician whose political career spanned the years between 1883 and 1914. ... Jackson's examination of Morley's Life of Gladstone deftly illuminates the qualities that make it an outstanding example of both political and biographical art. * Canadian Journal of History *
Table of Contents1. CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION 2. THE FORMATIVE YEARS 3. THE EARLY ARTICLES 4. THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 5. THE FIRST BOOKS 6. TRANSITION TO ACTIVE POLITICS 7. FIRST YEARS IN PARLIAMENT 8. IRISH HOME RULE (1): THE FIRST BILL 1886 9. IRISH HOME RULE (2): THE LONG HAUL 1887-91 10.IRISH HOME RULE (3): THE SECOND BILL 1892-93 11. AFTER GLADSTONE –THE NADIR 1894-1900 12. “THE LIFE OF GLADSTONE” 13. MORLEY AND INDIA 1905-1910 14. FINAL PERIOD IN OFFICE 1910-1914 15. LAST YEARS AND ASSESSMENT 1914-23
