Palmerston

British Prime Ministers

by Denis Judd

British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston has enjoyed a rakish reputation as womaniser, careless aristocrat and the apostle of gun-boat diplomacy. His lengthy life linked the American War of Independence with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the colourful Regency period with the era of Queen Victoria, the French Revolution with the birth of the future King George V, the age of Pitt with the days of Gladstone and Disraeli. His political career brought him three times to the Foreign Office and twice to the Premiership. He set out as a dutiful Tory, became the darling of Radicals throughout Europe, and ended his career as 'Old Pam', the personification of British courage and lion-heartedness. But there was more to Palmerston than bluster and patriotism, as Denis Judd so clearly shows in this sympathetic but never uncritical biography. Palmerston was a meticulous and hard-working minister, with hardly enough time for the scandalous personal life with which he is popularly credited. In this book, Judd provides a multifaceted and nuanced life of this Victorian titan

Genres: Biography, History

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Denis Judd was born in Northamptonshire in 1938 and educated in a village primary school before passing the 'Eleven Plus' and entering the local grammar school. He won a State Scholarship to Oxford, where he took his first degree in Modern History at Magdalen College, going on to study for a PhD at London University, on: 'A. J. Balfour and the evolution and problems of the British Empire 1874-1906.' He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

He has been Head of History, and is now Professor Emeritus of Imperial and Commonwealth History, at the London Metropolitan University. In his research, writing and broadcasting he has specialised in the British Empire and Commonwealth, especially South Africa and India. He has also written extensively on British history, on aspects of the monarchy, and among his biographies is the authorised life of the children’s author Alison Uttley.