Book Description

This is a lively two-volume biography, first published in 1893, of the influential Victorian businessman and politician W. H. Smith (1825-1891), whose father and uncle established the well-known stationery and bookselling business. The author, Herbert Maxwell (1845-1932), was a Scottish essayist and Conservative Member of Parliament who greatly admired Smith's human qualities and had access to his personal papers. In this second volume, Maxwell narrates Smith's career from 1878 to 1891 as the First Lord of the Admiralty, revealing his political stamina during a time of economic hardship and conflicts in Afghanistan and among the Zulu. Extracts from his personal letters show the emotional burden of his responsibilities. Smith did not disguise his connection to the commercial middle class. Instead, he approached his political life with the same pragmatic wisdom he cultivated in business, and Maxwell emphasises how Smith strove to relieve the burdens of ordinary citizens.