Series:

Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P. 2 Volume Paperback Set

2 primary works

Volume 1

Cover of Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P: Volume 1
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. Volume 1 documents the foundation of the newspaper wholesaling business, Smith's education and his thwarted desire to become a priest. It describes how Smith helped his father expand their efficient and successful business to include a chain of railway station news- and bookstalls and a lending library, as well as becoming sole agents for The Times in 1854. Smith went into Parliament in 1868, and worked for several years at the Treasury. Volume 1 ends with his tour to Cyprus in 1878 as First Lord of the Admiralty.

Volume 2

Cover of Life and Times of the Right Honourable William Henry Smith, M.P: Volume 2
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.