British Political Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary
by Keith Laybourn (Editor)
Laybourn (history, Univ. of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England) has written many books on modern British political history (e.g., Modern Britain Since 1906). This tightly structured dictionary of political leaders begins with Walpole in 1721 and contains 366 entries, covering all prime ministers, chancellors of the exchequer, foreign and home secretaries up to Tony Blair's administration, and the four secretaries of state for the American Colonies. Family information is kept to a minimum; one learns from which seat the leader was elected and his or her political opinions and party and governmental roles but little family detail beyond the names of parents and spouses. Laybourn is mostly objective. The rise and fall of political parties and of British fortunes are reflected through the (generally) men in charge of the empire on which the sun once never set. Modern leaders get a little more ink than their predecessors. Perhaps too dry for public libraries but recommended for academic libraries, where the relatively short entries would best serve undergraduates. Robert Moore, Parexel, Waltham, MA
This volume offers serious Anglophiles 198 entries covering the British leaders who filled "the top four offices of state and the post of secretary of state for the colonies between 1730 and the present," the four top offices being prime minister, chancellor of the exchequer, foreign secretary, and home secretary. Arrangement of entries is alphabetical, either by name or by title depending on how the individual was best known. For example, Benjamin Disraeli is listed under his given name, not as the Earl of Beaconsfield. In cases where official titles have evolved over the centuries, the editors have, for the sake of consistency, used the modern title. Thus, all prime ministers are listed as such, even though the post was once referred to as First Lord of the Treasury.
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