Montagu Corry, 1st Baron Rowton

Montagu Corry, 1st Baron Rowton

Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st Baron Rowton (born October 8, 1838 in London , † November 9, 1903 ibid), was a British politician and philanthropist . He became known to posterity as the long-time private secretary of the conservative politician and two-time Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli . As a philanthropist, he also left behind the facilities of the so-called “Rowton Houses”, which - in contrast to the other mostly hygienically inadequate and shabby guest houses of the Victorian era - served as clean and comfortable hostels for the British working class.

Origin, youth and education

Montagu Corry was born in Grosvenor Square , London . Often referred to as "Monty", Montagu Corry was the second son of Henry Thomas Lowry-Corry and his wife, Lady Harriet, daughter of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury . His grandfather was Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore , a prominent Regency politician . The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury , a committed social reformer, was his maternal uncle. Corry first attended the prestigious Harrow Private School and then studied in Cambridge at Trinity College . He then practiced as a barrister at the jury for three years .

Political career

Montagu Corry (right) with Disraeli, caricature by Leslie Ward in Vanity Fair

Montagu Corry's father was a long-time member of the British House of Commons , where he represented County Tyrone for 47 years (1826–1873) and briefly President of the Council and First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Derby's third government (1866–1868 ) had been. Montagu Corry was part of the political world of the Conservative Party from the start and moved in the vicinity of numerous political figures of his time. Because of his personal abilities and his winning personality, he was noticed by the conservative top politician Benjamin Disraeli . When his secretary, Earle, sought his own political office, Disraeli Montagu Corry selected as his successor and made him his private secretary in 1866. Corry, highly skilled but without political ambitions of his own, became Disraeli's indispensable shadow in the following years. Corry not only took over the usual activities of a private secretary, he also became his partner, confidante and adviser after the death of Disraeli's wife Mary Anne, and he also took on more and more administrative tasks. In his novel Endymion , Disraeli finally dedicated a passage to his secretary.

After Disraeli resigned in 1868, Montagu Corry turned down numerous other offers because he wanted to continue working for Disraeli. When the Conservatives won a majority in the lower house elections in 1874 , Disraeli was again prime minister. Montagu Corry has now resumed the role of the Prime Minister's official private secretary in his government . He increasingly became Disraeli's confidante and had a close relationship with him, which more and more corresponded to a father-son relationship. As a secretary, he also had great political influence and wrote some of the speeches from the throne and government statements. His undisputed position, combined with Disraeli's indifference in some domestic political questions, ultimately led cabinet member Lord Carnarvon to complain, “M. Corry is in fact Prime Minister. ”Corry accompanied Disraeli, who was now ennobled as Lord Beaconsfield and sat in the House of Lords , in 1878 to the Berlin Congress . For his loyal service he was named Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1878 . Disraeli considered him fit for a ministerial post and offered him several posts, but each time he refused and put his personal ambitions completely on hold.

After the defeat of the Conservatives in the general election in 1880 , he was raised to hereditary peer at the suggestion of Disraeli for his long service on May 6, 1880 as Baron Rowton , of Rowton Castle in the County of Salop . Rowton Castle was his preferred residence at the time; the country house, which he finally inherited in 1889, belonged to his maternal aunt, Lady Charlotte Barbara Lyster. Corry was also Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace in Shropshire . William Gladstone , Disraeli's long-term hated political rival, was furious about the ennoblement and compared it to an act by the Roman Emperor Caligula , who had made his horse consul.

Corry continued to work as a private secretary for Disraeli in the following opposition period and also took over negotiations with the Longmans publishing house for the publication of Disraeli's last completed novel, Endymion . While Montagu Corry was in the spring of 1881 in Algiers , North Africa , where he had brought his sick sister due to the milder climate, Disraeli fell seriously ill; Montagu Corry then rushed back to London in order to be present at Disraeli's deathbed in time. Corry subsequently organized Disraeli's funeral; As the executor of his last will, Disraeli left him with all his correspondence and private papers.

After Disraeli's death, Montagu Corry also succeeded him as a close confidante of Queen Victoria , who often invited him to Windsor Castle or Osborne House for personal advice or to use him as a discreet political intermediary for political negotiations. In 1897 he was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order , and in 1900 he was appointed to the Privy Council . For years he planned to write a biography about Disraeli, but could never find the necessary time, which is why this task finally fell to William Flavelle Monypenny.

Private life

Rowton House in Birmingham opened in 1903 , now a hotel

Montagu Corry remained a bachelor throughout his life. However, he took an active part in London social life and had numerous affairs over the years; with Violet, Marchioness of Granby , he had a long love affair. He was also believed to be the father of Lady Violet Manners, the Marchioness' second daughter.

He is also known as the philanthropic founder of the Rowton Houses , six large hostels for working-class men at risk of poverty, which were far more comfortable and of higher quality than the generally poor and hygienically neglected guest houses of the Victorian era .

Montagu Corry died in November 1903 at his London home in Berkeley Square at the age of 65. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery ; a plaque in St Michael's Parish Church in Alberbury, Shropshire, commemorates him. As a bachelor with no legitimate offspring, his title expired with him.

literature

• Richard Aldous: The Lion and the Unicorn. Gladstone vs. Disraeli. Pimlico, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-84413-312-3 .
• Robert Blake : Disraeli. Faber and Faber, London 2010, ISBN 0-57126-984-2 (EA London 1967).
  • German: Disraeli. A biography from the Victorian era. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-7973-0360-2 (translated by Klaus Dockhorn).

Web links

Commons : Montagu Corry  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Mr Montagu Lowry-Corry at Hansard (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Montagu William Lowry-Corry, 1st and last Baron Rowton on thepeerage.com
2. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 460.
3. ↑ Blake, Disraeli , p. 448 f.
4. ^ Aldous, The Lion and the Unicorn , p. 2.
5. ^ Aldous, The Lion and the Unicorn , p. 303.
6. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 543.
7. ^ Aldous, The Lion and the Unicorn , p. 283.
8. ^ The London Gazette : No. 24609, p. 4367 , July 30, 1878.
9. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 713.
10. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 685.
11. ↑ The London Gazette : No. 24840, No. 2786 , April 30, 1880.
12. ^ Blake, Disraeli , pp. 714 ff.
13. ^ Aldous, The Lion and the Unicorn , p. 181.
14. ^ Aldous: The Lion and the Unicorn , p. 310.
15. ^ Blake, Disraeli , pp. 732 ff.
16. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 742.
17. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 748.
18. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 754.
19. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 755.
20. ^ The London Gazette : No. 26871, p. 3819 , July 9, 1897.
21. ↑ The London Gazette : No. 27153, p. 221 , January 12, 1900.
22. ^ Blake, Disraeli , pp. 755 f.
23. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 449.
24. ↑ Dick Leonard: The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli. IB Tauris, London 2013, p. 177.
25. ^ Blake, Disraeli , p. 756.