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...

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...