Edmund Gosse’s House of Lords Diary 1904–1906

Edmund Gosse, author of the classic autobiography Father and Son, was appointed librarian of the House of Lords in 1904. Until 1906 he kept a diary of his experiences at Westminster. The manuscript, which has never been published before, is an unvarnished and highly entertaining account of the multitude of well-known characters he came across in Westminster, including Arthur Balfour, Herbert Asquith and Richard Haldane, who were his friends. It offers an unrivalled inside view of parliament and its workings from the unique and privileged perspective of Lords librarian. The diary covers the end of the Conservative administration and the Liberal landslide in 1906, after which Campbell-Bannerman became prime minister. This edition includes an introduction and notes.