ABSTRACT
In the later Victorian and Edwardian period, the practice of holding centenary commemorations became increasingly common both in Britain and in the Western world more generally. By contrast with the Richard Cobden events, the centenary of Disraeli's birth, in December 1904, was marked by no major public commemoration. That was surprising because the Primrose League, which had been founded in his memory, was, at that time, the largest voluntary political organisation in Britain. In 1905 the centenary of the battle of Trafalgar attracted much interest and occasioned several commemorations. A striking feature of the Trafalgar centenary commemorations in 1905 was the positive attitude they adopted towards Britain's old naval rival, France. The outbreak of the First World War, in August 1914, dramatically changed the character and number of centenary commemorations. December 1914 was the centenary of the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which had ended the war of 1812 between Britain and the US.
