Contemporary view upon early history of the Conservative party of Great Britain

The article considers historiography of early stage of the Conservative party existence, its early history and political leaders, who has headed it during the first part of the XIX century. The author collected and analyzed the key conceptions, concerning the date of foundation and early history of the Conservative party. The article contains arguments and evidences of political leadership of Pitt the younger, Lord Liverpool, G. Canning, Duke of Wellington, R. Peel and B. Disraeli. The article traces structural and ideological development of the Conservative party and the views of contemporary conservatives upon the history of their party is shown. Partly this article devotes to the methods of party history research used by historians of the second half of XX century and nowadays. The author comes to conclusion, that for research of specific ages, the character of leader and historical context still have great influence on results of research, but investigation of conservative thought evolution is only possible by consequent study of the conservative leaders and their political arguments.