Constantine Henry Phipps, the first marquess of Normanby, began his career as a reform-leaning Member of Parliament. In 1820 he left for Italy, where he wrote the stories that made up the three volumes of The English in Italy (1825). Subsequent works included a collection of essays and tales entitled The English in France (1828) and four novels, Matilda (1825), Yes and No (1828), Clorinda (1829), and The Contrast (1832). Normanby served in various administrative and diplomatic capacities at locations such as Jamaica, Ireland, and France. During his French residence, he witnessed some of the events during the 1848 Paris uprising, which he chronicled in A Year of Revolution (1857).