Beauchamp's Career (1876) is a political novel, but its politics are seen as sexual as well as parliamentary. The introduction by Margaret Harris sets the allusions to 1870s England in context, explaining how Meredith used the political career of his friend Frederick Maxse as a model for Nevil Beauchamp, and examines his complex attitude towards the women in his life. George Meredith (1828-1909) was awarded the OM in 1905. Margaret Harris has edited Meredith's One of Our Conquerors and is co-editor with Gillian Beer of The Notebooks of George Meredith.