Beginning suddenly in late November 1878, George Frederick Samuel Robinson, first Marquess of Ripon, decided to keep a diary. Neither in the diary itself nor in his private papers does he give a reason for this action so typical of the Victorians. Ripon maintained his diary faithfully for over sixteen months until involvement in the General Election of 1880 forced him to suspend his daily entries. He renewed the diary briefly in April 1880 following the election and kept it until just before his appointment as Viceroy of India on 29 April 1880.