Taffnet - David Lloyd George

Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl of Dwyfor (1863-1945),

British prime minister (1916-22), who led Great Britain through the latter part of World War I and the early postwar years. Born of Welsh parents on January 17, 1863, in Manchester, England, Lloyd George was raised in Caernarvonshire, Wales, and was educated in law as an apprentice in a law firm.

From the start of his legal career, Lloyd George was active in local Welsh politics; in 1890 he was elected to Parliament. He was radical in his social views, and supported Welsh nationalism while opposing the war against the Boers in South Africa. In 1905 he was appointed to the cabinet position of president of the Board of Trade with the newly elected Liberal government, and in 1908 he was made chancellor of the Exchequer. The budget he submitted in 1909 contained numerous appropriations for social legislation benefiting the workers, and it met with vigorous opposition from the Conservatives and from the House of Lords, which voted it down. In a speech made in the Limehouse parish of London in 1909, Lloyd George defended his budget and abused his opposition so vociferously that the term limehouse has remained in the English language as a synonym for denunciation of one's political opponents. Shortly thereafter the House of Lords was forbidden by law to consider finance bills, and many of Lloyd George's reforms were adopted, including national sickness and invalidity insurance and unemployment insurance.

At the beginning of World War I, Lloyd George, as chancellor of the Exchequer, secured Britain's credit and placed the country in a financial position strong enough to endure the war. In 1915 he was appointed to the newly created ministry of munitions, and in 1916 he was made secretary of state for war. He proposed limiting the war cabinet to a smaller, more efficient membership, headed not by the prime minister but by someone concentrating solely on the problems of war. The Liberal prime minister Herbert H. Asquith resigned, and Lloyd George became prime minister of a coalition government. He reduced the policymaking cabinet from 20 to 5 members and worked for a unified Allied command. After the armistice, he participated in the peace conference and helped frame the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1920 he introduced the Home Rule Bill for Ireland; largely through his efforts the Irish state was established. The Conservatives withdrew from his coalition government in 1922 in protest against Irish Home Rule and support by Britain of Greece against Turkey; Lloyd George resigned, and a general election was called in which the Conservatives were elected to power. Lloyd George was reelected to Parliament from his borough and was leader of the opposition until 1931.
He was made an earl shortly before his death on March 26, 1945.

Among Lloyd George's works are Where Are We Going? (1923), Slings and Arrows (1929), and The Truth About the Peace Treaty (1938).

"Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl of Dwyfor,"
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Compton's Encyclopedia describes him as follows:-

LLOYD GEORGE, David (1863-1945).

At the age of 17, a small slender Welshman visited the British House of Commons. Afterward he recorded in his diary his hope for a political career. The Welshman, David Lloyd George, in time became the prime minister who guided Great Britain to victory over Germany in World War I.

David George was born on Jan. 17, 1863, in Manchester, England, where his Welsh father, William George, had gone to teach school. His father died in June 1864. Soon after, the family returned to Wales. David was educated by his uncle, Richard Lloyd, the village cobbler. In his honor the boy took the name Lloyd. At the age of 14 he began to study law and at 21 was admitted to practice as a solicitor. In 1890 he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal from the Welsh borough of Caernarvon. "The great little Welshman" held his seat in the Commons for 55 years. At no time could public opinion turn him from what he thought was just. In 1905 Lloyd George accepted a minor office in the Cabinet as president of the Board of Trade. There he put through a shipping act to aid seamen and settled a critical railway strike. He advanced to the second highest Cabinet post in 1908 when he became chancellor of the Exchequer, with Herbert Henry Asquith as prime minister. As manager of British finances, Lloyd George determined to ease the tax burden on the poor. He also planned an Old Age Pension Act. To finance it, he drew up a national budget that put new taxes on the wealthy. These taxes threatened to break up the old landed estates.

The conservative House of Lords rejected Lloyd George's budget, but a general election showed that the mass of the British people favored it. So strong was public support that in 1911 an act of Parliament abolished the power of the House of Lords to reject a money bill such as the budget. Lloyd George at once launched a more extended program of social reform.

When World War I broke out in 1914, many people expected him to resign, as he had long been regarded as a pacifist. After Germany invaded Belgium, however, he denounced the aggression. He was put in charge of the new Ministry of Munitions in 1915. In 1916 he became head of the War Office.

The Liberal party at this time was divided. In December 1916 Lloyd George forced Asquith's resignation and became prime minister, heading a coalition government. Before going to the peace conference at Versailles, France, he strengthened his position by winning the election of November 1918. At the peace conference he seemed uncertain. Sometimes he sided with France's efforts to destroy Germany. At other times he sided with the United States efforts for a peace based on reconciliation and the rights of nations and people.

After 1919 Lloyd George's leadership weakened, largely as a result of a slump in business that brought on strikes and unemployment. Further weakening his support was the establishment in 1921 of the Irish Free State. In 1922 the Conservatives withdrew from the coalition and Lloyd George at once resigned. He remained in the Commons for the rest of his life, but the influence of the divided Liberal party grew weak. His last great effort to return to office came in the general election of 1929, when he made glittering promises to "conquer unemployment." Unimpressed, the voters returned the rising Labour party instead. Lloyd George's later years were given to the writing of his 'War Memoirs'. He died in Wales on March 26, 1945.