Born: 18 March 1869
(Edgbaston, Birmingham)
Died: 9 November 1940 (Highfield Park, Reading)
Nickname: "The Coroner"
Education: Rugby School and Mason College (later
became University of Birmingham)
Family: Chamberlain was the third of 6 children.
He was married to Anne de Vere Cole, and had 1 son and 1
daughterAge at appointment: 68 years,
71 days
First entered Parliament: 14 December 1918
Maiden Speech: 12 March 1919 during Committee
Stage of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest
Total time as PM: 2 years, 348 days
Quotes:
"How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we
should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because
of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we
know nothing"
"This is the second time in our history
that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace
with honour. I believe it is peace for our time"
Biography:
Neville Chamberlain was born to a political family, being the
youngest son of Joseph Chamberlain, a Victorian Cabinet
Minister, and the half-brother of Austen, a Chancellor of the
Exchequer. He was educated at Rugby and Mason College,
Birmingham. Aged 21 he left for the Bahamas to manage a 20,000
acre estate a venture which eventually failed.
On his return he became prominent manufacturer in Birmingham,
where he was elected a councillor in 1911 and Lord Mayor in
1915. Lloyd George appointed him Director-General of the
Department of National Service in 1916, but personal bitterness
between the two men led to his resignation within one year.
In 1918 Chamberlain was elected Conservative MP for Ladywood,
but refused to serve under
Lloyd George in coalition government. In
1922 he became Postmaster General under
Bonar Law, where he proved his judgement and
ability. He was made Minister of Health within months and, under
Baldwin, Chancellor of the Exchequer all in little
more than a year, and within five years of entering Parliament.
Chamberlain's Local Government Act of 1929 reformed the Poor
Law, effectively laying the foundations of the welfare state,
and reorganised local government finance. In 1931
Ramsay MacDonald made Chamberlain Chancellor in his
National Government, and Baldwin retained him in turn. During
the economic crisis, he achieved his father's protectionist
ambitions by passing the Import Duties Bill in 1932.
In May 1937 he succeeded Baldwin as Prime Minister, and was
elected Conservative leader. War was brewing in Europe, and had
already exploded in Spain. Chamberlain was unwilling to go down
in history as responsible for an inevitably destructive war
without doing everything possible to prevent it. Thus he
famously met Hitler in Munich 1938 the result of which was an
agreement that Britain and Germany would never again go to war.
"I believe," he declared, "it is peace for our time." However,
his success was shortlived, as Hitler occupied Prague the
following year.
The subsequent invasion of Poland forced Chamberlain's hand,
and he declared war on the 3rd of September, 1939. He came under
attack from all political sides after the disastrous first
months of war. Unable to form a national government himself, he
resigned in May 1940 after the failure of the British forces
efforts to liberate Norway. Abdominal cancer struck soon after,
forcing him to leave
Churchill's coalition government. He refused any
titles or honours, preferring to die "plain Mr Chamberlain, like
my father" six months after leaving office. |
