Herbert Henry Asquith 1852 - 1928
Herbert Henry Asquith , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1908-16). After his father's death in 1860, his grandfather and later an uncle undertook responsibility for the children's education and the boy went to school in Huddersfield, then Fulneck, near Pudsey, later still in London where he and his brother attended the City of London School. He was a brilliant pupil and when he was 17 Asquith won a classical scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained Firsts in Mods and Greats, being elected a Fellow of the college in 1874. He entered legal chambers at Lincoln's Inn as a pupil and also wrote articles and lectured. He devoted his spare time to politics and, having become established at the Bar, he entered Parliament as MP for East Fife in 1886, a seat he was to hold for 32 years. His rise was fairly meteoric and he became Home Secretary under Gladstone in 1892 at only 39, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Campbell-Bannerman in 1906 and Prime Minister in 1908. He held office for nine years, the longest period of any prime minister since Lord Liverpool resigned in 1827. Asquith was an outstanding public speaker, brief, pointed and trenchant, though not as charismatic as Lloyd George. He had the typical Yorkshireman's scorn of the pretentious. Forward-thinking, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Asquith was responsible for laying the foundations of old age pensions. However, he opposed giving the vote to women and was partly responsible for prolonging the struggles of the suffragettes. Asquith had become Premier of a Coalition Government which included Lloyd George and, despite his personal loss, Asquith was blamed for the conduct of the war. He fell out with his Liberal colleagues and resigned at the end of 1916 and Lloyd George took his place. Asquith even lost his Parliamentary seat in 1918 but won a by-election at Paisley in 1920. He was defeated again in 1924, having been in Parliament for 38 years. He was offered a peerage by George V and took his seat in the Lords as Earl of Oxford and Asquith. He retained the formal leadership of the Liberal Party throughout this time until formally handing over to Lloyd George in 1926. He wrote many publications, including an autobiography, Memories and Reflections, published posthumously in 1928. Encyclopaedia Britannica
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| Born: Morley, Yorkshire, , 12th Sep 1852 | Baptised:
| | Died: Sutton Courtenay, , Oxon, England 15th Feb 1928 | Buried: Sutton Courtenay, , Oxon, England 1928
| | Family: Asquith |
Timeline
| 12th Sep 1852 | Born (birth) Morley, Yorkshire | | 1861 | Son in 1861 census (census) Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England | | 1871 | Son in 1871 census (census) Hastings, Sussex, England | | 23rd Aug 1877 | Married Helen Kelsall Melland
(Asquith ) c. 1856 - 1890 (marriage) | | May 1894 | Married Emma Alice Margaret (Margot) Tennant
(Asquith ) 1864 - 1945 (marriage) | | 8th Apr 1908 | Herbert Henry Asquith
(Melland , Tennant ) 1852 - 1928 inherited the title Prime Minister [UK] | | 1925 | Herbert Henry Asquith
(Melland , Tennant ) 1852 - 1928 inherited the title Oxford and Asquith [E] | | 15th Feb 1928 | Died (death) Sutton Courtenay, Oxon, England | | 1928 | Buried (burial) Sutton Courtenay, Oxon, England |
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