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David Lloyd George Contrary to popular belief, David Lloyd George was born in Manchester on 17th January, 1863. David’s father died a year after he was born and his mother took her two children to live with her brother, Richard Lloyd, a shoemaker in Llanystumdwy, Caernarvonshire. Richard was Welsh-speaking and deeply resented English dominance over Wales.In 1890 Lloyd George was selected as the Liberal candidate for the Caernarvon Borough constituency. Lloyd George won the seat by 18 votes and at twenty-seven became the youngest member of the House of Commons. At the end of July, 1914, it became clear to the British government that the country was on the verge of war with Germany. Four senior members of the government, Lloyd George, Charles Trevelyan, John Burns, and John Morley, were opposed to the country becoming involved in a European war. They informed the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, they intended to resign over the issue. When war was declared on 4th August, three of the men, Trevelyan, Burns and Morley, resigned, but Asquith managed to persuade Lloyd George, to change his mind. Lloyd George’s decision to join the Conservatives in removing Herbert Asquith in 1916 split the Liberal Party. In the 1918 General Election, many Liberals supported candidates who remained loyal to Asquith. Despite this, Lloyd George’s Coalition group won 459 seats and had a large majority over the Labour Party and members of the Liberal Party that supported Asquith. In September 1936 Lloyd George visited Adolf Hitler in an attempt to persuade him not to stop taking military action in Europe. Although Lloyd George agreed that Germany had been badly treated after the First World War, he was opposed to the British government’s policy of appeasement. David Lloyd George died on 26th March, 1945. |
