No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
If Chamberlain's decision to resign in 1917 was a quixotic gesture of ‘slightly misdirected principle’, it was also wholly consistent with his past conduct and character. As a result, he was undoubtedly gratified by the warm response generated by his instinctive sense of public rectitude when resignation appeared the only honourable course to adopt. Although soon lamenting the loss of ‘inside information’ he also derived initial solace from the prospect of a much needed rest and a real holiday. After two years in office, the strains were clearly beginning to tell upon him. In this respect at least, resignation can rightly be seen as ‘a blessing in disguise’. His withdrawal to recuperate was further assisted by his firm conviction that recently resigned ministers should ‘take themselves off for a time’ or risk becoming either an encumbrance to their successors or a focus for parliamentary intrigue and discontent. The decision was made still easier by the constant air raids on London at this time. In the autumn of 1917, therefore, Chamberlain decided to move the family from Rowfant – Godfrey Locker-Lampson's Elizabethan home near Crawley — first to Barton St. Mary, and then on to Thornhill House near East Grinstead where, for the next three y ears, he indulged his passion for gardening to the full.
1 Turner, J., British Politics and the Great War, 216Google Scholar. Petrie also notes many felt it appeared ‘a trifle quixotic’, Life and Letters, II, 93Google Scholar, as does A. Mackintosh, Echoes of Big Ben, 79Google Scholar; Wedgwood, J., Memoirs of a Fighting Life, 125.Google Scholar
2 Petrie, C., Life and Letters, II, 95.Google Scholar
3 Montagu to A. Chamberlain, 7, 15 August and reply 8 August 1917, AC15/5/2, 3, 8.
4 Montagu, E. to George, Lloyd, 5 07 1917Google Scholar, Lloyd George MSS F/39/3/21.
5 Montagu, E. to George, Lloyd, 11 08 1917Google Scholar, Lloyd George MSS F/39/3/21. In Liberal circles Montagu also dismissed Chamberlain as ‘a rather hide-bound Conservative’, C.P. Scott Diary, 9–11 August 1917, Wilson, T. (ed.), The Political Diaries of C.P. Scott 1911–1928, (New York, 1970), 298.Google Scholar
6 Burk, K., Britain, America and the Sinews of War, 1914–1918, (1985), 137.Google Scholar
7 Ibid. Chapter 7, 146–151 for a detailed description of these events and the resulting machinery. For Chamberlain's own account of this work see Down the Years, 133Google Scholar. For the respect of his officials see SirMcFadyean, Andrew, Recollected in Tranquillity, (1964), 66.Google Scholar
8 Fair, J.D., British Interparty Conferences: A Study of the Procedure of Conciliation in British Politics, 1867–1921, (Oxford 1980), 183Google Scholar. For the Speaker's Conference of Electoral Reform see Chapter VIII. Also Pugh, M., Electoral Reform in War and Peace, 1906–18 (1978), 68–86.Google Scholar
9 Close, D.H., ‘The collapse of resistance to democracy: Conservatives, adult suffrage, and the Second Chamber Reform, 1911–1928’, Historical Journal 20.4 (1977), 894, 909.Google Scholar
10 Chamberlain, A. to Selborne, , 18 04 1918Google Scholar, AC15/6/16.
11 See Sanders Diary, 9 and 20 December 1917, Real Old Tory Politics, 94Google Scholar; A. Chamberlain to Selborne, 15 March and reply, 20 March 1918, AC15/6/13–14. See also Pugh, M., Electoral Reform in War and Peace, 156.Google Scholar
12 Cd, 9038, Conference on the Reform of the Second Chamber: Letter from Vl Bryce to the Prime Minister, 04 1918Google Scholar, Parliamentary Papers X 1918Google Scholar. Fair takes issue with Close's assertions about the ‘extent of disagreement’ and the ‘illusory hope of agreement’. Also McCrillis, N.R., ‘Taming Democracy? The Conservative Party and House of Lords Reform, 1916–1929’, Parliamentary History, 12.3 (1993), 259–80Google Scholar.
13 Close, ‘The collapse of resistance to democracy’, 910–11Google Scholar; Fair, , British Interparty Conferences, 156.Google Scholar
14 A. Chamberlain to Salisbury, 19 October 1917, cited Petrie, Life and Letters, II, 102–3Google Scholar.
15 James Bryce (1838–1922) Liberal MP for Tower Hamlets 1880–85, Aberdeen South 1885–1906. Under-Sec Foreign Affairs 1886; Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster 1892–94; President Board of Trade 1894–95; Chief Secretary for Ireland 1905–1907. British Ambassador to USA 1907–1913. G.C.V.O. 1918. Created Viscount 1914.
16 Stanley Owen Buckmaster (1861–1934) Liberal MP for Cambridge 1906–10, Keighley 1911–15. Solicitor-General 1913–15, Lord Chancellor 1915–December 1916; member Inter-Allied Commission on Finance and Supplies. Knighted 1913, G.C.V.O. 1930. Created Baron 1915 and Viscount 1933.
17 Arthur Clavell Salter (1859–1928) Unionist MP for Basingstoke 1906 until appointed High Court Judge in 1917. Knighted 1917.
18 Edmund Bernard Talbot (1855–1947) Unionist MP for Chichester 1894–1921. Junior Lord of Treasury 1905; Unionist Whip from 1905 until Chief Whip in 1913. Joint Parliamentary Secretary to Treasury May 1915–April 1921; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1921–22. Created Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent 1921. K.G. 1925.
19 Thomas Whittaker (1850–1919) Newspaper proprietor and editor. Liberal MP for Spen Valley 1892–1919. Chairman and member of numerous Parliamentary Select Committees; Chairman of the Royal Commission on Paper. A radical on the House of Lords Conference. Knighted 1906.
20 Hugh Richard Heathcote Gascoyne-Cecil (1869–1956) Conservative MP for Greenwich 1895–1906, Oxford University 1910–37; Provost of Eton 1937–44. Called Lord Hugh Cecil 1869–1941 when created Baron Quickswood. Member of Mesopotamia Commission 1916.
21 (Edward Algernon) Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1864–1958) Conservative MP for Mary-lebone E. 1906–10, Hitchin 1911–23. Under-Secretary Foreign Affairs 1915–18; Minister of Blockade 1916–18; Lord Privy Seal 1923–24; Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster (responsible for League of Nations) 1924–27. President of League of Nations Union 1923–45. Called Lord Robert Cecil 1868–1923 when created Viscount Cecil of Chelwood. Nobel Peace Prize 1937.
22 Annie Besant (1847–1933) Active feminist, socialist and theosophist. Essentially moderate in the Indian Home Rule Campaign but during the war grew impatient with the Indian National Congress and associated with B.G. Tilak to launch the Home Rule League: an action which led to her arrest by the Madras Government in July 1917. Her 94 days internment made her a martyr. After release became President of Congress but soon out-manoeuvred by Gandhi. Though lost influence during 1920s, continued to produce draft constitutions for a self-governing India.
23 Henry Herbert Asquith (1852–1928) Liberal MP for Fife (East) 1886–1918, Paisley 1920–24. Home Secretary 1892–1895; Chancellor of Exchequer 1905–1908; Prime Minister 1908–16; Secretary for War March–August 1914. Leader of Liberal Party 1908–26. Created K.G. and Earl of Oxford and Asquith 1925.
24 In August 1917 the Montagu Declaration stated the intent of government policy was to provide for the gradual development of ‘responsible government in India as an integral pan of the British Empire’.
25 George Cave (1856–1928) Conservative MP for Kingston (Surrey) 1906–18. Solicitor-General 1915–16; Home Secretary 1916–19; Lord Chancellor 1922–24, 1924–28. Knighted 1915. Created Viscount 1919.
26 Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930) Conservative MP for Hertford 1874–85, Man chester (East) 1885–1906, City of London 1906–22. President Local Government Board 1885–86; Scottish Secretary 1886–87; Chief Secretary for Ireland 1887–91; 1st Lord of Treasury 1891–92, 1895–1905; Prime Minister 1902–5; 1st Lord of Admiralty 1915–16; Foreign Secretary 1916–19; Lord President 1919–22 and 1925–29. Created K.G. 1922 and Earl of Balfour later in same year.
27 (William) Maxwell Aitken (1879–1964) Conservative MP for Ashton-Under-Lyne 1910–16. Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Propaganda/Information 1918–19; Minister of Aircraft Production 1940–41; Minister of State 1941; Minister of Supply 1941–42; Minister of War Production 1942; Lord Privy Seal 1943–45. Knighted 1911. Created Baronet 1916 and Baron Beaverbrook 1917, Acquired Daily Express 1918Google Scholar and later Evening Standard.
28 Edward Alfred Goulding (1862–1936) Conservative MP for Worcester 1908–22. PPS (unpaid) to Local Government Board 1895–98. Chairman, Tariff Reform League Organisation Department 1904–12. Created Baron Wargrave 1922.
29 Lord Chelmsford publicly rebuked Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the Lt-Governor of the Punjab, for an intemperate speech. See ‘The War Service of India’, The Times, 2 11 1917.Google Scholar
30 Sir Courtney Peregrine Ilbert (1841–1924) Legal member, Council of Viceroy of India 1882–6; Clerk of the House of Commons 1902–21. In 1883 he proposed to extend the criminal jurisdiction of Indian magistrates over Europeans to the entire country rather than just the Presidency towns. A massive anti-Indian outcry followed in India and Britain and a modified bill was enacted. The racial nature of the protest became a classical source of propaganda for the developing Indian nationalist movement.
31 Turner, J., British Politics and the Great War, 238Google Scholar. Petrie and Dutton do not mention the incident.
32 John St Loe Strachey (1860–1927) A Liberal Unionist from 1886 and co-editor of the party's paper. Contributor to Spectator from 1887 and Editor and proprietor 1898–1925. Editor Cornhill Magazine 1896–1897.Google Scholar
33 Sir Maurice “Bongie” Bonham Carter (1880–1960) PPS to Asquith 1910–16. Married Asquith's eldest daughter, Violet, 1915.
34 Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice (1845–1927) Succeeded father as 5th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1866. Under-Secretary of War 1872–74; Under-Secretary for India 1880; Governor-General Canada 1883–88; Viceroy of India 1888–1894; Secretary of War 1895–1900; Foreign Secretary 1900–1905; Minister without Portfolio 1915–16.
35 Geoffrey Howard (1877–1935) Liberal MP for Eskdale 1906–10, Wilts (Westbury) 1911–18; Luton 1923–24. PPS to Asquith 1908–10, Junior Lord of Treasury 1915–16 and a Liberal Whip 1911–18.
36 Norman Gwynne Chamberlain (1884–1917) Subaltern in the Grenadier Guards. Killed with all his company on 1 December; confirmed dead on 10 February 1918. The cousin both Chamberlain brothers knew and cared for most.
37 See Turner, J., British Politics and the Great War, 271–278.Google Scholar
38 See Chamberlain's notes 18 February 1918, AC18/2/1; George, D. Lloyd, War Memoirs of David Lloyd George, (6 vols, 1933–1936) V, 2822.Google Scholar
39 A ‘Convention’ to discuss the future government of Ireland met from July 1917–April 1918.
40 (William) St John Brodrick (1856–1942) Conservative MP for Surrey (West) 1880–1885, Surrey (Guildford) 1885–1906. Financial Secretary to War Office 1895–98, Under secretary Foreign Office 1898–1900, Secretary for War 1900–1903, Secretary for India 1903–5. Succeeded as 9th Viscount Midleton 1907 and Earl 1920. Offered the Irish Viceroyalty 1918.
41 William Archer Redmond (1886–1932) Nationalist MP for E. Tyrone 1910–18. Resigned and elected for Waterford City 1918–22. Member of Dáil for Waterford City to 1921 and Co. Waterford 1923–32 as an independent to 1926 and then as a member of the National League until 1932 when joined Cumann na nGaedheal.
42 William Morris Hughes (1864–1952) Australian politician for Labour then Nationalist then United Australia parties. In Labour Governments 1904–15; Prime Minister 1915–23. Attended Imperial War Cabinet 1918 and member of UK War Cabinet. Served in United Australia and Liberal Governments 1934–41.
43 Lt-Colonel Charles à Court Repington (1858–1925) Forced to leave army in 1904 by Henry Wilson because of adultery with fellow officer's wife. Military correspondent of The Times 1904–1918Google Scholar. Retained close links with General Staff in London and France during the war. Dismissed by Geoffrey Dawson from The Times in 01 1918Google Scholar. Later worked for Morning Post and Daily Telegraph.
44 Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (1865–1922) Founder of Amalgamated Press 1881 and proprietor of Answers, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Evening News. Proprietor of The Times 1908–1922Google Scholar. Chairman British War Mission to USA 1917; Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries 1918. Created Viscount Northcliffe 1905.
45 Harold Sidney Harmsworth (1868–1940) Northcliffe's brother. Proprietor of Daily Mirror 1914–1931Google Scholar; Daily Mail, Evening News and Associated Newspapers Ltd, 1922–40; Secretary for Air 1917–18. Created Baron Rothermere 1914, Viscount 1919.
46 Field-Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson (1864–1922) Deputy, later Assistant, Adjutant-General, Army HQ 1903–06; Director of Military Operations 1910–14. Assistant Chief of General Staff 1914; British Military Representative at Supreme War Council 1917. Chief of Imperial General Staff 1918–22. Unionist MP for N. Down February 1922 until assassinated on the steps of his London home on 22 June 1922.
47 George Ambrose Lloyd (1879–1941) Conservative MP for Staffordshire (West) 1910–18 and Eastbourne 1924–25. Governor of Bombay 1918–23; High Commissioner for Egypt and The Sudan 1925–29; Colonial Secretary and Leader of the Lords May 1940– February 1941. Created G.C.I.E. 1918, G.C.S.I. 1924 and Baron Lloyd 1925.
48 Field-Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson (1860–1933) Assistant Director Military Operations 1901–07; General Staff, Aldershot 1907–10; Director of Military Training 1913–14; Chief of General Staff, BEF 1915; Chief of Imperial General Staff 1915–18; G.O. C-in-C Eastern Command 1918; C-in-C British Army on the Rhine 1919–20.
49 Edward George Villiers Stanley (1865–1948) Conservative MP for SE Lancashire 1892–1906. Financial Secretary to War Office 1900–03; Postmaster General (in Cabinet) 1903–05; Under-Secretary for War July-December 1916; Secretary for War 1916–18 and 1922–24; Ambassador to Paris 1918–20. Created K.C.V.O. and K.G. in 1919. Succeeded as 17th Earl of Derby in 1908.
50 Herbert Louis Samuel (1870–1963) Liberal MP for Cleveland 1902–18 and Darwen 1929–35. PUS at Home Office 1905–09; Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster 1909–10 and 1915–16; Postmaster General 1910–14 and 1915–16; President of Local Government Board 1914–15; Home Secretary 1916 and 1931–32. High Commissioner for Palestine 1920–25. Created G.B.E. 1920, G.C.B. in 1926 and Viscount Samuel 1937.
51 Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (1861–1928) Chief of Staff India 1909–12; GOC Aldershot 1912–14; commander 1st Army 1914–15; C-in-C Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders 1915–19 and Forces in Great Britain 1919–20.
52 House of Commons Debates, vol 102 col. 656–657, 19 02 1918.Google Scholar
53 Turner, J., British Politics and the Great War, 278Google Scholar: a view based on the contents of a letter from F.S. Oliver, 19 February 1918 – the day of the speech — referring to ‘our talk last night’.
54 For a passionate exposition of these objections see A. Chamberlain to Milner, Curzon and Carson, 21–22 February 1918, AC5/7/5, 7. For earlier expressions of distaste at press influence see A. Chamberlain to Hilda, 20 November 1917; to Ida 25 January 1918, AC5/1/47, 57; Amery Diary, 10 October 1917, The Leo Amery Diaries, 173.Google Scholar
55 Amery Diary, 4 March 1918, The Leo Amery Diaries, 209.Google Scholar
56 Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher (1865–1940) Liberal MP for Sheffield (Hallam) 1916–18 and English Universities 1918–26. President Board of Education 1916–22. Wardenn New College, Oxford 1925–40
57 James William Lowther (1855–1949) Unionist MP for Rutland 1883–1885; Penrith 1886–1921. PUS at Foreign Office 1891–2. Deputy Speaker 1895–1905; Speaker 1905–21. Chairman Conference on Electoral Reform 1916–17; Boundary Commission 1917; Federal Devolution Committee 1919; Review Committee on Political Honours 1923–4; Agricultural Wages Board 1930–40. Created Viscount Ullswater 1921.
58 David Alfred Thomas (1856–1918) Liberal MP for Merthyr Tydfil 1888–1910 and Cardiff 1910. President Local Government Board December 1916–June 1917 and Minister of Food Control 1917–July 1918. Created Baron Rhondda 1916 and Viscount 1918.
59 William Sutherland (1880–1949) Assisted with OAP and National Insurance Acts and Lloyd George's land policy before Great War. Private Secretary to Lloyd George 1915–18. Liberal MP for Argyll, 1918–24. PPS to Lloyd George 1919–20; Junior Lord of Treasury 1920–22; Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster 1922. Created K.C.B. in 1919.
60 Admiral Sir John Rushworth Jellicoe (1859–1935) Naval career from 1872. Director of Naval Ordnance 1905–7; Controller of the Navy 1908–10; Command Atlantic Fleet 1910–11; 2nd Division Home Fleet 1911–12; 2nd Sea Lord 1912–14; Commander Grand Fleet 1914–16; 1st Sea Lord 1916; chief of Naval Staff 1917. Governor-General, New Zealand 1920–24. Created Earl Jellicoe.
61 William Waldegrave Palmer (1859–1942) Liberal MP for Hampshire (East) 1885–86. In 1886 became a Liberal Unionist and held same seat until 1892. Liberal Unionist MP for Edinburgh (West) 1892–95. Under-Secretary for Colonies 1895–1900; 1st Lord of Admiralty 1900–1905; High Commissioner for South Africa 1905–10; President, Board of Agriculture 1915–16. Succeeded as 2nd Earl of Selborne 1895. Created G.C.M.G. 1905 and K.G. 1909.
62 Frederick Scott Oliver (1864–1934) Businessman and publicist. Author of Federalism and Home Rule (1910)Google Scholar and Ordeal by Battle (1915)Google Scholar. Close relationship with Chamberlain over Irish issue.
63 Horace Curzon Plunkett (1854–1932) Land reformer and promoter of agricultural cooperation. Conservative MP for Dublin County 1892–1900; Vice-President Department of Agriculture for Ireland 1899–1907; Chairman, Irish Convention, 1917–18; Senator Irish Free State 1922–23. Created K.C.V.O. 1903.