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‘One ought to be useful where one can’: Committees and Commissions, August 1917 – April 1918
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
Extract
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.
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References
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