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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
Chamberlain had little to say about the Cabinet reshuffle in June 1935 ‘except to thank heaven that Simon has left the F.O.’ Although initially satisfied with the performance of Sam Hoare, Simon's successor, Chamberlain's mood throughout the summer of 1935 was one of gloom whenever he considered ‘what a mess the whole world is in’. He remained very depressed about tensions with the other two ‘Stresa front’ powers when Parliament was dissolved for the General Election on 25 October 1935. Although still opposed by his old Labour adversary who had haunted the doorsteps of West Birmingham so assiduously since 1929, from the outset Chamberlain was remarkably confident about the result; ‘my people don't seem afraid of him … B'ham trade is good and people look happier than they did a few years ago’. Moreover, during the campaign he was particularly heartened to find that the old Chamberlain spirit kindled by his father continued to be an active force in what was a ‘regular “slum” constituency’. In the event, his confidence was well founded. In West Birmingham he was returned with a majority of over 7,000, the Conservatives again took all twelve seats in the city and the National Government returned with a majority of 255 to exceed even Chamberlain's wildest expectations.
1 Chamberlain, A. to Hilda, , 16 06 1935Google Scholar, AC5/1/704.
2 Chamberlain, A. to Ida, , 13 10 1935Google Scholar, AC5/1/709.
3 Chamberlain, A. to Hilda, , 17 11 1935Google Scholar, AC5/1/714.
4 Chamberlain, A. to Ida, , 22 09 1935Google Scholar, AC5/1/708.
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7 Vansittart, Lord, The Mist Procession, 549.Google Scholar
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10 Chamberlain's explanation was that he had a head cold and Hoare, Eden and Churchill had said all he wished to be said. Chamberlain, A. to Ida, , 26 10 1935Google Scholar, AC5/1/711.
11 Hardie, F., The Abyssinian Crisis, (1974), 55.Google Scholar
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42 Chamberlain, N. to Ida, , 4 07 1936Google Scholar, NC18/1/968. See also his warning to Baldwin in Jones Diary, 22 May 1936, A Diary with Letters, 204Google Scholar. Chamberlain was also a prominent member of the secret but well connected Focus for the Defence of Freedom and Peace, Thompson, The Anti-Appeasers, 128–129.Google Scholar
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44 O.G. Willey. Lecturer in economic history. Former member, National Executive of Workers' Educational Association; member National Union of General & Municipal Workers.
45 Samuel was defeated by a Conservative in Darwen and MacDonald by Labour in Seaham. The latter returned to Parliament in January 1936 but the former did not. During the summer and autumn of 1935 Lloyd George spent nearly £400,000 on Council of Action business and £100,000 supporting candidates pledged to the campaign.
46 Baldwin told Chamberlain that his age precluded the Foreign Office, but asked his opinion of Eden as a possible successor to Hoare.
47 Oliver Frederick George Stanley (1896–1950) Conservative MP for Westmorland 1924–45, Bristol West 1945–50. P.P.S. to Percy 1924–9; Under Secretary, Home Office 1931–3; Minister of Transport 1933–4; Minister of Labour 1934–5; President, Board of Education 1935–7; President, Board of Trade 1937–40; War Secretary 1940; Colonial Secretary 1942–5. Younger son of 17th Earl of Derby.
48 Chamberlain bitterly attacked Baldwin's policy errors and inertia and called for the creation of a Minister of Defence.
49 Henry Page Croft (1881–1947) Conservative MP for Christchurch 1910–18, Bournemouth 1918–40. Under Secretary, War Office 1940–45. Rabid protectionist and leading member of ‘The Confederacy’. Chairman, Tariff Reform League Organisation Committee 1913–7; Chairman, Empire Industries Association Executive 1928–45; leading Diehard and Principal Organiser of the National Party 1917–22. Created Bart 1924, Baron Croft 1940.
50 Robert John Graham Boothby (1900–1986) Conservative MP for Aberdeenshire East 1924–58. P.P.S. to Churchill 1926–29; Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Food 1940–1; British delegate to Consultative Assembly, Council of Europe 1949–57. Knighted 1953. Created Baron Boothby 1958.
51 Edward Bulwer Lytton (1803–73) Liberal MP for St Ives 1831–2, Lincoln 1832–41, Conservative MP for Hertfordshire 1852–66; Colonial Secretary 1858–9. Created Bart 1838, 1st Baron Lytton 1866.
52 Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970) Economist and banker. Managing Partner, National Bank of Germany 1915–22; Senior Partner, Schacht & Co Bankers; Reich Currency Commissioner 1923; President, Reichsbank 1924–30 and reappointed by Hider March 1933; Minister of Economics 1934–7. Tried at Nuremberg but acquitted 1946.
53 Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip (1876–1947) Conservative MP for Bristol Central 1918–29, Fareham 1931–9. Solicitor-General 1922–4, 1924–8, 1931–2; Attorney-General 1928–9, 1932–6; Minister for Coordination of Defence 1936–9; Dominion Secretary 1939, 1940; Lord Chancellor 1939–40; Lord Chief Justice 1940–6. Knighted 1922. Created Viscount Caldecote 1939.
54 On 26 March 1936 Eden declared that although seeking ‘a peaceful and agreed solution’, as a guarantor of Locarno Britain would support France and Belgium if attacked. ‘I am not prepared to be the first British Foreign Secretary to go back on a British signature’. House of Commons Debates, 5 Series, 310 cols. 1439–53.
55 Spier, E., Focus: A Footnote on the History of the Thirties (1936), 26Google Scholar. For British response to the Rhineland crisis see Griffiths, R., Fellow Travellers of the Right: British Enthusiasts for Nazi Germany, 1933–39, (Oxford 1983), 201–10Google Scholar.
56 House of Commons Debates, 5 Series, 310 cols, 1482–7, 26 03 1936.Google Scholar
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58 House of Commons Debates, 5 Series, 311 cols. 1769–71, 6 05 1936.Google Scholar
59 Birn, D.S., The League of Nations Unions, 162–3Google Scholar. He was persuaded by Murray to defer the announcement until 23 June 1936.
60 See Thompson, N., The Anti-Appeasers, 97–8Google Scholar; Petrie, C., Life and Letters, II, 413.Google Scholar
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63 Chamberlain, N. to Ida, , 4 07 1936Google Scholar, NC18/1/968.
64 Channon Diary, 27 July 1936, Chips, 73.Google Scholar
65 Headlam Diary, 2 and 9 May 1935, Ball, S. (ed) Parliament and Politics, 331–2Google Scholar.
66 Middlemas, & Barnes, , Baldwin, 962–3Google Scholar.
67 In the Commons on 6 May 1936 Chamberlain called for an end to sanctions on Italy. On 17 June the Cabinet announced the end of sanctions.
68 Alfred Butt (1878–1962) Conservative MP for Balham 1922 until his resignation over the Budget leak in 1936.
69 (Alfred) Duff Copper (1890–1954) Conservative MP for Oldham 1924–29, St George's 1931–45. Financial Secretary, War Office 1928–9, 1931–4; Financial Secretary Treasury, 1934–5; War Secretary 1935–7; First Lord of Admiralty 1937–8; Minister of Information 1940–1; Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster 1941–3; British representative with Free French 1943–4; Ambassador in Paris 1944–7. Created Viscount Norwich 1952.
70 On 11 July 1936 Germany and Austria signed an agreement to re-establish ‘normal and friendly relations’ which involved Hitler's pledge to recognise his neighbour's sovereignty in return for the promise that Austrian policy would be ‘based always on the principle that Austria acknowledges herself to be a German state’. Both agreed not to interfere in each other's domestic politics.
71 Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946) Aide-de-Camp to German peace delegation in Paris 1919; head of wine import-export business in Berlin 1920–33; National Socialist Deputy, Reichstag 1933; Ambassador to London 1936–38; SS-Gruppenführer 1936; Foreign Minister 1938–45. Found guilty at Nuremberg and hanged.
72 On 12 November 1936 Baldwin told the Commons that after the Fulham by-election ‘supposing I had gone to the country and said that Germany was rearming and that we must rearm, does anybody think that this pacific democracy would have rallied to that cry at that moment? I cannot think of anything that would have made the loss of the election … more certain’.
73 A deputation of Salisbury, Selborne, Derby, Crewe, Fitzalan, Samuel and Austen Chamberlain met Baldwin in his room at the Commons at 5.30 on Monday, 16 November 1936, Viscount Samuel, Memoirs, (1945), 265–6Google Scholar. This letter must, therefore, be dated earlier than 29 November.
74 Wallis Simpson (1896–1986) Soon after divorcing second husband married Edward, Duke of Windsor, 3 June 1937.
75 Alfonso de Merry del Val (1864–1943) Entered Spanish Diplomatic Service 1882. Tutor in English to King Alfonso XIII 1892–1902; Minister in Brussels 1911–13; Ambassador to London 1913–31; subsequently representing Burgos Government. Awarded Grand Cross of Royal Victorian Order 1918, Created Marquis 1925.
76 In September 1936 the new King had put off opening a hospital wing in Aberdeen to meet Mrs Simpson at the railway station on the implausible excuse of deep mourning. It sent a wave of resentment through Scotland and prompted press speculation everywhere else.
77 A. Chamberlain to Ida, 18 September and to Hilda, 27 September 1936, AC5/1/7434.
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79 Francis Dyke Acland (1874–1939) Liberal MP for Richmond, Yorks 1906–10, Cranborne 1910–22, Tiverton 1923–4, North Cornwall 1932–9. PPS to Haldane 1906–8; Financial Secretary, War Office 1908–10; Under Secretary, Foreign Office 1911–15; Financial Secretary, Treasury 1915; Parliamentary Secretary Agriculture 1915–16. Succeeded 14th Baronet 1926.
80 Abe Bailey (1863–1940) Major mine-owner in Transvaal. Created Baronet 1919 for services in promoting South African Union. His son John Milner Bailey (1900–46) married Churchill's eldest daughter Diana in 1932 but divorced 1935 – the first of three wives.
81 John Drinkwater (1882–1937) English poet and dramatist. Close associations with Birmingham where he was born. Birmingham Repertory Theatre first produced his most famous play Abraham Lincoln in 1918.Google Scholar
82 Bernard Arthur William Forbes, 8th Earl of Granard (1874–1948). Military career. Lord-in-Waiting to King Edward VII 1905–07; Master of Horse, 1907–15, 1924–36; Assistant Postmaster-General 1906–9. Member, Irish Senate, 1921–34; Member Irish Convention.
83 Wife of Edward Algernon Fitzroy (1869–1943) Deputy Chairman of Committees, House of Commons 1922–8; Speaker of the House of Commons 1928–43. She was created Viscountess Daventry on his death.
84 Maud (called herself Emerald) Cunard (1872–1948) Wife of Sir Bache Cunard. Society hostess; according to Boothby, one of the great five with Mrs Ronnie Greville, Lady Astor, Colefax and Londonderry.
85 Neville Chamberlain Diary, 16 March 1937. Petrie claims Austen died suddenly while taking a book from a shelf, Life and Letters, II, 415: an error reproduced in a vast number of subsequent works.
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