Asquith, Herbert Henry, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith

Asquith, Herbert Henry, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (b. 12 Sept. 1852, d. 15 Feb. 1928). British Prime Minister 1908–16 Born in Morley (Yorkshire), he overcame a difficult childhood, when he was orphaned at the age of 8, to attend Oxford University and become a barrister. A Liberal, he was elected to Parliament in 1886 for East Fife and soon caught general attention as a brilliant debater. He was appointed Foreign Secretary in the Liberal governments of 1892–5, despite having held no previous post in government. He lost some ground in his party during the South African (Boer) War, as he did not share the sentiments of those Liberals who were opposed to the conflict. However, his defence of free trade when Joseph Chamberlain raised tariff reform once more raised him to prominence, and he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1905 under Campbell-Bannerman. He had much success in this office: in 1907 he introduced a new system of income tax rates which discriminated between earned and unearned income. In 1908, he introduced old-age pensions.

Asquith took over from Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister in 1908, and, in the row over Lloyd George's People's Budget twice led the party to electoral victory in 1910. This gave him the popular mandate to overcome the resistance of the House of Lords to pass the Parliament Act (1911). Having won the constitutional battle which had eluded all his Liberal predecessors, he continued to face considerable political challenges, notably rising trade union power, the growing suffragette movement, and increasing taxation to pay for rearmament, and the growth of imperialism leading up to World War I. His biggest prewar challenge, however, concerned the question of Irish Home Rule (i.e. Irish autonomy). This measure had been deeply unpopular within Britain, and had greatly contributed to the weakness of the Liberal Party between 1886 and 1905. Asquith eventually steered through a moderate, but still controversial, bill on Home Rule in 1912–13. This was given the Royal Assent on 18 September 1914, though it was never enacted because of the start of World War I. He led Britain into World War I in the face of strong pacifist sentiments within his own party. He was further weakened by his rather lacklustre style of government. A munitions shortage precipitated the formation of a coalition government with the Conservative Party in May 1915.

This failed to revive his popularity, and in December 1916 he resigned rather than accept demands from colleagues that he establish a war committee to coordinate Britain's war effort but then not chair it. He was succeeded by Lloyd George, whose bitter rival he became. He lost his seat in 1918, but was returned to Parliament in 1920, with the Liberal Party divided between his supporters and those of Lloyd George. He worked with Lloyd George in response to the Conservative endorsement of tariffs, but they were divided again over the General Strike. Therefore, despite his intellectual brilliance and his unique and hitherto unrivalled legislative record, Asquith's career ended in disappointment owing to his failure to reunite and revive a dying Liberal Party.