Chamberlain, Joseph

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Chamberlain, Joseph (1836–1914) British political leader, father of Neville Chamberlain. He entered Parliament as a Liberal in 1876. In 1880, he became president of the board of trade. In 1886 he resigned over Gladstone's Home Rule Bill, and was leader of the Liberal Unionists from 1889. In 1895, he returned to government as colonial secretary, where his aggressive, imperialist stance helped provoke the South African War (1899). He resigned again in 1903 in order to argue freely for tariff reforms.

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