Past Prime Ministers
Born 12 September 1852, Morley, West Yorkshire
Died 15 February 1928, The Wharf, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire
Dates in office 5 April 1908 - 5 December 1916
Political party Liberal
Major acts
Old Age Pensions Act 1908 - provided for a non-contributory old age pension for eligible people over 70. To be eligible, people had to be earning less than £21.10s per year and pass a good character test.
National Insurance Act 1911 - intended to create a national system of insurance for working people against illness and unemployment. All wage-earners (aged 16-70) had to contribute 4d per week, with employers paying in 3d and the state 2d. Workers were entitled in return to receive free medical care and advice and a ‘dole’ payment for up to 15 weeks.
Interesting facts
He is the only Prime Minister to have taken office on foreign soil. When he succeeded Campbell-Bannerman Edward VII was in Biarritz and Asquith travelled there for the official ‘kissing-hands’ with the monarch.
His first name was rarely used in public and he was often referred to just as H.H – he was christened Herbert, but his second wife used the name Henry.
Herbert Henry Asquith
1908 - 1916
“Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.”
Herbert Henry Asquith was the son of a Yorkshire clothing manufacturer. He was educated at City of London School and Balliol College Oxford, where he became President of the Union, and was later called to the Bar in 1876.
In 1886 Asquith was elected as the Liberal MP for East Fife, despite the constraints of being a young widower with five children. He had married Helen Kelsall Mellard but she died from typhoid.
He was a strong believer in free trade, Home Rule for Ireland, and social reform, all vital issues of the day.
With his intellectual and a oratorical gifts he was quick to make his mark on the Commons. Despite the lack of previous ministerial experience, he became Home Secretary under Gladstone in 1892, and then again under Rosebery. Out of office for a decade from 1895, he returned to his barrister’s practice, but also toured the country making influential speeches in favour of free trade.
In 1905 Asquith, a stocky man with clean-cut features, became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the new Liberal government. He introduced higher taxes on unearned income, which helped pay for another innovation – pensions for senior citizens over 70.
Taking on the House of Lords
In 1908 he became PM following the resignation of Henry Campbell-Bannerman. Asquith now took on the House of Lords, which often blocked reforming Liberal bills, preventing them becoming law.
The Lords unwisely rejected his Chancellor’s (Lloyd George) budget of 1909. The December 1910 election was billed as a referendum on this Lords vs. Commons issue.
After the election Asquith had no overall majority but it gave him the public support he needed.
He introduced the Parliament Bill, which stripped the Lords of any veto over money bills or public legislation. The Bill became law in 1911. The Lords were forced into passing the bill by the threat that hundreds of new Liberal peers would be created if they did not approve the bill.
As Prime Minister, Asquith presided over a period of national upheaval, with the issues of Irish Home Rule, and womens suffrage dominating the era. Asquith also brought Britain into World War One.
To maximise government support he formed a coalition government in 1915. But this government was unsuccessful and unpopular for the war was going badly. The press blamed the deadlock on the battlefields on Asquith’s procrastination.
Sidelined
Asquith appeared sidelined when he accepted Lloyd George’s suggestion that a small cabinet committee direct the war, to the exclusion of the Prime Minister himself.
His subsequent change of mind led to a rift with Lloyd George which forced Asquith to resign in December 1916, on the same day as his Chancellor resigned.
The success of Lloyd George’s government consigned Asquith to the political wilderness, a situation compounded by the loss of his seat, and those of many of his allies in 1918.
He had enjoyed a very odd position as he stubbornly remained Leader of the Liberal Party, despite lacking a seat.
Two years later he won a seat in a by-election in 1920 but would not govern again. In 1925 Asquith was granted the title of Earl of Oxford and elevated to the House of Lords. He died of a stroke in 1928.