Liberal government, 1905–1915
The Liberal government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that began in 1905 and ended in 1915 consisted of two ministries: the first led by Henry Campbell-Bannerman (from 1905 to 1908) and the final three by H. H. Asquith (from 1908 onwards).
Asquith led the Government from 1908. He formed a coalition in 1915 during the First World War.
Formation
With the fall of Arthur Balfour's Conservative government in the United Kingdom in December 1905, the Liberals under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman were called in to form a government. In the subsequent election, the Liberals won an enormous majority.[1] Campbell-Bannerman was succeeded as prime minister by H. H. Asquith in 1908.[2]
Policies
The Liberal government was supported by 29 Labour Party MPs. Chancellor David Lloyd George crafted the People's Budget and introduced a great deal of social legislation,[3] such as old age pensions and unemployment insurance for a significant part of the working population. For many working people, for whom in old age the threat of the workhouse was very real, these represented a very significant change. Equally groundbreaking was the Parliament Act 1911 which:
- Removed the law-making veto from the House of Lords thus rendering it constitutionally most expedient to run any future government from the House of Commons
- Enshrined into law the previous convention, which the Lords had broken in 1909, that the Lords may not reject Money Bills
- Cut the length of Parliaments from seven years to five
Many of the members of Asquith's cabinet, however, opposed the social measures promulgated by leading figures such as Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. This resistance was arguably a reflection of the extent to which many Liberals still adhered to the Party's Gladstonian, classical liberal tradition in spite of the growth of the "New Liberalism". Morley was opposed to both old-age pensions and the provisions of the Trade Boards Act of 1909, while Runciman was against the eight-hour day for miners and compensation for workers. Burns, Bryce, Loreburn, and W.S. Robson were opposed to land reform, insurance, and the feeding of schoolchildren,[4] while several cabinet members[5] (such as Crewe,[6] Fitzmaurice,[7] Harcourt,[8] and McKenna[9]) were critical of Lloyd George's progressive "People's Budget." Nevertheless, according to Neil Smith, the majority of the members of the Edwardian Liberal Cabinets were supportive of social reform and social progress.[10] As noted by one study,
They (the Liberal Cabinet members) sought to respond to the discontent of the electorate by using the existing structure of government to correct the ills of society through innovative legislation. Two-thirds of the Liberal candidates, including Edwin Montagu, had pledged support for such measures during the campaign. While their support was often expressed in general terms, their intent was clear: Social and economic reform must be the first order of the new government.[11]
Fate
Although the government lost a great deal of support by the two general elections of 1910, they managed to hold on by dint of support from the Irish Parliamentary Party. After early mismanagement during the First World War, particularly the failure of the Dardanelles Campaign, Asquith was forced to bring the Unionists into the government in a coalition.[12]
Cabinets
Campbell-Bannerman ministry
| Campbell-Bannerman ministry | |
|---|---|
| 1905–1908 | |
 | |
| Date formed | 5 December 1905 |
| Date dissolved | 5 April 1908 |
| People and organisations | |
| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Prime Minister | Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman |
| Member party | Liberal Party |
| Status in legislature | |
| Opposition party | Conservative Party |
| Opposition leaders |
|
| History | |
| Election(s) | 1906 general election |
| Legislature term(s) | |
| Predecessor | Balfour ministry |
| Successor | First Asquith ministry |
- Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman – Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons[13]
- The Lord Loreburn – Lord Chancellor
- The Earl of Crewe – Lord President of the Council
- The Marquess of Ripon – Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords
- H. H. Asquith – Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Herbert Gladstone – Secretary of State for the Home Department
- Sir Edward Grey, Bt – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- The Earl of Elgin – Secretary of State for the Colonies
- Richard Haldane – Secretary of State for War
- John Morley – Secretary of State for India
- The Lord Tweedmouth – First Lord of the Admiralty
- David Lloyd George – President of the Board of Trade
- Sir Henry Fowler – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- Sir John Sinclair – Secretary for Scotland
- James Bryce – Chief Secretary for Ireland
- John Burns – President of the Local Government Board
- The Earl Carrington – President of the Board of Agriculture
- Augustine Birrell – President of the Board of Education
- Sydney Buxton – Postmaster-General
Changes
- January 1907 – Augustine Birrell succeeds Bryce as Irish Secretary. Reginald McKenna succeeds Birrell at the Board of Education.[14]
- March 1907 – Lewis Harcourt, the First Commissioner of Works, enters the cabinet.[15]
Asquith ministry
| Asquith ministries | |
|---|---|
 Asquith (1908) | |
| Date formed |
|
| Date dissolved |
|
| People and organisations | |
| Monarch |
|
| Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
| Prime Minister's history | 1908–1916 |
| Member party | Liberal Party |
| Status in legislature |
|
| Opposition party | Conservative Party |
| Opposition leaders |
|
| History | |
| Election(s) | |
| Legislature term(s) | |
| Budget(s) | People's Budget |
| Predecessor | C-Bannerman ministry |
| Successor | Asquith coalition ministry |
| Office | Name | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister First Lord of the Treasury | H. H. Asquith | May 1908 – May 1915 |
| Lord Chancellor | The Lord Loreburn[17] | April 1908 – June 1912 |
| The Viscount Haldane | June 1912 – May 1915 | |
| Lord President of the Council | The Lord Tweedmouth | April–September 1908 |
| The Viscount Wolverhampton | September 1908 – June 1910 | |
| The Earl Beauchamp | June–November 1910 | |
| The Viscount Morley of Blackburn | November 1910 – August 1914 | |
| The Earl Beauchamp | August 1914 – May 1915 | |
| Lord Privy Seal | The Marquess of Ripon | May–October 1908 |
| The Earl of Crewe[18] | October 1908 – October 1911 | |
| The Earl Carrington | October 1911 – February 1912 | |
| The Marquess of Crewe | February 1912 – May 1915 | |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | David Lloyd George | May 1908 – May 1915 |
| Home Secretary | Herbert Gladstone | May 1908 – February 1910 |
| Winston Churchill | February 1910 – October 1911 | |
| Reginald McKenna | October 1911 – May 1915 | |
| Foreign Secretary | Sir Edward Grey, Bt | May 1908 – May 1915 |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | The Earl of Crewe | May 1908 – November 1910 |
| Lewis Harcourt | November 1910 – May 1915 | |
| Secretary of State for War | Richard Haldane[19] | May 1908 – June 1912 |
| Jack Seely | June 1912 – March 1914 | |
| H. H. Asquith | March–August 1914 | |
| The Earl Kitchener | August 1914 – May 1915 | |
| Secretary of State for India | The Viscount Morley of Blackburn | May 1908 – November 1910 |
| The Earl of Crewe | November 1910 – May 1915 | |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | Reginald McKenna | May 1908 – October 1911 |
| Winston Churchill | October 1911 – May 1915 | |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | The Viscount Wolverhampton | May–September 1908 |
| The Lord FitzMaurice | September 1908 – June 1909 | |
| Herbert Samuel | June 1909 – May 1910 | |
| Joseph Pease | May 1910 – October 1911 | |
| Charles Hobhouse | October 1911 – February 1914 | |
| Charles Masterman | February 1914 – January 1915 | |
| Edwin Samuel Montagu | January–May 1915 | |
| President of the Board of Trade | Winston Churchill | May 1908 – February 1910 |
| Sydney Buxton | February 1910 – February 1914 | |
| John Burns | February–August 1914 | |
| Walter Runciman | August 1914 – May 1915 | |
| Secretary for Scotland | John Sinclair[20] | May 1908 – February 1912 |
| Thomas McKinnon Wood | February 1912 – May 1915 | |
| Chief Secretary for Ireland | Augustine Birrell | May 1908 – May 1915 |
| President of the Local Government Board | John Burns | May 1908 – February 1914 |
| Herbert Samuel | February 1914 – May 1915` | |
| President of the Board of Agriculture | The Earl Carrington | May 1908 – October 1911 |
| Walter Runciman | October 1911 – August 1914 | |
| The Lord Lucas | August 1914 – May 1915 | |
| President of the Board of Education | Walter Runciman | May 1908 – October 1911 |
| Joseph Pease | October 1911 – May 1915 | |
| Postmaster General | Sydney Buxton | May 1908 – February 1910 |
| Herbert Samuel | February 1910 – February 1914 | |
| Charles Hobhouse | February 1914 – May 1915 | |
| First Commissioner of Works | Lewis Harcourt | May 1908 – November 1910 |
| The Earl Beauchamp | November 1910 – August 1914 | |
| The Lord Emmott | August 1914 – May 1915 | |
| Attorney General | Sir Rufus Isaacs[21] | June 1912 – October 1913 |
| Sir John Simon | October 1913 – May 1915 |
Changes
- September 1908 – Lord Wolverhampton succeeds Lord Tweedmouth as Lord President. Lord FitzMaurice succeeds Lord Wolverhampton as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
- October 1908 – Lord Crewe succeeds Lord Ripon as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords, while remaining also Colonial Secretary.
- June 1909 – Herbert Samuel succeeds Lord FitzMaurice at the Duchy of Lancaster.
- February 1910 – Winston Churchill succeeds Herbert Gladstone as Home Secretary. Sydney Buxton succeeds Churchill at the Board of Trade. Herbert Samuel succeeds Buxton as Postmaster-General. Joseph Pease succeeds Samuel as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
- June 1910 – Lord Beauchamp succeeds Lord Wolverhampton as Lord President.
- November 1910 – Lord Beauchamp succeeds Lewis Vernon Harcourt as First Commissioner of Public Works. Lord Morley of Blackburn succeeds Beauchamp as Lord President. Lord Crewe succeeds Morley as India Secretary, remaining also Lord Privy Seal. Lewis Harcourt succeeds Crewe as Colonial Secretary.
- October 1911 – Winston Churchill and Reginald McKenna switch offices, Churchill taking the Admiralty and McKenna the Home Office. Lord Carrington succeeds Lord Crewe as Lord Privy Seal. Crewe remains India Secretary. Walter Runciman succeeds Lord Carrington at the Board of Agriculture. Joseph Albert Pease succeeds Runciman at the Board of Education. Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse succeeds Pease at the Duchy of Lancaster.
- February 1912 – Lord Crewe succeeds Lord Carrington as Lord Privy Seal, remaining also India Secretary. Thomas MacKinnon Wood succeeds Lord Pentland as Secretary for Scotland.
- June 1912 – The Attorney-General, Sir Rufus Isaacs, enters the cabinet. Lord Haldane succeeds Lord Loreburn as Lord Chancellor. Jack Seely succeeds Haldane as Secretary for War.
- October 1913 – Sir John Simon succeeds Sir Rufus Isaacs as Attorney-General.
- February 1914 – John Burns succeeds Sydney Buxton as President of the Board of Trade. Herbert Samuel succeeds Burns at the Local Government Board. Sir Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse succeeds Samuel as Postmaster-General. Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman succeeds Hobhouse at the Duchy of Lancaster.
- March 1914 – Asquith temporarily succeeds Jack Seely as Secretary for War.
- August 1914 – Lord Beauchamp succeeds Lord Morley as Lord President. Lord Emmott succeeds Beauchamp as First Commissioner of Public Works. Walter Runciman succeeds John Burns as President of the Board of Trade. Lord Lucas succeeds Runciman at the Board of Agriculture. Lord Kitchener succeeds Asquith as Secretary for War.
- January 1915 – Edwin Samuel Montagu succeeds Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
List of Ministers
Members of the cabinet are in bold face.
- Notes
- Created Earl Loreburn 4 July 1911.
- Also Leader of the House of Lords 10 December 1905 – 14 April 1908.
- Also Leader of the House of Lords; created Marquess of Crewe 3 July 1911.
- Also Leader of the House of Lords.
- Created Baron Fitzmaurice 9 January 1906.
- Also Leader of the House of Lords.
- Created Viscount Haldane 27 March 1911.
- Also Prime Minister.
- Created Viscount Morley of Blackburn 2 May 1908.
- Also Leader of the House of Lords.
- Also Leader of the House of Lords; created Marquess of Crewe 3 July 1911.
- Created Viscount Wolverhampton 4 May 1908.
- Created Lord Ashby St Ledgers 15 March 1910.
- Created Baron Pentland 15 February 1909.
- Created a Baronet 22 July 1908.
- Entered cabinet 27 March 1907.
- Entered cabinet 4 June 1912.
- Created Earl of Liverpool 22 December 1905.
- Succeeded as 6th Earl Spencer 13 August 1910.
- Succeeded as 2nd Lord Allendale 13 February 1907.
- Created a Baronet 7 July 1910.
- Succeeded as 2nd Lord Wimborne 22 February 1914.
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See also
References
- A. K. Russell, Liberal landslide : the general election of 1906 (1973).
- Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. Ed. Margaret Macmillan. New York: Library of America, 2008. p. 66.
- John Grigg, Lloyd George: The People's Champion, 1902–1911 (1978)
- Tanner, Duncan (1990). "Ideas and politics, 1906-1914". Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0521329817.
- Murray, Bruce (Autumn 2009). "The "People's Budget" A Century On" (PDF). Journal of Liberal History. Liberal Democrat History Group (64): 4–13. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- Waterhouse, Michael (2013). Edwardian Requiem: A Life of Sir Edward Grey. London: Biteback Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781849545808.
- Murray, Bruce (1980). "The Budget in the Cabinet". The People's Budget: 1909–1910 ; Lloyd George and Liberal Politics. Clarendon Press. p. 149.
- Jackson, Patrick (Autumn 2003). "Biography: Lewis Harcourt" (PDF). Journal of Liberal History. Liberal Democrat History Group (40): 14–17.
- Campbell, John (2010). "H. H. Asquith and David Lloyd George". Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown. London: Vintage. p. 149. ISBN 9781845950910.
- Smith, Neil (1972). "Social reform in Edwardian liberalism: the genesis of the policies of national insurance and old age pensions, 1906–11 - Durham e-Theses". Durham E-Theses. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- Naomi Levine (1991). Politics, Religion, and Love: The Story of H.H. Asquith, Venetia Stanley, and Edwin Montagu, Based on the Life and Letters of Edwin Samuel Montagu. NYU Press. pp. 82–83.
- Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Vintage, 1998. p. 320.
- All posts referenced in Cook, Chris. The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Nineteenth Century, 1815–1914. Abingdon: Routledge, 2005. p. 52.
- Daglish, Neal. Education Policy Making in England and Wales: The Crucible Years, 1895-1911. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013. p. 315.
- Jenkins, Roy. Churchill: A Biography. New York: MacMillan, 2001. p. 123.
- Englefield, Dermot; Seaton, Janet; White, Isobel (1995). Facts About the British Prime Ministers. Mansell Publishing Limited. p. 412. ISBN 978-0-7201-2306-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Earl Loreburn from 1911.
- Marquess of Crewe from 1911
- Viscount Haldane from 1911
- Lord Pentland from 1909
- Lord Reading from 1913.
Further reading
- Blewett, Neal. Peers, the Parties and the People: General Elections of 1910 (1972).
- Brooks, David. The Age of Upheaval: Edwardian Politics, 1899-1914 (1995)
- Butler, David and Gareth Butler. Twentieth Century British Political Facts, 1900–2000. (St. Martin's, 2000)
- Cross, Colin. The Liberals in Power, 1905-1914 (1963) online
- Daglish, N. D. "A ‘difficult and somewhat thankless task’: politics, religion and the Education Bill of 1908." Journal of educational administration and history 31.1 (1999): 19-35.
- Gilbert, Bentley Brinkerhoff. "David Lloyd George: Land, The Budget, and Social Reform." American Historical Review 81.5 (1976): 1058-1066.
- Gilbert, Bentley B. "David Lloyd George: the reform of British landholding and the budget of 1914." Historical Journal 21.1 (1978): 117-141.
- Grigg, John. Lloyd George: The People's Champion, 1902–1911 (1978). biography
- Halévy, Elie. History of the English People, 1905-1914 (1934), 686pp. a major political history
- Hay, James Roy. Origins of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, 1906–14 (1975) 78pp online
- Jenkins, Roy. Asquith: portrait of a man and an era (1964)
- Quinault, Roland. "Asquith's Liberalism." History 77.249 (1992): 33-49.
- Russell, A. K. Liberal landslide : the general election of 1906 (1973).
- Searle, G. R. A New England?: peace and war, 1886–1918 (Oxford UP, 2004), wide-ranging scholarly survey, 952 pp.
Primary sources and year books
- Annual Register 1906
- Annual Register 1907
- Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom annual 1901–1909, online
- The Liberal Year Book: 1908. 1907., 370pp
| Preceded by Balfour ministry |
Government of the United Kingdom 1905–1915 |
Succeeded by Asquith coalition ministry |
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