David Lloyd George (Q57923)

David Lloyd George, Liberal statesman and Prime Minister from 1916 until 1922, was born in Manchester in January 1863. His father died the following year and his mother took herself and her children to live with her brother Richard Lloyd (1834-1917) at Llanystumdwy, where David attended the National School. He qualified in law in 1884 and began to practice as a solicitor at Cricieth; he became known in his profession as a fierce advocate and an eloquent speaker. Together with his younger brother William George (1865-1967) he set up the family legal practice Lloyd George and George. In 1890 Lloyd George was elected Liberal MP for the Caernarvonshire Boroughs. His interests at this time were mainly those of Wales, including the Disestablishment of the Welsh Church and land reform; he was also prominent in the nationalistic movement Cymru Fydd which was founded in 1886. He also opposed the conduct of the South African war (1899-1902) and the 1902 Education Act. Upon the formation of a wartime coalition government in 1915, Lloyd George became Minister of Munitions, and in 1916 he succeeded first Lord Kitchener, as Secretary for War. On Asquith's enforced resignation in December 1916, Lloyd George became Prime Minister, steering Britain through the First World War and appearing prominently in the subsequent Paris Peace Conference of 1919. When, in November 1922, the Conservative members of the government took their decision to resign, thus making it impossible to continue the Coalition, Lloyd George also resigned his post as Prime Minister. Though he never held office again, he did however remain politically active for a number of years, even travelling to Germany to meet Adolf Hitler in 1936. In 1945, the last year of his life, Lloyd George was created 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor and Viscount Gwynedd. He died at Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy on 26 March 1945 and was buried near the river Dwyfor.