Neville Chamberlain was born on 18 March, 1869,
in Birmingham. He was the eldest son of Joseph Chamberlain’s
second wife. Joseph Chamberlain was the Lord Mayor of
Birmingham, so Neville Chamberlain had a very politically
focused upbringing. Neville’s mother died when he was six,
giving birth to Neville’s siblings, and his relations with his
father were habitually strained.Neville attended one of the
oldest boarding schools in England, the Rugby School. Growing
up, he developed several interests: botany, fishing,
horticulture, ornithology, music and literature. For further
studies, he attended the University of Birmingham (then known as
Mason College). At the age of 21, he left for the Bahamas, to
manage his father’s estate for seven years. On his return in
1897, he set up a copper-brass industry, and was also deeply
involved in civic activities. He officially joined politics at
the age of 42, in November 1911, as part of the Birmingham Town
Planning Committee.In January 1911, he married Anne Vere Cole,
with whom he had two children, Dorothy and Francis. It was Anne
who encouraged his joining politics.
In 1915, he became the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. In December
1916, during his second term, David Llyod George offered him the
position of Director of National Service. He would be
responsible for conscripts and would simultaneously ensure that
the war industries had enough workers. Chamberlain accepted the
position, but was left unclear about its specifics, because of
which his work seemed unsatisfactory to Llyod George. Relations
remained strained between them from then on, and Chamberlain
resigned from the post in 1917.
Chamberlain stayed out of the political spotlight until l1922,
even though his half-brother, Austen, became the leader of the
Conservative Party in 1921, albeit for a short term.
In late 1922, when Lloyd George’s government had fallen apart,
Chamberlain rejoined the political scene under the newly
established Bonar Law government. Chamberlain was appointed the
Postmaster-General that October. He also served as Minister of
Health and finally became the Chancellor of the Exchequer in ten
months. He gained an influential position under Baldwin, the
party leader. In 1924, Chamberlain became the Minister of Health
for the next five years, and introduced many social reforms,
including the Widows’, Orphans’ and Old Age Contributory
Pensions Act of 1925, which “involved a contributory insurance
scheme” that provided for widows and orphans as well as the
retired, and reduced the retiring age to 65. He also introduced
the Rating and Valuation Act of 1927, which introduced a new way
of collecting local taxes.
The Great Depression affected the Labour Party badly as they
suddenly had to cope with a poor economy and general
instability.
Chamberlain became Prime Minister of Great Britain on 28 May,
1937. His three years in office were known for his policy of
appeasement towards the growing threat of adversaries in Europe,
such as Hitler and Mussolini. His policy in the beginning of his
rule is summarized by his statement below: "We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war,
by analyzing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by
discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will. I cannot
believe that such a program would be rejected by the people of
this country, even if it does mean the establishment of personal
contact with the dictators."
Following the Munich Agreement, Chamberlain made a speech on
September 30th, 1938, which was famous for the irony it
contained in the phrase “peace of our time,” which justified
Chamberlain’s signing away the Sudetenland. This phrase is
ironic because of the coming chaos the Munich Pact gave way to.
When Hitler broke the agreement, and invaded all of
Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain personally felt “betrayed.”
Although Chamberlain was popular among the citizens during the
start of the war, with being included in the poetry written at
that time, an unsuccessful expedition in Norway against Germany
troops proved to launch much opposition from inside his party,
such that Chamberlain was forced to resign from his post as
Prime Minister. He recommended, for his succession, Winston
Churchill.
Neville Chamberlain died on 9 November, 1940, due to bowel
cancer.
Isha Chauhan
British International School of Bratislava
