The Real Lloyd George

In 1947, Lloyd George’s former private secretary, A. J. Sylvester, published The Real Lloyd George, an insider’s look at Lloyd George as he really was. Although much of the contents of the book were pedestrian, it still remains an important addition to the huge Lloyd George bibliography, if only because of its author’s closeness to his subject from 1923 until his death twenty-two years later, and his habit of keeping a full diary of the events which he observed at first hand. Dr J. Graham Jones discusses the classic A. J. Sylvester and lbert James Sylvester age and secured employment as a Lloyd George. semi-biographical (1889–1989) experi- clerk at Charrington’s brewery. enced a quite unique During these years he attended work, and assesses its life and career.1 Born evening classes in shorthand and impact and reactions at Harlaston, Stafford- typing, gained professional quali- Ashire, the son of a tenant farmer of fications in these subjects and to its contents and very modest means, he was com- attained champion speeds in both pelled by family poverty to leave skills. He then migrated to Lon- influence. school at just fourteen years of don in 1910, eventually setting

 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 The Real Lloyd George

up his own business as a freelance of Caernarfon Boroughs. He also on indispensable, begged him to shorthand writer at Chancery made the practical arrangements remain in post. This was espe- Lane, before, early in the First for Lloyd George’s numerous cially true during the autumn World War, securing a position as trips overseas, and, increasingly of 1944 after Lloyd George and a stenographer (shorthand writer) as the 1930s ran their course, he Frances had returned to live in in the office of M. P. A. Hankey was regularly in attendance at their new North Wales home, (later Lord Hankey), who was at Westminster, acting as his employ- Ty Newydd, . Syl- the time Secretary to the Com- er’s ‘eyes and ears’ in the House vester soon began to resent stay- mittee of Imperial Defence and of Commons. Sylvester was also ing on indefinitely in this remote thus at the heart of the Allied war much involved in the research and area and threatened to return to campaign. This auspicious move preparation of the mammoth War the south-east, feeling that he was to launch Sylvester on his Memoirs which occupied so much had been badly treated by his professional career. He became of Lloyd George’s time during the employers – who implored him the first man ever to take short- long 1930s. He undertook some to remain in their service: hand notes of the proceedings of of the research himself, arranged a cabinet meeting – a truly pio- for the classification of the mas- Frances assured me that things neering task. sive archive of official and private would be all right for me later. In 1916 he became Hankey’s papers which Lloyd George had (All she did was to double cross private secretary, and in 1921 took accumulated, and conducted often me, and she did NOTHING.) up a similar position in the employ lengthy interviews with many In this controversy LG himself of , then former ministers of the crown. said not a word to me: neither I Prime Minister of the post-war Sylvester was also heavily impli- to him. The whole attitude and coalition government. Although cated in his employer’s complex, atmosphere was: He must not be he initially remained at 10 Down- bizarre personal and family life, bothered about things like this’2 ing Street when his employer fell becoming closely involved with from power in the autumn of almost all members of the sprawl- Lloyd George died at Ty Newydd 1922, a year later Sylvester gladly ing Lloyd George family, spanning on 26 March 1945. Sylvester, who rejoined his ‘old chief’ as Princi- three generations, and experienc- had been present at the deathbed pal Private Secretary (a title upon ing an especially delicate relation- Sylvester scene, suddenly found himself out which he himself insisted), remain- ship with , LG’s … became of a job for the first time in his life, ing in this position for more than secretary, mistress and eventually at fifty-five years of age. Within two decades until Lloyd George’s (from October 1943) his second the first days of her husband’s death, death in March 1945. wife. Frances told him in no uncertain In this privileged position his A. J. Sylvester remained loyally man ever terms that she had resolved to dis- duties were necessarily wide- in Lloyd George’s employ until pense with his services. The man ranging, onerous and demanding. the very end, long after it was to to take who had been considered indis- He ran Lloyd George’s his personal advantage to remain shorthand pensable as long as Lloyd George office at Thames House, Westmin- in the position. After Lloyd lived was now, it seemed, suddenly ster (which sometimes employed George had married Frances, Syl- notes of dispensable. Any aspirations which a staff of more than twenty indi- vester often felt uncomfortable, Sylvester might reasonably have viduals), he dealt, often on his even embarrassed, at the new the pro- entertained that he might have own initiative, with his employer’s situation which had arisen. Yet, been kept on to collaborate with massive postbag, he acted as LG’s when he displayed any inclina- ceedings of the Dowager Countess (as she press officer and responded to tion to depart for a new career, a cabinet had now become) in perpetuat- most of the requests and demands both Lloyd George and Frances, ing LG’s good name and memory, which came from his constituency clearly considering him nigh- meeting. and in working on the massive and

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  the real lloyd george important archive of papers left by By the time ran to more than 200,000 words. simultaneous publication on both him, had been cruelly and finally A diary which its compiler had sides of the Atlantic. The text was, dashed. It should be noted, how- of Lloyd originally intended to be a pri- however, generally badly received ever, that he was given three years’ vate record was now to be made by readers in the USA: ‘The book salary, a substantial sum, in lieu George’s available to the public at large. is an intimate, gossipy record of of notice, and that he also inher- Although Sylvester was himself political anecdotes and small talk ited the sum of £1,000 under the death Syl- a competent and accurate typist, centering around Lloyd George terms of Lloyd George’s will. vester’s his voluminous text was retyped … We don’t believe there would Sylvester’s first subsequent by Alex McLachlan of St Leon- be a large enough market for it employment after Lloyd George’s diaries ards, Sussex, who made use of to justify publication by us.’; ‘The death was on the staff of Lord economy spacing so that it might author intrudes himself into every Beaverbrook at the Daily Express were an be published as a single volume situation, thus making them seem on a three-year contract. From his by Cassell & Co. the following more trivial than they may actu- earliest forays into British public immensely year. Sylvester was himself a little ally have been.’; ‘We old people life during World War One, Syl- detailed, unhappy with the proposed title may know of Lloyd George, but vester had been an instinctive, ‘The Real Lloyd George’, fearing he is only a name to a great many compulsive note-taker, a practice percep- that it ‘might possibly produce and a name in not too good odor naturally much facilitated by his the idea that the book contains an [sic] at that’.5 It was quite clear fluent shorthand. He wrote espe- tive source attack which it does not’. Rather, that the idea of simultaneous cially detailed notes on the semi- he proposed ‘Lloyd George as I publication on both sides of the nal events which he witnessed, of quite Knew Him’, ‘The Lloyd George Atlantic was a non-starter. and at times he took to keeping unique I Knew’, or ‘Lloyd George – a A little later Sylvester a diary, albeit spasmodically. Many Close Up’. The publishers, how- approached a number of editors of those around him, especially informa- ever, preferred to stick with the of British newspapers requesting the eminent newspaper propri- original title. them to publish lengthy extracts etor Lord Riddell, impressed tion about As the publishers began to from The Real Lloyd George as a upon him that he should record make arrangements for the pub- series to whet the appetite of the in detail everything that Lloyd the former lication of the volume, Sylvester post-war British public prior to George did or said. The result was Prime Min- forwarded a copy of the type- the book’s subsequent appearance that certainly from 1931 onwards script to his employer Lord Bea- as a monograph. The proposal Sylvester went to great pains to ister and verbrook in the hope that the was sympathetically considered, chronicle his famous employer’s press magnate might adhere to but eventually rejected, by the doings and sayings. It became his family, his previous half-promise that Evening Standard and the Sunday his regular pattern late at night extracts might be published in the Express. As paper was in notably to keep his diary in his meticu- intermin- Sunday Express prior to the vol- short supply during this period of lous Pitman’s shorthand, partly gled with ume’s appearance: ‘The mere pos- severe austerity in the late 1940s, to achieve speed, partly for secu- sibility of such a book has been editors tended to shy away from rity reasons. By the time of Lloyd much very kept secret. The reason is that I entering into such a commit- George’s death Sylvester’s diaries have competitors, and I mean to ment, arguing the necessity of were an immensely detailed, per- personal be first in the market.’ He wrote focusing on current affairs rather ceptive source of quite unique to Beaverbrook: than material with a strong his- information about the former material. torical or personal slant – like the Prime Minister and his family, In dealing with my late Chief book in question. The author was intermingled with much very nothing whatever has been said especially hurt by the refusal of personal material. to belittle his great reputation, the Sunday Express, owned by his Once Lloyd George had died, still less to attack him. There is employer, to serialise the work: ‘It Sylvester immediately began to nothing ‘catty’ in this book. He is grieves me a little that, after your make use of his run of diaries and shown as the greatest man I have kindness to me, it is not possible the more modest archive of cor- known; a Genius, but, like us all, for some space to be found in respondence and papers which with weaknesses, and is therefore your papers for something about he had carefully squirreled away intensely human. An endeavour L.G. to whom I know you were to pen a semi-biographical vol- has been made to show him in so personally attached. I am, too, ume about his former employer all his moods. This has been in a personal dilemma, because with a view to immediate pub- done by reciting incidents and my agents will obviously attempt lication. He laboured away with leaving them to produce their to get this serialised elsewhere. extraordinary speed and diligence own effect.4 What am I to do?’6 so that a typescript draft of the Within days his prophecy had projected volume, provision- At about the same time copies come to fruition when he was ally entitled ‘The Real Lloyd were despatched to a number informed by his literary agents George’, had been completed of literary agents in the United that the first British serial rights of by May 1946. The original text States in the hope of securing the volume had been purchased

 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 the real lloyd george by the Sunday Dispatch for £500.7 SECRETARY AT THE were well received and increased Arrangements were then final- AGE OF 80 admiration for Sylvester. Some ised for extensive extracts to be – THE DIFFICULTY OVER critics vocally protested that Lloyd published in the Dispatch at the LLOYD GEORGE’S George should be judged by his beginning of 1947 several months TITLE many achievements rather than before its appearance as a mono- by his more dubious personal and graph. Some publicity was also Outspoken extracts from the book family life: ‘I cannot see that your given to its publication as a book were given advance currency: book can serve any other pur- before the end of the same year.8 pose than to grieve the relatives ‘You must have worked very hard Lloyd George gained a repu- & friends of Lloyd George’.13 on it’, wrote Dr Thomas Jones tation as a great organiser. In This was, however, very much a CH, the former Deputy Secre- some ways that reputation was minority viewpoint. Generally tary to the Cabinet, who was at justified, but in others it was far the articles which saw the light of the time also writing a full biog- from justified. The plain unvar- day in the Dispatch whetted the raphy of Lloyd George, ‘& it is nished truth is, left alone he was appetite for the publication of the sure to meet with great success. a most unholy muddler. Left to entire volume, which was sched- For myself my pace is that of a himself he could not even dress uled to appear on 25 September. septuagenarian & a slow one at without upsetting everything in The final published work that’. ‘I am waiting for your Life’, the room and losing half of his ran to 322 pages and contained responded an appreciative Syl- clothing. Give him an important twenty-four chapters, some of vester, ‘for you can give the Celtic document and the next moment them very brief, and nine photo- touch, with your knowledge and he had lost it. That did not trou- graphs. It sold for eighteen shil- experience of the subject which ble him. Someone could search lings. The opening passages set no other can excel’.9 for it. the tone of the volume: As the Sunday Dispatch proudly announced its inten- And again: That David Lloyd George was a tion to publish extracts from the genius, few even among his most book beginning on 2 February Domineering as he was, there bitter enemies will deny. He had 1947, Sylvester wrote reassuringly was one person who bossed him. all the strength of genius, but to Lady , She was the one woman who ‘My admi- like others equally gifted, he had youngest daughter of the subject could and did put Lloyd George ration and weaknesses. In presenting this of his volume, still the Liberal MP in his place. She was no respecter picture of David Lloyd George, for Anglesey, who was especially of the dignity of Cabinet rank loyalty did let me say at the outset, he had sensitive to her father’s reputation, or Premiership. To her, Lloyd no greater admirer or more loyal memory and good name: George was just a spoiled child not blind servant than I. But, my admira- who needed correction and got tion and loyalty did not blind me It is not a life. It is a portrait of it. Once he entered his private me during during the thirty years that I was the greatest and most remarkable apartments at No. 10 he had to the thirty in almost daily contact with him man I have ever known, with all reckon with her.11 as secretary and confidant, to the or rather some of his strength years that weaknesses in his make-up. and some of his weaknesses. This This was a reference to LG’s A strange complex character I have done by way of relating housekeeper, Miss Sarah Jones, I was in this Welshman, to my mind the events and leaving the reader to who had served the family loyally greatest Parliamentarian since Pitt. make up his own mind. It is inti- for decades. The article about her almost Dominating, impulsive, mas- mate and dignified, and there is – ‘The woman who bossed Lloyd daily con- terful, emotional to a degree, yet no ‘dirt’ in it.10 George’ – was the second in the often peevish and childish, a man series, published on 9 February tact with possessed of unbounded moral The Dispatch predictably gave the 1947, and provoked protests from courage but strangely lacking in work maximum publicity, point- the good lady herself (by then in him as physical courage, a leader, great ing to its unique originality and the employ of Lady Megan Lloyd in conception, but in some ways frankness and drawing attention George at Brynawelon) whom secretary lacking the power of execution to some of the more dramatic Sylvester was then obliged to and con- and follow through; in big things chapter headings: attempt to pacify: ‘I have nothing a man of action and instant deci- but the greatest admiration for fidant, to sion, but in smaller things, slow – THE WOMAN WHO Miss Sarah Jones, and have always and hesitant. To him small mat- BOSSED LLOYD said so, and have expressed that the weak- ters were a bore and unworthy of GEORGE admiration in everything that I his consideration. They could be – LLOYD GEORGE AND have written.’12 nesses in left to others while he devoted HITLER On the whole the extracts his make- his attention to the direction or – LLOYD GEORGE’S published in the Sunday Dispatch conception of policy. MARRIAGE TO HIS during the early months of 1947 up.’

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  the real lloyd george

Full of audacity and daring, a then the contents of the pocket are pointless and without sig- great showman, confident of his would be transferred to a drawer nificance, the anecdotes without own judgment, in many things or desk and forgotten. Other wit.’19 Writing in the News Chron- vain, able to sway the crowd letters, some opened, some not, icle, A. J. Cummings dismissed even in the teeth of the most bit- would be dropped or left lying the volume not only as ‘incom- ter opposition. Keen student of about in one room or another plete’ but also as ‘a superficial and ‘mob psychology’, Lloyd George until the fit to dictate a reply to somewhat distorted characterisa- suffered from an inferiority one or another of the opened tion of a great man in which his complex, which in later life may letters seized him.16 peccadilloes are made to take on possibly have accounted for his a solemn and exaggerated impor- soured outlook, his suspicions In the first page of the last chap- tance’.20 Sylvester’s own postbag and jealousies. ter, Sylvester wrote: predictably contained more ful- Throughout his life he some communications.21 Dr Tho- preached democracy, but in his Whether presiding over an allied mas Jones, who was at the time own life he practised autocracy. conference; or handling potatoes himself writing a single-volume No greater autocrat than Lloyd or apples at Churt; or whether biography of Lloyd George (a George ever lived, yet he failed just looking at his pigs or with work which eventually appeared completely to realise he was an his dogs, wherever that personal- in 1951), wrote to Sylvester, ‘So autocrat, just as he failed to real- ity went newspaper men always long as interest is taken in L.G., ise that he had become soured found in him good copy. As the your book will be indispensable and embittered.14 years rolled on, however, it was to an intimate understanding of disappointing to find him using his character’. In reply, Sylvester Generally, the book’s rather sen- his great gifts in such petty ways. explained that the volume had sational title was not reflected in L. G. became sour. This, together Far from been prepared hastily, mainly its contents. Much of it consisted with his intense jealousy of the between December 1945 and of trivia. The main feature of his- ‘other fellow’, were more respon- being May 1946, usually written during torical interest was the revealing sible than anything else for his weekends and late at night.22 The account of Lloyd George’s sec- never returning to power, and for the great book predictably sold quickly and ond meeting with Hitler in 1936 his attitude in the last war. was out of print within weeks of which was genuinely informative As the war developed, he organiser publication. A reprint was at the and broke new ground. Other- quarrelled or cold-shouldered of social time impossible because of the wise, some observers were non- one after another who did not extreme shortage of paper during plussed at the picture of Lloyd agree with him, and became security the immediate post-war years. George which emerged compel- a very lonely figure. He had There was inevitably a great lingly from a perusal of the book’s favoured a peace by negotiation after 1906 deal of speculation over how pages. In his old age Sylvester’s in the early days of the war, as Frances, the Dowager Countess employer had become a soured, some others like him had also and the Lloyd-George, would react to autocratic and peevish old man. done. But the others, realising architect the publication and revelations Far from being the great organiser that was quite impossible of of The Real Lloyd George. There of social security after 1906 and attainment, threw their energies of victory had inevitably been some latent the architect of victory of 1916– into the national effort.17 friction and antagonism between 18, he had degenerated into an of 1916– Frances and Sylvester ever since absolute muddler, constantly los- The volume immediately he had re-entered Lloyd George’s ing letters and frequently chang- attracted a great deal of atten- 18, he had employ in the autumn of 1923, ing his mind at a mere whim, tion, some of it complimentary. degener- imperiously demanding to be scarcely capable of even dressing ‘Much of the real Lloyd George called ‘Principal Private Secre- himself without knocking things is undoubtedly there’, claimed ated into tary’ (a title which implied a posi- over and losing his clothes.15 The the Manchester Guardian, ‘What tion somehow superior to hers), following passage is fairly typical: one fails to find is the whole an absolute and insisting on a substantial pay Lloyd George. … Undoubtedly hike and generous compensation In his last years spent at Churt, he it is when dealing with Lloyd muddler, for forfeited civil service pension one day made up his mind that he George’s defects, which he does constantly rights. Aware of Sylvester’s many would open all letters addressed fully, sometimes even harshly, that virtues and loyalty to LG, she to him and gave instructions that he gets close to the real Lloyd losing let- grudgingly accepted the situation, none was to be opened by the George’.18 ‘Mr Sylvester valiantly but remained rather peeved.23 staff. The result was that a few asserts the greatness of his mas- ters and Since working for Lloyd George letters were opened, but the vast ter’s genius’, responded the Daily was a task at best fraught with dif- majority remained sealed up. He Telegraph, ‘but all he succeeds in frequently ficulties, problems and tensions, would push some in his jacket showing us comes very close to changing the two collaborated reasonably pocket until it was so full that it being a catalogue of his littleness. well for rather more than three could not contain another one, … Many of the incidents related his mind. decades. Interviewed in 1984

 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 the real lloyd george when he was ninety-five years Frances, us and I can only put it down to to imagine that my husband of age, Sylvester recalled, ‘Frances a desire to get some money by whole-heartedly approved and and I were colleagues for over although writing sensational nonsense. To admired the Nazi policy and thirty years. We worked together suggest that your husband was activities, which is the reverse of and never had any quarrel or dis- aware of so friendly with Hitler is really the truth.29 agreement of any kind. You had a vile libel on a great British to work together in order to deal Sylvester’s patriot and Mr Sylvester seems Sylvester responded to this attack with a man like Lloyd George. He strengths to forget entirely 1914–1918. simply by stating, ‘My account could have a filthy temper.’24 The name of Lloyd George will was written from day to day in Beneath the surface, however, and useful- live as long as this country has a Germany and is accurate’.30 Gen- the relationship between them history; his unworthy ex-Secre- erally Frances was, and indeed was far from harmonious. In her ness, con- tary and his wretched book will remained, highly upset by Sylvest- heart of hearts, Frances, although soon be forgotten.27 er’s portrayal of her late husband aware of Sylvester’s strengths and sidered him which, she felt, focused unduly usefulness, considered him to be to be vain, There was particular annoyance on his petty domestic failings and vain, over-ambitious and touchy. at Sylvester’s accounts of Lloyd the awkward traits in his person- Behind his back she would always over-ambi- George’s visits to Hitler at Ber- ality and tended to play down his laugh at him and his voice which chtesgaden in 1936 and his sug- undoubted charm, humour and had a strong nasal twang overlay- tious and gestion of LG’s strong pro-Nazi many inspiring qualities.31 On ing a marked Staffordshire accent sympathies at that time. the whole, however, the alleged and his tendency to rub his hands touchy. Frances, who had inherited defects in Lloyd George’s charac- together rather subserviently her husband’s massive archive of ter revealed to the world in The which made him appear, in her private and official papers at his Real Lloyd George were relatively view, a modern day Uriah Heep. death, had felt uneasy when she innocuous, and the volume did Sylvester in turn accused Frances had read in the ‘Books to Come’ not reveal a great deal about LG’s of being prim, stiff, and intent only column of the Times Literary secret personal double life. Its on providing comfort for Lloyd Supplement during January 1947 tone reflected a heartfelt indigna- George and personal self-seeking. that Sylvester’s book on Lloyd tion on the part of its author that Once Lloyd George had died George was to appear that year, he had not been asked either to and Frances had rather uncer- and instructed her solicitors to write, or at least to collaborate emoniously dispensed with Syl- write to the author. ‘No rights in, the writing of Lloyd George’s vester’s services just days later, the of Frances under LG’s will have ‘official biography’ which was latent antagonism between them in any way been contravened’ then being prepared by Malcolm burst out into the open. When was Sylvester’s dusty response.28 Thomson. the articles derived from The She herself bit her tongue until In turn, one of the reasons for Real Lloyd George were published the publication of the article on Frances’s annoyance was that Syl- in the Sunday Dispatch in the LG’s visit to Hitler, a piece which vester’s book had appeared before opening weeks of 1947, Franc- provoked her to write to Charles Thomson’s. In press columns es’s postbag contained a number Eade, editor of the Sunday Dis- she condemned The Real Lloyd of highly indignant letters: ‘I am patch, a letter which was duly George as ‘a most unfortunate and merely writing to say how furi- published in the paper the fol- regrettable book’.32 Even before ously indignant I feel towards lowing Sunday: the volume had appeared in book Mr Sylvester for his vulgar arti- form, the extracts published in the cle on LG in the current Weekly Mr Sylvester, by exaggerating Sunday Dispatch at the beginning Dispatch. It will be disliked by certain incidents, and ignor- of the year had provoked Frances thousands & I really cannot think ing others, presents a distorted to write to the paper condemn- what possessed him. … It always view of events, as indeed he does ing them as ‘beneath contempt hurts when a faithful dog turns & of my husband himself. To give and beneath comment’, while bites his master.’26 Another cor- two instances, where I could cite Sylvester was, she wrote, typical respondent wrote to express his many: he does not mention the of ‘a man who, after his master ‘disgust at reading the extracts fact that my husband took Hitler is dead, betrays intimate, if inac- in the Sunday Dispatch from Mr. to task for his treatment of the curate details of his private life’.33 Sylvester’s book and my utter Jews and attempted to influence In April Sylvester wrote to E. P. disapproval of that newspaper in him on that matter; nor does Evans, formerly Lloyd George’s printing such rubbish’. Warming he mention the fact that my loyal political agent in the Caer- to his theme, he went on: husband did not conceal from narfon Boroughs: Hitler his opinion of Germa- He was always a good friend to ny’s action in breaking the naval As for the Dowager, it seems she Mr Sylvester who would not clauses of the . is a little annoyed. Of course! dare to write as he does were Mr Sylvester prefers to present a Because I have come out first. David Lloyd George still with picture which would lead one She made the initial mistake in

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006  the real lloyd george 1945 in not keeping her word ­planning to contest the will on Even when though I gather that Frances is with me. After LG’s death she the grounds that Frances had exer- not inclined to fall in with this invited me to help in the writing cised undue influence over her ail- she penned opinion. I am so glad that your of his Life. An eminent historian ing husband, fulsomely applauded book has appeared before any was to be chosen from a selected The Real Lloyd George in a lengthy her auto- other less authoritative work, of list. She was to write suggesting letter published in the Sunday Dis- which I suppose there will be a terms to me. At her invitation I patch following the appearance of biography few in due course.38 actually started up negotiations extracts from the book: years later with the Literary Agent. Only ‘I understand that the Dowa- after many weeks did I hear that Mr Sylvester I have known for in the mid- ger [Frances] is annoyed that my she had made other and different over thirty years, and no more book is out before hers’, replied arrangements, and that I was to loyal, efficient and hard-work- 1960s, Sylvester, ‘but I have found no play no part. ing private secretary could any one who blames me for that! As She does not realize what a Minister wish to have. Know- Frances a boxer you will appreciate the mistake she made. LG’s great ing his methods and his careful recalled importance of getting in the first achievements will not live by note-taking, I can vouch for the blow!’39 merely building him up as a good accuracy of everything you have The Real The Real Lloyd George was and godly old man. He wasn’t printed. by far the most successful book anyhow. Read my Boswellian To put it mildly, my father Lloyd published by Cassell and Co. for account of him when the book was, as Mr Sylvester says, ‘a very many years. Within months of is out, and then I shall welcome difficult man’. You could never George publication copies were no longer your reactions.34 pin him down to anything, as ‘a available, and Sylvester felt some whether to a decision or an frustration that the acute shortage Even when she penned her opinion – he was as slippery as mean and of paper supplies experienced dur- autobiography years later in the an eel, more particularly during ing the immediate post-war years, mid-1960s, Frances recalled The the last twenty-five years of his unlovely and problems with bookbinding, Real Lloyd George as ‘a mean and life. That is why this story of his meant that the publishers failed unlovely book’. As it was her wobbling about retiring from book’. to produce a second edition. But opinion that Lloyd George had the House of Commons and he was gratified by the generally made ample provision for Syl- accepting a peerage makes such fulsome reviews published in an vester, ‘It was not necessary for extraordinary reading to those array of newspapers and journals him to get money in that way’.35 who knew the old Radical in and by the substantial appreciative She had dismissed Sylvester from the heyday of his great powers.37 postbag which came in. Franc- her employment shortly after es’s opinions were very much Lloyd George’s death, and there Within months poor Dick had a minority viewpoint.40 Most was little contact and no recon- been forced to file for bankruptcy. members of the Lloyd George ciliation between them thereafter. Dick’s son Owen, too, wrote family, estranged from the Dowa- In conversations and in his cor- appreciatively to Sylvester on ger Countess since LG’s death, respondence Sylvester was apt reading the full text of the book were pleased that Sylvester’s vol- to dismiss Frances as ‘the Dowa- in October: ume had appeared before the so- ger’. He knew very well that she called ‘official biography’, which was often very short of money I am truly glad that you took was being written by Thomson, after 1945. Hence her decision upon yourself the undoubtedly who had been chosen for the task to sell the massive archive of difficult task of producing an by Frances personally, granted full Lloyd George’s papers to her near intimate picture of Taid [Gran- access to the Lloyd George papers neighbour Lord Beaverbrook in dad] for had you not done so I in her custody and worked with 1948–49. Sylvester took pride in am sure that all of us who knew her full co-operation and support. stories that, having searched high him and loved him, would have His biography was not destined to and low for mementos and sou- been the losers thereby in no appear until 1948. venirs of her late husband, she small measure. The illustrations In the wake of the publica- banged on Beaverbrook’s front are so well chosen and I think tion of The Real Lloyd George, it door begging him to buy them. It the one of Taid standing on the was mooted that Sylvester might was said that she even offered him bank above the [river] Dwyfor is then be knighted in recognition her husband’s empty wallet!36 quite remarkable. of his long role as Lloyd George’s Other members of the Lloyd I feel I must say that you have principal private secretary. George family were, how- handled the family side of it with Among Frances’s papers is a draft ever, much more conciliatory. infinite tact and consideration, of a letter from Lloyd George to Dick Lloyd-George, the second particularly in view of the cur- Churchill, probably written in earl, who had been completely rent scope for treading on toes December 1944 (shortly before excluded from his father’s last (!), and I cannot see personally LG was awarded an earldom) will and testament and was thus what anyone can find fault with, which includes the following

10 Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 the real lloyd george sentence: ‘There has been on earned his living as one of LG’s ­unexpected, end of his three-year my conscience an earnest desire team of secretaries from 1925 contract in the previous Septem- to obtain a knighthood, and that until 1940. He was, as a result, ber with Express Newspapers and is for Sylvester, who has served fully familiar with the extensive his old ally Lord Beaverbrook me so devotedly for over twenty Lloyd George archives. In a rather who now spent most of his time years’.41 This approach evidently lengthy, gushing introduction in Canada and the West Indies came to nothing; competition which she contributed to the vol- and seemed to have given up on for knighthoods was especially ume, Frances wrote: his British interests. Subsequently strong during the war years, and Sylvester worked for about a year Churchill generally felt that such I make no apology for having – 1949–50 – as an unpaid assistant an award required a particularly asked him to write my hus- to Liberal Party leader Clement good reason. Nor was his succes- band’s Life. He can claim that Davies before resolving to retire sor, the Labour premier Clement he has an intimate knowledge to Wiltshire to farm for the rest of Attlee, a close personal friend of of his subject, first in London his days. Lady Megan Lloyd George, more in the compilation of various Although much of the con- accommodating. As he wrote to books dealing with schemes for tents of The Real Lloyd George her in September 1948, ‘I gather Social Reform; and later, while was pedestrian, it still remains an this has been considered before the Memoirs were being written, important addition to the huge but was not approved; it was con- at Churt. He had the rare privi- Lloyd George bibliography, if sidered that his C.B.E. was an lege of talking with L.G. day in only because of its author’s close- adequate recognition. I should and day out, of hearing from his ness to his subject from 1923 like to know how you feel about own lips stories of the varied until his death twenty-two years the whole matter – in particular incidents of his life, of studying later, and his habit of keeping a about his book about your father his character at first-hand, of full diary of the events which he – which I do not think was very gaining L.G.’s confidence over observed at first hand. Although good.’42 Attlee, clearly, did not the work with which he was Lloyd George was a wily operator, like Sylvester personally, did not entrusted. I have an instruction Sylvester was privy to most of his like his politics, and was not an from L.G. that if anything hap- thoughts and viewed his actions admirer of his biography of Lloyd pened to him before the Memoirs at close quarters. The book con- George. Sylvester did not let the were completed they were to be tained significant new informa- matter rest there. During the finished by Malcolm Thomson tion on, especially, the second LG 1950s he again initiated several and myself.44 visit to Hitler at Berchtesgaden in attempts to secure a knighthood, the autumn of 1936 and includes using his links with Gwilym In his author’s preface, Thom- other fascinating side-lights and Lloyd-George, who again held son claimed that he had won his snippets of information. In 1975, cabinet office under Churchill spurs through working ‘most of Sylvester was to publish Life with and Eden, but once again without the time’ as Lloyd George’s ‘lit- Lloyd George: the Diary of A. J. Syl- success.43 erary secretary’ from 1925 until vester, 1931–45 which comprised The year 1948 eventually saw 1940.45 Sylvester was predictably extensive extracts from his dia- the publication of the ‘official Although incensed at the lavish claims made ries, carefully edited by his friend biography’ of Lloyd George by by Frances and Thomson, roundly Colin Cross who also contrib- Malcolm Thomson. After LG’s Lloyd condemning them to Dr Thomas uted a valuable introduction to death Frances had given long Jones as ‘ poppycock. … When it the book. The second volume was and serious consideration to the George was was once mooted L.G. got wild at potentially more revealing and choice of a biographer who was a wily oper- the mere thought that HE should fuller than the guarded account to enjoy full access to her papers require a “Literary Secretary”! … given to the world in 1947. Even and her assistance. (At the same ator, Syl- Between them [Thomson and so, much fascinating material was time she was also anxious to set Frances] they have presented to excluded from both volumes, up a at vester was the public the L. G. the Dowa- partly for reasons of space, partly Llanystumdwy to house the many ger wanted to produce. That is in the name of discretion. The ‘freedoms’ and other memorabilia privy to scarcely the great dynamic figure original full typescript texts of the which he had bequeathed to her.) most of his you and I knew so well, and, with diaries among the A. J. Sylvester Her choice of biographer fell on it all, thought so much of.’46 He Papers purchased by the National Thomson, an old acquaintance thoughts regretted that Frances had not Library of Wales in 1990 are cer- whom she liked and who had commissioned an eminent his- tainly worth consultation by the worked alongside her as one of and viewed torian to prepare a full-length historian who can still unearth the team of researchers responsi- biography of Lloyd George, a a mass of new information from ble for preparing the War Mem- his actions project in which he would gladly this important source. oirs. Thomson, born in 1885, had at close have participated.47 At this time served as a Baptist army chaplain he was rather licking his wounds Dr J. Graham Jones is Senior Archi- from 1917 until 1920, and had quarters. at the somewhat abrupt, perhaps vist and Head of the Welsh Political

Journal of Liberal History 51 Summer 2006 11 the real lloyd george

Archive at the National Library of 17 Ibid., p. 293. George and the serialisation of extracts Wales, Aberystwyth. 18 Manchester Guardian, 2 October 1947. in the Sunday Dispatch are preserved 19 Daily Telegraph, 26 September 1947. in NLW, Frances Stevenson Family 20 News Chronicle, 25 September 1947. Papers, file FCG2/17. 1 A helpful, brief account of A. J. Syl- 21 See NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file 34 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, vester’s life and career is now available D6. AJS to E. P. Evans, 3 April 1947 (‘Pri- in ’s article in the Oxford 22 Ibid., Thomas Jones to Sylvester, 18 vate and Confidential’) (copy). Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. September 1947; Sylvester to Jones, 35 Frances Lloyd George, The Years that 53 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 566–67. See 18 September 1947 (copy). are Past, p. 213. Lloyd George had in also J. Graham Jones, ‘Keeper of 23 See Ruth Longford, Frances, Coun- fact left Sylvester the sum of £1000 Secrets’, Journal of Liberal History 44 tess Lloyd George: More than a Mistress in his will in 1945. There is a copy of (Autumn 2004), pp. 24–29. A much (Leominster, 1996), p. 82. the will in the NLW, Frances Steven- fuller account by the same author 24 Wiltshire Scene, 5 October 1984. son Family Papers, file FB1/1. will appear in the National Library of 25 Longford, op. cit., pp. 158–59. 36 See Sylvester’s obituary in The Inde- Wales Journal during 2006. There is 26 NLW, Frances Stevenson Family pendent, 30 October 1989. also much helpful material in Colin Papers, file FCG2/17, Constance 37 Sunday Dispatch, 16 March 1947. Cross (ed.), Life with Lloyd George: the Miles, Guildford, to Frances Lloyd- 38 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, Diary of A. J. Sylvester, 1931–45 (Lon- George, 4 February 1947. Owen L-G to AJS, 19 October 1947. don, 1975), pp. 11–18 (introduction 27 Ibid., John P. Smart, Birmingham, to 39 Ibid., AJS to Owen L-G, 8 November to the volume). Frances Lloyd-George, 23 February 1947 (copy). 2 National Library of Wales (hereaf- 1947. 40 Ibid., memorandum from Sylvester to ter NLW), A. J. Sylvester Papers A57, 28 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, Lord Beaverbrook, 21 October 1947 diary entry for 31 October 1944. J. E. Morris, Solicitor, Lincolns Inn, (‘Private and Confidential’) (copy). When he came to edit his diaries for London WC2, to AJS, 17 January 41 Cited in Longford, op. cit., p. 159. publication in the early 1970s, Syl- 1947; AJS to JEM, 20 January 1947 42 NLW MS 20,475C, no. 3165, Clem- vester still felt bitter about Frances’s (copy). ent Attlee to Lady Megan Lloyd failure to keep her promise to him in 29 Ibid., Frances Lloyd-George to George, 4 September 1948 (‘Confi- 1945: ‘She did nothing to keep this Charles Eade, [February 1947]. The dential’). promise!’ (Cross (ed.), Life with Lloyd letter was published in the Sunday 43 NLW MS 23,668E, ff. 174–76, AJS to George, p. 333). Dispatch, 18 February 1947. Gwilym Lloyd-George, 22 January 3 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, 30 Cited in Longford, op. cit., p. 172. 1953 (‘Private and Confidential’). Sylvester to ‘Miss Thomson’, 17 May 31 Ibid. 44 Malcolm Thomson, David Lloyd 1946 (copy). 32 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, George: the Official Biography (London, 4 Ibid., memorandum from Sylvester Sylvester to Owen Lloyd-George 1948), p. 9. to Lord Beaverbrook, 15 May 1946. (son of Richard, the second earl), 8 45 Ibid., p. 32. (‘Confidential. Personal’) (copy). November 1947 (‘Private’) (copy); 46 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file C94, 5 See the American readers’ reports Sylvester to Lord Beaverbrook, 21 Sylvester to Dr Thomas Jones CH, 4 preserved ibid. October 1947 (copy). January 1949 (‘Personal’) (copy). 6 Ibid., memorandum from Sylvester 33 Sunday Dispatch, 18 February 1947. 47 Ibid., Sylvester to E. P. Evans, 3 April to Lord Beaverbrook, 26 July 1946. Letters sent to Frances concerning 1949 (‘Personal’) (copy). (‘Confidential and Personal’) (copy). the publication of The Real Lloyd 7 Ibid., Sylvester to Miss Christine Campbell Thomson, 6 August 1946 (copy). 8 See e.g. the Times Literary Supplement, 21 December 1946. 9 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, file D6, Gladstone’s library under threat Thomas Jones to AJS, 23 December 1946; AJS to TJ, 29 December 1946 by York Membery (copy). 10 Ibid., Sylvester to Lady Megan Lloyd George, 20 January 1947 (copy). ust about every modern US maintenance work is undertaken 11 Sunday Dispatch, 26 January 1947. president established a grand on the roof of the century-old These provisional chapter headings library in their honour upon library, the collection of some were not all retained in the final pub- J lished volume. leaving office. However, the only 250,000 historic and theological 12 Ibid., 9 February 1947, p. 4; NLW, A. J. such institution in Britain – the books, many of which are irre- Sylvester Papers, file D6, Rev. R. G. prime ministerial library founded placeable, could be put at risk. Hughes, Portmadoc, to AJS, 17 Feb- by the Liberal leader and four- The cost of repairs and refurbish- ruary 1947, and AJS to RGH, 21 Feb- time premier William Gladstone ment is estimated at £1.3 million ruary 1947 (copy). 13 NLW, A. J. Sylvester Papers, Kathleen – is under threat unless £500,000 and while around half the money Harvey, South Shields, to AJS, 1 Feb- can be found to undertake vital has been raised as a result of Lot- ruary 1947. conservation work. tery Heritage Fund and other 14 A. J. Sylvester, The Real Lloyd George The St Deiniol’s archive, in grants, the library still faces a (London, 1947), pp. 1–2. Hawarden, North Wales, houses £500,000 shortfall. 15 See Sylvester’s obituary in the Daily Telegraph, 30 October 1989, and Ken- one of the country’s most impor- This year therefore saw the neth O. Morgan, ‘Lloyd George and tant collections of books, dating public launch of the ‘Gladstone the historians’, Transactions of the Hon- back to the nineteenth century Project’ in a bid to raise the nec- ourable Society of Cymmrodorion 1971, and beyond, and is the United essary money and safeguard the pp. 70–71. Kingdom’s foremost residen- historic library for the nation. 16 Sylvester, The Real Lloyd George, p. 43. tial library. But unless essential Charles Gladstone, the great-

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