DOCSLIB.ORG

46 Ivatt Stevenson Lloyd George Surrey Sussex

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
46 Ivatt Stevenson Lloyd George Surrey Sussex FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY – SUSSEX DIMENSION Ian Ivatt looks at avid Lloyd George convictions, and these acted as an (–) was the unusual complement to Lloyd David Lloyd George first native Welsh- George’s strict lifelong Baptist ide- and Frances Stevenson’s man to achieve als, yet later blended with his own inclusion in the brand of free-thinking attitudes. connections in DBritish Cabinet and to go on to Whilst the relationship was stormy, Surrey and Sussex. be Prime Minister. As a young even bittersweet, and became politician, he was mainly associ- effectively a sham marriage, it nev- The two of them ated with the Radical movement ertheless lasted nearly fifty-three nurtured friendships in Wales, nationalism, and non- years, despite them being essen- conformism. His parents, William tially estranged after . in the southern and Elizabeth (Betsy) George, Lloyd George’s relationship both keen Baptists, briefly resided with Wales was somewhat ambiva- counties, undertook in the lower-middle-class suburb lent. He retained his Welsh par- house purchases of Chorlton, Manchester, and it liamentary seat throughout his was during this period that David career but, as he moved upwards in and appreciated the Lloyd George was born. William the political world, claiming, when tranquillity of the Lloyd George was headmaster of appropriate, that his rise was that a Manchester elementary school of the ‘cottage-bred man’, he spent region’s golf courses. but quickly turned to farming a decreasing amount of his time in The main British and was to die when young David the Principality. The icon of Welsh was only a year old. The family identity seems in practice to have proposals for the post- returned firstly to Pembroke- preferred to view his homeland war peace treaty at shire, and then to Llanystumdwy from afar and to spend much of his in North Wales where Betsy’s time in Southern England, in par- Versailles were drafted brother and mother lived. ticular Sussex or the Sussex–Sur- by Lloyd George Lloyd George later married rey borderlands. Margaret (née Owen) in His connections with Sus- and the War Cabinet after a three-year courtship, sex seem to have been nurtured although her parents had some just before and during the First at Danny House, in doubt about his suitability. Mar- World War. Brighton was viewed Sussex. garet herself had deep Methodist as an excellent retreat, and nearby 24 Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY – SUSSEX DIMENSION Lewes Golf Course had signifi- October ; during his entire David Lloyd at Hassocks endeavouring to cant appeal. He had close friends premiership, he was depend- George in shake off a severe cold. Meanwhile and political allies such as Stuart ent on Conservative Party sup- 1916; Frances Lloyd George was in Paris with his Stevenson in Rendel, Sir George Riddell and port. The pinnacle of his time in her office in French and Italian prime ministe- Sir Albert Stern, who had houses coalition was the peace-making Whitehall. rial counterparts to prepare armi- in the county, but we can also per- after the First World War and the stice and peace terms. ceive that an affection for the area earlier treaty planning meetings, The Danny House archives developed in parallel with a shift in especially the decisive treaty dis- reveal that Lloyd George was at his political career, which saw him cussions in October , organ- Danny several times during the move close to the political centre ised at a sixteenth-century manor Great War and, when there, invari- and eventually lead the coalition house in Sussex. ably climbed the challenging government, and with a significant As the hostilities progressed nearby hill at Wolstenbury. Once, move in his private life as Frances into the second part of , when doing so, he inadvertently Stevenson (–) became much thought was given to the let Cabinet papers fall from his firmly ensconced as his mistress. eventual treaty terms. In July of pocket. A faithful secretary was Notorious for his flirtations and that year, Lloyd George’s affluent despatched to retrieve them safely. affairs, Lloyd George’s love life friend and confidante, Sir George An inspection of the visitors’ from early was mainly con- Riddell (proprietor of the News book reveals that even earlier, on fined to Frances, formerly a school of the World newspaper), leased the July , Lloyd George was teacher and later secretary. By some Elizabethan mansion at Danny, in at Danny, again with Riddell, coincidence, Frances had actually Hassocks (now in West Sussex) and also with Imperial War Cabi- been at school with Lloyd George’s from the Campions, a family of net members, both military and daughter, Mair, who tragically died the Tory local gentry. A. J. P. Tay- political: Jan Smuts, Viscount Mil- (of a burst appendix) in , to lor, in his book My Darling Pussy, ner, Admiral Wemyss, Sir Henry his lasting grief. The secrecy of the provides an interesting insight Wilson, and Cabinet Secretary affair was vital, to avoid scandal, into the undoubted deep fond- Hankey. Interestingly enough and they both accepted this – with ness between Lloyd George and his wife Margaret and daughter Frances enduring two if not three his secretary, Frances Stevenson, Megan were also present on that abortions. by reproducing key personal let- day – with Frances Stevenson! Lloyd George became Prime ters that have survived. Frances On the wall of the Great Hall Minister in December , and was not always present at Danny, at Danny, which now displays his term of office lasted until but in October she remained portraits of the high and mighty Journal of Liberal History 46 Spring 2005 25 FRANCES STEVENSON, LLOYD GEORGE AND THE SURREY–SUSSEX DIMENSION from past ages, there is a com- Lloyd Earlier, in , there were home there, naming it ‘Bron y memorative plaque recording other letters, which Lloyd De’, which means ‘breast of the the vital meeting of the Imperial George George knew about, from a south’. The Surrey village of Churt War Cabinet on October , Captain Hugh Owen, with is on the edge of Sussex, as well as including such eminent persons as built a more than hints about marriage bordering on nearby Hampshire. Lloyd George himself, Churchill, to Frances. On October They both eagerly set about cul- Bonar Law, Balfour, Wemyss and beauti- Frances wrote in her diary: ‘I tivating the fields for vegetables, Hankey, plus Kerr and Lord Read- ful home cannot marry Owen. I have told planting orchards (Lloyd George ing (Rufus Isaacs). him so.’ Owen in turn wrote to had a great fondness for soft fruit), Thus, the main British propos- there, nam- Frances ( October) accepting growing tomatoes in greenhouses, als for the peace treaty at Versailles the finality of the situation. keeping cows and pigs, even bees, were drafted by Lloyd George ing it ‘Bron Before the Great War, Lloyd with Ann Parry, Lloyd George’s and the War Cabinet at Danny George had cultivated a friendship Welsh Secretary, doubling up as House in Sussex. The final details y De’, which with Stuart Rendel (–) bee-keeper. were promptly cabled to Presi- means a former Liberal Member of Par- Frances bought land adjourn- dent Woodrow Wilson for his seal liament for Montgomeryshire ing the Bron y De estate, which of approval. Later, in March , ‘breast of (–). Like Lloyd George, she farmed until Lloyd George’s Lloyd George attended the peace Rendel had not been born in death in . Meanwhile in conference itself in Paris, and the south’. Wales, but at Plymouth in Devon. – Frances built nearby Frances, who went with him, was Rendel, far from being poor, had ‘Avalon’ for herself where her treated generally as his unofficial acquired property in Clarendon daughter Jennifer, who was born spouse. Terrace, Kemp Town, Brighton in , resided. It would appear Amidst a resurfacing of the (he also had a house near Guild- that Lloyd George never visited Irish troubles, Lloyd George ford and a villa in Cannes) and he Avalon but Frances stayed there formed a separate friendship with readily placed his Sussex home particularly on the occasions Major Stern (later Sir Albert Stern, at Lloyd George’s disposal as an when Margaret and Megan came –) who had the use of his escape from his government busi- to Bron y De. Otherwise, when brother’s property, a superbly beau- ness. This was accepted with great not at school Jennifer travelled the tiful house, with splendid views, as joy. Lloyd George had, before one mile to Bron y De to see her the name might suggest, at High- that, tended to spend weekends mother and Lloyd George, whom down in Worthing, Sussex. Both in a suite at the Royal Albion she undoubtedly believed was, at Lloyd George and Frances spent Hotel, in Brighton. Lloyd George the very least, her stepfather. Jen- weekends there; apparently, Major might scoff at public schools and nifer called Lloyd George ‘Taid’ Stern had a reputation for being universities but he swiftly des- (Grandfather) from an early age, an excellent entertainer. He was patched young Olwen, one of although she knew perfectly well also involved in tank design and his five children (born ), off he was not her grandfather – but was, accordingly, an important man to the exclusive Roedean School, Lloyd George was aged sixty-six in the military. Frances Stevenson near Brighton. The Personal Papers when Jennifer was born, so this dutifully records their meetings of Lord Rendel provide a clue to subterfuge seemed fitting. with Stern in her well-maintained Lloyd George’s wife’s attitudes During the summer holidays, diaries – including a comment to this friendship: it was through before the Second World War, that there was even some talk of these weekends at Brighton that Frances rented ‘Grassmead’ – a her marrying Stern, by then, in ‘my husband’s health was saved house in Felpham, near Bognor , promoted to Colonel.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lloyd George Archives by J
    THE BEAVERBOOK liBRARY, A.J.P. TAYLOR AND THE RISE OF llOYD GEORGE STUdiES University of Wales Press, 1995. Most edition of A. J. P. Taylor, Lloyd 29 John Campbell, Lloyd George: the Goat of the essays were first published in George: Twelve Essays, Aldershot, in the Wilderness, Jonathan Cape, 1977. Welsh learned journals. The Welsh Gregg Revivals, 1993. Chris Cook, The Age of Alignment: dimension was further examined by 26 Bentley B. Gilbert, David Lloyd Electoral Politics in Britain 1922–1929, Lloyd George’s nephew, drawing on George: The Architect of Change 1863– Macmillan, 1975. John Turner, his father’s papers – W. R. P. George, 1912, Batsford, 1987, and David Lloyd Lloyd George’s Secretariat, Cambridge The Making of Lloyd George, Faber George: Organiser of Victory 1912–1916, University Press, 1980 and British and Faber, 1976, and Lloyd George: Batsford, 1972. Michael G. Fry, Lloyd Politics and the Great War: Coalition and Backbencher, Llandysul, Gomer, 1983 George and Foreign Policy: the Education Conflict 1915–1918, Yale University – and by J. Graham Jones with a of a Statesman 1890–1916, Montreal, Press, 1992. Chris Wrigley, David series of articles in learned journals McGill-Queens University Press, Lloyd George and the British Labour between 1982 and 2001, collected 1977, and And Fortune Fled: David Lloyd Movement: Peace and War, Hassocks, in his David Lloyd George and Welsh George, the First Democratic Statesman, Harvester Press, 1976, Lloyd George Liberalism, Aberystwyth, National 1916–1922, New York, Peter Lang, and the Challenge of Labour: Post- Library of Wales, 2011. 2011. R. Q. Adams, Arms and the war Coalition 1918–22, Brighton, 21 Kenneth O.
    [Show full text]
  • 3 "7? /V 0/J /Ye?
    3 "7? /V 0/J /ye?. oo BRITAIN AND THE SUPREME ECONOMIC COUNCIL 1919 DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Katie Elizabeth Scogin Denton, Texas December, 1987 Scogin, Katie Elizabeth, Britain and the Supreme Economic Council 1919. Doctor of Philosophy (Modern European History), December, 1987, 294 pp., 250 titles. This dissertation attempts to determine what Britain expected from participation in the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and to what extent its expectations were realized. An investigation of available sources reveals that access to European markets and raw materials and a balance of power to prevent French, German, or Russian hegemony in Europe were British foreign policy goals that SEC delegates sought to advance. Primary sources for this study include unpublished British Foreign Office and Cabinet records, published British, United States, and German government documents, unpublished personal papers of people directing SEC efforts, such as David Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlain, Cecil Harmsworth, Harry Osborne Mance, and John Maynard Keynes, and published memoirs and accounts of persons who were directly or indirectly involved with the SEC. Secondary accounts include biographies and histories or studies of the Peace Conference and of countries affected by its work. Primarily concerned with the first half of 1919, this dissertation focuses on British participation in Inter-allied war-time economic efforts, in post-war Rhineland control, in the creation of the SEC, and in the SEC endeavors of revictualling Germany, providing food and medical relief for eastern Europe, and reconstructing European communications.
    [Show full text]
  • David and Frances This Bizarre Situation Continued for More Than
    REviEWS will accept Emyr Price’s empha- Political Archive at the National tactful silence. After LG fell sis and arguments, but he has Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. from power in the autumn of certainly produced a volume 1922 (forever, as it happened), which is stimulating, thought- 1 Journal of the Merioneth Historical and he set up home with Frances at provoking and highly original. Record Society, Vol. XIII, no. IV a new house called Bron-y-de (2001), 407–08; Transactions of the It will be eagerly received. Caernarvonshire Historical Society near Churt in Surrey. There- 61 (2000), pp. 135–38. after Frances’s long-term role Dr J. Graham Jones is Senior 2 Welsh History Review, Vol. 21, no. 1 was ‘still in public LG’s devoted Archivist and Head of the Welsh (June 2002), p. 205. secretary, still in private sharing him with Maggie, the eternal mistress still subordinate to the wife and obliged to make herself scarce whenever Maggie came out of Wales – even when she came to Churt’ (pp. 254–55). David and Frances Eventually, after the death of his wife Dame Margaret in January John Campbell: If Love Were All … The Story of Frances 1941, he made an honest woman Stevenson and David Lloyd George (Jonathan Cape, of Frances by marrying her in October 1943. In January 1945 he 2006) accepted an earldom and she thus Reviewed by Dr J. Graham Jones became a countess. Less than three months later he was dead. Not long afterwards Frances left r John Campbell first a twenty-two year old recent north Wales to return to Surrey earned our eternal classics graduate, as a temporary where, as the Dowager Coun- Mgratitude and com- tutor for his youngest daughter tess Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, mendation almost thirty years Megan, who had received but she outlived him by more than ago with the publication of little formal schooling.
    [Show full text]
  • Major Gwilym Lloyd-George As Minister of Fuel and Power, 1942­–1945
    131 Major Gwilym Lloyd-George As Minister Of Fuel And Power, 1942 –1945 J. Graham Jones Among the papers of A. J. Sylvester (1889–1989), Principal Private Secretary to David Lloyd George from 1923 until 1945, purchased by the National Library of Wales in 1990, are two documents of considerable interest, both dating from December 1943, relating to Major Gwilym Lloyd-George, the independent Liberal Member for the Pembrokeshire constituency and the second son of David and Dame Margaret Lloyd George. At the time, Gwilym Lloyd-George was serving as the generally highly-regarded Minister for Fuel and Power in the wartime coalition government led by Winston Churchill. The first is a letter, probably written by David Serpell, who then held the position of private secretary to Lloyd-George at the Ministry of Fuel and Power (and who was a warm admirer of him), to A. J. Sylvester.1 It reads as follows: PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL 4 December, 1943 Dear A. J., I am afraid I did not get much time for thought yesterday, but I have now been able to give some time to the character study you spoke to me about … The outstanding thing in [Gwilym] Ll.G’s character seems to me to be that he is genuinely humane – i.e. he generally has a clear picture in his mind of the effects of his policies on the individual. In the end, this characteristic will always over-shadow others when he is determining policy. To some extent, it causes difficulty as he looks at a subject, not merely as a Minister of Fuel and Power, but as a Minister of the Crown, and thus sees another Minister’s point of view more readily perhaps than that Minister will see his.
    [Show full text]
  • Maniffesto/Manifesto 48
    Maniffesto/Manifesto 48 Cylchlythyr yr Archif Wleidyddol Gymreig The Welsh Political Archive Newsletter • Derbyniadau Newydd • New Collections • Effemera Etholiadol • Election Ephemera • Golyg-a-thon Wicipedia • Wikipedia Edit-a-thon • Darlith gan Ann Clwyd A.S. • Lecture by Ann Clwyd M.P. • Golwg ar Aneurin Bevan • Spotlight on Aneurin Bevan • Archif Cynulliad • National Assembly for Cenedlaethol Cymru Wales Archive www.llgc.org.uk Am Yr Archif Wleidyddol Gymreig Derbyniadau About the Welsh Political Archive Acquisitions Mae’r Archif Wleidyddol wedi llwyddo i dderbyn The Political Archive has been successful in nifer o archifau diddorol yn ystod y flwyddyn acquiring a number of interesting archives during ddiwethaf . the past year. Ychwanegiadau at Bapurau Teulu Additions to the Frances Stevenson Frances Stevenson Family Papers Prynwyd y casgliad hwn o lythyrau, dogfennau a ffotograffau, sy’n This collection of letters, documents and photographs, related to gysylltiedig â David Lloyd George, Frances Stevenson a Jennifer David Lloyd George, Frances Stevenson and Jennifer Longford was Longford mewn arwerthiant ym Mawrth 2017. Mae’n cynnwys purchased at auction in March 2017. It includes material regarding deunydd yn gysylltiedig â rôl Frances Stevenson a’i dylanwad Frances Stevenson’s role and her influence on Lloyd George as ar Lloyd George yn ogystal â’i dylanwad ar ferched fel esiampl well as her status as a role model for women in the world of work; o ferch lwyddiannus ym myd gwaith; deunydd yn gysylltiedig â material related to the Versailles Peace Conference, a memorandum Chynhadledd Heddwch Versailles, memorandwm yn llawysgrifen in Frances’s hand about planning munitions in the Great War, pictures Frances am gynllun arfau y Rhyfel Mawr, lluniau a chardiau post and postcards showing the relationship between Lloyd George, yn dangos y berthynas rhwng Lloyd George, Frances Stevenson a Frances Stevenson and Jennifer Longford along with letters regarding Jennifer Longford ynghyd â llythyrau yn sôn am fabwysiadu Jennifer.
    [Show full text]
  • Churchill and Lloyd George: Liberal Authors on the First World War?
    Liberalism and the Great War Alan Mumford analyses Winston Churchill’s and David Lloyd George’s volumes on the First World War. Churchill and Lloyd George: Liberal authors on the First World War? istorians and biographers have already however, is concerned with two issues not writ- reviewed the extent to which the vol- ten about previously: questions about liberal- Winston Churchill Humes written by Churchill and Lloyd ism and authorship. First, in the four volumes (1874–1965) and George about the First World War are accu- of Churchill’s The World Crisis (The Aftermath is David Lloyd George rate, fair and plausible in respect of their views not considered here) and Lloyd George’s six-vol- (1863–1945) on strategy and its implementation. This article, ume War Memoirs, is entry into the war justified 20 Journal of Liberal History 94 Spring 2017 Churchill and Lloyd George: Liberal authors on the First World War? by reference to Liberal values?1 And, later, was matched his interest in directing a major part of Biographers their conduct during the war as described in their armed action – through the navy. Lloyd George books responsive to those values? Second, were had no such direct involvement – his energy was have not paid they the sole, main or only part authors? Rob- devoted to managing the financial consequences. bins claimed that Lloyd George did not write the attention to the Memoirs: ‘though he embellished them at suit- extent to which able intervals’2 (a claim which was the cause of the Did Lloyd George and Churchill carry research for this article).
    [Show full text]
  • In 1947, Lloyd George's Former Private Secretary, A. J. Sylvester, Published
    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 4 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Lloyd George - Lady Julia Henry Correspondence, (NLW MS 21669D.)
    Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales Cymorth chwilio | Finding Aid - Lloyd George - Lady Julia Henry correspondence, (NLW MS 21669D.) Cynhyrchir gan Access to Memory (AtoM) 2.3.0 Generated by Access to Memory (AtoM) 2.3.0 Argraffwyd: Mai 08, 2017 Printed: May 08, 2017 Wrth lunio'r disgrifiad hwn dilynwyd canllawiau ANW a seiliwyd ar ISAD(G) Ail Argraffiad; rheolau AACR2; ac LCSH Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH https://archifau.llyfrgell.cymru/index.php/lloyd-george-lady-julia-henry- correspondence archives.library .wales/index.php/lloyd-george-lady-julia-henry-correspondence Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales Allt Penglais Aberystwyth Ceredigion United Kingdom SY23 3BU 01970 632 800 01970 615 709 [email protected] www.llgc.org.uk Lloyd George - Lady Julia Henry correspondence, Tabl cynnwys | Table of contents Gwybodaeth grynodeb | Summary information .............................................................................................. 3 Hanes gweinyddol / Braslun bywgraffyddol | Administrative history | Biographical sketch ......................... 3 Nodiadau | Notes ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Pwyntiau mynediad | Access points ............................................................................................................... 5 - Tudalen | Page 2 - NLW MS 21669D. Lloyd George - Lady Julia Henry correspondence,
    [Show full text]
  • David Lloyd George 1863–1945 Kenneth O
    For the study of Liberal, SDP and Issue 77 / Winter 2012–13 / £10.00 Liberal Democrat history Journal of LiberalHI ST O R Y David Lloyd George 1863–1945 Kenneth O. Morgan Lloyd George and leadership The influences of Gladstone and Lincoln Alan Sharp ‘If I had to go to Paris again …’ Lloyd George and the revision of the Versailles Treaty Stella Rudman Lloyd George and the appeasement of Germany, 1922–1945 Peter Clarke ‘We can conquer unemployment’ Lloyd George and Keynes David Dutton The wonderful wizard as was Lloyd George, 1931–1945 Liberal Democrat History Group 2 Journal of Liberal History 77 Winter 2012–13 Journal of Liberal History Issue 77: Winter 2012–13 The Journal of Liberal History is published quarterly by the Liberal Democrat History Group. ISSN 1479-9642 David Lloyd George, 1863–1945 4 Editor: Duncan Brack Kenneth O. Morgan introduces this special edition of the Journal. Deputy Editor: Tom Kiehl Biographies Editor: Robert Ingham Reviews Editor: Dr Eugenio Biagini Lloyd George and leadership 6 Contributing Editors: Graham Lippiatt, Tony Little, The influences of Gladstone and Abraham Lincoln; by Kenneth O. Morgan York Membery Lloyd George, nonconformity and radicalism 12 Patrons Ian Machin examines Lloyd George’s career and beliefs from 1890 to 1906 Dr Eugenio Biagini; Professor Michael Freeden; Professor John Vincent Lloyd George’s coalition proposal of 1910 18 Editorial Board and its impact on pre-war Liberalism; by Martin Pugh Dr Malcolm Baines; Dr Ian Cawood; Dr Roy Douglas; Dr David Dutton; Prof. David Gowland; Prof. Richard Lloyd George’s war rhetoric, 1914–1918 24 Grayson; Dr Michael Hart; Peter Hellyer; Dr Alison Richard Toye analyses Lloyd George’s rhetorical skills at the height of his powers Holmes; Dr J.
    [Show full text]
  • David Lloyd George and the National Library of Wales
    David Lloyd George and the National Library of Wales Liberals, Lloyd George and the Library Liberals were prominent in the long campaign to establish the National Library of Wales, almost from the start. The agitation for a national library formed part a social and political movement towards increasing Welsh self- consciousness and the desire to create institutions to embody it. A national library was first seriously proposed at the National Eisteddfod in Mold in 1873, where a committee was established to work towards establishing it. In 1891 Thomas Edward Ellis, one of the leading figures of the Cymru Fydd movement, revived the campaign for the library and the committee. Thomas Edward Ellis Stuart Rendel John Herbert Lewis Another leading Liberal, Stuart Rendel, Liberal MP for Montgomery 1880-94, leader of Welsh MPs and later a peer, also fought for the library and eventually donated the site for a library building in Aberystwyth. Perhaps the most influential figure, however, was John Herbert Lewis, MP for the Flint Boroughs 1892-06, Flintshire 1906-18 and the University of Wales 1918-22. He used every available occasion in debates in the House of Commons to advocate the establishment of a national library and later became Vice- President of the Library. In 1903 the Conservative government relented and finally granted Wales its desire, leading the way to a competition between Welsh towns for the location of the Library (and its sister institution, the National Museum). Lloyd George was in favour of Aberystwyth as a location. He was also, in his position as Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a position to give the infant Library a crucial government grant.
    [Show full text]
  • Marks on Macmillan, 'Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World'
    H-Diplo Marks on MacMillan, 'Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World' Review published on Tuesday, July 1, 2003 Margaret MacMillan. Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. New York: Random House, 2002. xxxi + 570 pp. $18.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-375-76052-5; $35.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-375-50826-4. Reviewed by Sally Marks (Independent Scholar) Published on H-Diplo (July, 2003) The World ... Made Fit? The World ... Made Fit? Under its original title of Peacemakers (2001), Margaret MacMillan's detailed one-volume study of the peace settlement after World War I won three prizes in Britain. However, as is made clear by excellent maps and photographs as well as a foreword by American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, both titles are misnomers. MacMillan does not confine herself to the statesmen and diplomats, to Paris, or to the first six months of 1919. Instead, she provides generous amounts of background material and sometimes extensive "aftermaths" on given issues (often to the end of the century). She deals with most of Europe and much of Asia as well as Africa and North America occasionally, and addresses the full sweep of events from the 1918 Armistice until the 1923 treaty of Lausanne. MacMillan, who teaches at the University of Toronto and is a great-granddaughter of David Lloyd George, writes extremely well in often evocative prose. She has a sharp eye for enlivening tidbits, often relevant, and relishes rumors, usually undifferentiated. She makes the most of confrontations, which were numerous in Paris, and her thumbnail sketches of participants are always incisive and frequently judicious.
    [Show full text]
  • Daniel Larsen [email protected] University of Cambridge David Lloyd George (1916-1922) Daniel Larsen Among Prime Ministers And
    Daniel Larsen [email protected] University of Cambridge THE FIRST INTELLIGENCE PRIME MINISTER: David Lloyd George (1916-1922) Daniel Larsen Among prime ministers and intelligence in the twentieth century, the towering figure of Winston Churchill certainly looms largest. Yet though Churchill is the most famous, he was not the first prime minister to engage regularly with intelligence. The first beginnings of the modern British intelligence establishment were founded decades before the Second World War, in 1909, with just two men occupying an office called the “Secret Service Bureau”. On the Cabinet that created this bureau was none other than an ambitious and temperamental Welshman: David Lloyd George. The son of a schoolteacher, the energetic and intensely political Lloyd George had grown up in Llanystumdwy, a small village on the Welsh coast. From these humble beginnings, he had risen through the ranks rapidly. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George led the populist fight for the “People’s Budget”. A few years later, he was replacing the People’s Budget with a War Budget: Great Britain was at war. From its own humble origins, British intelligence exploded both in its size and capabilities during the First World War. As Lloyd George careened from one Cabinet post to another, intelligence activities seemed to follow him wherever he went. In December 1916, Lloyd George became the first occupant of 10 Downing Street to engage meaningfully with this intelligence—yet when he did, unlike Churchill, the result was not often to Britain’s advantage. In these early days, there were no set rules or established procedures as to how intelligence should be treated.
    [Show full text]