InfoBritain

 

Lloyd George Museum

After a decade in political exile, the Liberals won a landslide victory in the general election of 1906. The government of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1906 - 1908) and Herbert Asquith (1908 - 1915) saw the start of a major programme of social reform, and an increasing involvement of government in society. The new Liberalism of the early twentieth century was a significant development on the Liberalism of William Gladstone, who had retired in 1894. Gladstone had promoted the reform of government, but had insisted that the individual was ultimately responsible for their own well being. Increasingly the Liberals were influenced by radicals such as Joseph Chamberlain, who argued for direct action by the state to control poverty. The Welsh MP David Lloyd George was a passionate advocate of this wider role for government.

David Lloyd George is known as a Welshman, but he was actually born in Manchester on the 17th of January 1863. His father had been a schoolmaster, a career he abandoned in favour of farming in Pembrokeshire. He died when David was only seventeen months old, and the family moved to Llanystumdwy in north Wales to live with David's uncle, a cobbler. After an education at the local church school David Lloyd George qualified as a solicitor, but always felt his destiny lying elsewhere. At the age of eighteen he made his first visit to the House of Commons, and wrote of the experience in his diary for 12th November 1881:

"I will not say but that I eyed the assembly in a spirit similar to that in which William the Conqueror eyed England on his visit to Edward the Confessor, as the region of his future domain." (Quoted in The Victorians A.N. Wilson P 595)

He then wrote to his future wife Margaret Owen of his huge ambition to get on.

"My supreme idea is to get on. To this idea I shall sacrifice everything - except I trust honesty. I am prepared to thrust even love itself under the wheels of my Juggernaut if it obstructs the way."

David Lloyd George was true to his word. At least Margaret had ben warned.

In the world of politics Lloyd George was shaped in many ways by the seemingly small scale local issue of church tithes. All farmers and land owners in Wales were obliged to pay a tenth of their income tax to the Anglican Church. This was compulsory even though most people attended Welsh baptist chapels. Reacting against this attempt at social control, Lloyd George never became a socialist. His aim was to help the poor without the collectivist solutions of the Independent Labour Party. He became an MP in 1890 after narrowly winning a by election for Caernarfon Boroughs. In 1905 he became President of the Board of Trade, under Campbell-Bannerman, and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1908. In 1910, whilst Chancellor, Lloyd George was to write in his book Better Times that the Liberal party " has not abandoned the traditional ambition of the Liberal Party to establish freedom... but side by side with this effort it promotes measures for ameliorating the conditions of life for the multitude." The wider role of government in the life of Britain had found its champion.

In 1916, during the First World War, Lloyd George replaced Asquith as head of the coalition government. The new Prime Minister had huge energy and great natural authority, and by the war's end his reputation was at its height. As Chancellor he had achieved breakthroughs which were landmarks in the government of Britain, introducing old age pensions, unemployment benefit and sickness benefit. In 1918 women over thirty years of age received the vote. During the war Lloyd George was widely credited with creating the organisations that allowed Britain to fight this new form of warfare. Many of the organisational ideas he developed in the First World War were recreated in World War Two. However, once the war was over things didn't go so well for Lloyd George. Severe problems were caused by his decision to extend conscription to Ireland. A majority of Irish MPs declared independence, and Lloyd George was forced to fight a war of attrition against the Irish. There were also embarrassing revelations that knighthoods and peerages were being sold for money. The final event that forced Lloyd George's resignation was the Chanak Crisis. In October 1922 British troops stationed in Chanak on the Dardanelles were threatened by Turkish troops. Many MPs were concerned with Lloyd George's announcement that Britain and the Empire would go to war against Turkey if the troops in the Dardenelles were attacked. Lloyd George made this announcement of support from the countries of the Empire before consulting with the prime ministers of those countries. The Conservative party which made up a majority of the post war coalition government decided to break away, and Lloyd George stepped down. He remained an MP until his death in 1945, but never returned to a frontline role.

At the Lloyd George Museum there are displays illustrating Lloyd George's career. His boy hood home of Highgate has also been recreated, along with his uncle's shoe making shop. Lloyd George's grave is a short walk away at Dwyfor.

Opening Times: During May Monday to Friday 10.30am - 5pm, in June Monday to Saturday 10.30am - 5pm, from July to September daily 10.30am - 5pm and during October Monday to Friday 11am - 4pm.Check before you visit.

Directions: The museum is just off the A497 at Llanystumdwy near Criccieth in north Wales. Click here for an interactive map centred on Llanystumdwy.

Access: wheelchair access to the museum is good.

Contact:

phone: 01766 522071