David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George in 1902, Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Lloyd George was Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Prime Minister during the war. He is pictured here visiting Indian soldiers on the Western Front.

Portrait by Philip de László, painted in 1931.

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British statesman of the Liberal Party. As Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–1915), Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of many reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government (1916–22), during and immediately after the First World War. He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers.

As Prime Minister, Lloyd George favoured the Conservatives in his coalition in the 1918 elections, leaving the Liberal Party a minority. He became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, but it grew even smaller and more divided. By the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. He relunctantly spoke in support of the Second World War amidst fears that he secretly had German sympathies. He did however, meet with Hitler and spoke favourably of him prior to WWII.

Timeline

The following timeline provides a simple chronological listing of events relating to David Lloyd George.

1910

29 April

The People's Budget is passed which, but later blocked by the House of Lords.

1911

21 July

Mansion House Speech.

1914

8 September	Speech at Local Government Board.
19 September	Speech at Queen's Hall.
29 September	Speech at Welsh National Conference held at Cardiff.
17 November	Introduces first War Budget.

1916

6 December

David Lloyd George is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following his ousting of H.H. Asquith.

1918

5 January

"British War Aims" statement.

References

Sources: Various material contemporary with the war have been used to compile The Great War On This Day and its associated Index.

Text has been transcribed from two out-of-copyright sources: Chronology of the War (1918-1920), and History of the Great War – Principle Events 1914-1918 (1922). Spelling of place names are original to British use at the time. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Duplicate or identical events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to the original texts.
Images come from scans or photographs of original sources, Wikimedia Commons, and the Imperial War Museum's online collections under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence. Attribution is given separately to the latter and do not come under the general licence of this site.
Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent up-to-date histories, present-day spelling of place names, or geographical boundaries. In some instances the language used may appear sexist or derogatory to the modern reader, and in rare cases, images may depict distressing scenes.
For further details and a full list of sources, click here.

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