Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 5 April 1908 to 5 December 1916, succeeding Henry Campbell-Bannerman and preceding David Lloyd George. He was one of the last great leaders of the UK Liberal Party.
Biography[]
Herbert Henry Asquith was born in Morley, Yorkshire, England on 12 September 1852. He overcame a difficult childhood, as he was orphaned at the age of eight; however, he attended Oxford University and became a lawyer. In 1886, he was elected to Parliament as the Liberal MP for East Fife, and he caught general attention as a brilliant debater. He served as Foreign Secretary from 1892 to 1895, despite having not held any previous post in government. He lost some ground in his party during the Second Boer War, as he did not oppose the conflict, but he defended free trade and became a prominent politician once more. In 1905, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and he introduced a new system of income tax rates in 1907 and introduced old-age pensions in 1908.
In 1908, Asquith became Prime Minister, and he twice led the party to electoral victory in 1910. This allowed for him to overcome the resistance of the House of Lords to pass the 1911 Parliament Act, which empowered the House of Commons. He continued to face considerable political challenges from labor unions, the suffragette movement, and taxation issues, as well as from Irish home rule activists. In 1914, he legislated a home rule bill, but it was never enacted because of the start of World War I. Asquith's lackluster style of government and divisions within his party over the war weakened Asquith, and a munition shortage forced him to form a coalition government with the UK Conservative Party in May 1915. In 1916, Asquith resigned rather than form a war committee to lead the war effort without chairing it. Asquith lost his seat in Parliament in 1918, but he returned in 1920, and his supporters clashed with those of his bitter rival, David Lloyd George. He worked with Lloyd George in response to the Conservative endorsement of tariffs, but they were divided over the general strike. Asquith failed to reunite and revive a dying Liberal Party, and he died in 1928.