LLOYD GEORGE, DAVID (1863 )

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 834 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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LLOYD GEORGE, DAVID (1863 ) , British statesman, was born at Manchester on the 17th of January 1863. His father, William George, a Welshman of yeoman stock, had left Pembrokeshire for London at an early age and became a schoolteacher there, and afterwards in Liverpool and Haverfordwest, and then headmaster of an elementary school at Pwllheli, Carnarvonshire, where he married the daughter of David Lloyd, a neighbouring Baptist minister. Soon afterwards William George became headmaster of an elementary school in Manchester, but after the birth of his eldest son David his health failed, and he gave up his post and took a small farm near Haverfordwest. Two years later he died, leaving his widow in poor circumstances; a second child, another son, was posthumously born. Mrs George's brother, Richard Lloyd, a shoemaker at Llanystumdwy, and pastor of the Campbellite Baptists there, now became her

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

support; it was from him that young David obtained his earliest views of practical and political life, and also the means of starting, at the age of fourteen, on the career of a solicitor.
Having passed his law preliminary, he was articled to a firm in Portmadoc, and in 1884 obtained his final qualifications. In 1888 he married Margaret, daughter of Richard Owen of Criccieth. From the first he managed to combine his solicitor's work with politics, becoming secretary of the South Carnarvonshire Anti-tithe League; and his local reputation was made by a successful fight, carried to the High Court, in defence of the right of Nonconformists to burial in the parish churchyard. In the first county council elections for Carnarvonshire he played a strenuous part on the Radical side, and was chosen an alder-man; and in 189o, at a by-election for Carnarvon Boroughs, he was returned to parliament by a majority of 18 over a strong Conservative opponent. He held his seat successfully at the contests in 1892, 1895 and 1900, his reputation as a champion of Welsh nationalism, Welsh nonconformity and extreme Radical-ism becoming thoroughly established both in parliament and in the country. In the House of Commons he was one of the most prominent guerrilla fighters, conspicuous for his audacity and pungency of utterance, and his capacity for obstruction while the Conservatives were in office. During the South African crisis of 18991902 he was specially vehement in opposition to Mr Chamberlain, and took the " pro-Boer " side so bitterly that he was mobbed in Birmingham during the 1900 election when he attempted to address a meeting at the Town

Hall

. But he was again returned for Carnarvon Boroughs; and in the ensuing parliament he came still more to. the front by his resistance to the Education Act of 1902.
As the leader of the Welsh party, and one of the most dashing parliamentarians on the Radical side, his appointment to office when Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman became premier at the end of 1905 was generally expected; but his

elevation

ELEVATION

direct to the cabinet as president of the Board of Trade was somewhat of a surprise. The responsibilities of administration have, however, often converted a political free-lance into a steady-going official, and the Unionist press did its best to encourage such a tendency by continual praise of the departmental action of the new minister. His settlement of the railway dispute in 1906 was universally applauded; and the bills he introduced and passed for reorganizing the port of London, dealing with Merchant Shipping, and enforcing the working in England of patents granted there, and so increasing the employment of British labour, were greeted with satisfaction by the tariff-reformers, who congratulated themselves that a Radical free-trader should thus throw over the policy of laisser faire. The president of the Board of Trade was the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

success of the ministry, and when Mr Asquith became premier in 1908 and promoted Mr Lloyd George to the chancellorship of the exchequer, the appointment was well received even in the City of London. For that year the budget was already settled, and it was introduced by Mr Asquith himself, the ex-chancellor; but Mr Lloyd George earned golden opinions, both at the Treasury and in parliament, by his industry and his handling of the Finance Bill, especially important for its inclusion of Old Age Pensions, in the later stages.
It was not till the time came nearer for the introduction of the budget for 190919ro that

opinion

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

in financial circles showed the change which was afterwards to become so marked. A considerable deficit, of about 16,000,000, was in prospect, and the
chancellor of the exchequer aroused misgivings by alluding in a speech to the difficulty he had in deciding what " hen roost " to " rob." The government had been losing ground in the country, and Mr Lloyd George and Mr Winston Churchill were conspicuously in alliance in advocating the use of the budget for introducing drastic reforms in regard to licensing and land, which the resistance of the House of Lords prevented the Radical party from effecting by ordinary legislation. The well-established doctrine that the House of Lords could not amend, though it might reject, a money-bill, coupled with the fact that it never had gone so far as to reject a budget, was relied on by the extremists as dictating the obvious party tactics; and before the year 1909 opened, the possibility of the Lords being driven to compel a dissolution by

standing

STANDING

on their extreme rights as regards the financial provision for the year was already canvassed in political circles, though it was hardly credited that the government would precipitate a constitutional crisis of such magnitude. When Mr Lloyd George, on the 29th of April, introduced his budget, its revolutionary character, however, created widespread dismay in the City and among the propertied classes. In a very lengthy speech, which had to be interrupted for half an hour while he recovered his voice, he ended by describing it as a " war budget " against poverty, which he hoped, in the result, would become " as remote to the people of this country as the wolves which once infested its forests." Some of the original proposals, which were much criticized, were subsequently dropped, including the permanent diversion of the Old Sinking Fund to a National Development Fund (created by a separate bill), and a tax on " ungotten minerals," for which was substituted a tax on mineral rights. But the main features of the budget were adhered to, and eventually passed the House of Commons on the 4th of November, in spite of the persistent opposition of the scanty Unionist minority. Apart from certain non-contentious provisions, such as a tax on motor-cars, the main features of the measure were large increases in the spirit and tobacco duties, license duties, estate, legacy and succession duties, and income tax, and an elaborate and novel system of duties on land-values (" increment duty," " reversion duty," " undeveloped land duty "), depending on the setting up of arrangements for valuation of a highly complicated kind. The discussions on the budget entirely monopolized public attention for the year, and while the measure was defended by Mr Lloyd George in parliament with much suavity, and by Mr Asquith, Sir Edward Grey and Mr Haldane outside the House of Commons with tact and moderation, the feelings of its opponents were exasperated by a series of inflammatory public speeches at Limehouse and elsewhere from the chancellor of the exchequer, who took these opportunities to rouse the passions of the working-classes against the landed classes and the peers. When the Finance Bill went up to the House of Lords, Lord Lansdowne gave notice that on the second reading he would move " that this House is not justified in giving its consent to this bill until it has been submitted to the judgment of the country," and or, the last day of November this motion was carried by an overwhelming majority of peers. The government passed a solemn resolution of protest in the House of Commons and appealed to the country; and the general election of January 1910 took place amid unexampled excitement. The
Unionists gained a hundred seats over their previous numbers,
but the constitutional issue undoubtedly helped the government
to win a victory, depending indeed solely on the votes of the
Labour members and Irish Nationalists, which a year before
had seemed improbable.
Events had now made Mr Lloyd George and his financial policy the centre of the Liberal party programme; but party tactics for the moment prevented the ministry, who remained in office, from simply sending the budget up again to the Lords and allowing them to pass it. There was no majority in the Commons for the budget as such, since the Irish Nationalists only supported it as an

engine

ENGINE
ENGINE (Lat. ingenium)

for destroying the veto of the Lords and thus preparing the way for Irish Home Rule. Instead, therefore, of proceeding with the budget, the government
LLOYD'S, an association of merchants, shipowners, under-writers, and ship and insurance brokers, having its headquarters in a suite of rooms in the north-east corner of the Royal Exchange, London. Originally a mere gathering of merchants for business or gossip in a coffee-house kept by one Edward Lloyd in Tower Street, London, the earliest notice of which occurs in the London Gazette of the 18th of February ,688, this institution has gradually become one of the greatest organizations in the world in connexion with commerce. The

establishment

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

existed in Tower Street up to 1692, in which year it was removed by the proprietor to Lombard Street, in the centre of that portion of the city most frequented by merchants of the highest class. Shortly after this event Mr Lloyd established a weekly newspaper furnishing commercial and shipping news, in those days an undertaking of no small difficulty. This paper took the name of Lloyd's News, and, though its life was not long, it was the precursor of the now ubiquitous Lloyd's

List

, the oldest existing paper, the London Gazette excepted. In Lombard Street the business transacted at Lloyd's coffee-house steadily grew, but it does not appear that throughout the greater part of the 18th century the merchants and underwriters frequenting the rooms were bound together by any rules, or acted under any organization. By and by, however, the increase of marine insurance business made a change of system and improved accommodation necessary, and after finding a temporary resting-place in Pope's Head Alley, the underwriters and brokers settled in the Royal Exchange in March 1774. One of the first improvements in the mode of effecting marine insurance was the introduction of a printed form of policy. Hitherto various forms had been in use; and, to avoid numerous disputes the committee of Lloyd's proposed a general form, which was adopted by the members on the 12th of January 1779, and remains in use, with a few slight alterations, to this day. The two most important events in the history of Lloyd's during the loth century were the reorganization of the association in 1811, and the passing of an act in 1871 granting to Lloyd's all the rights and privileges of a

corporation

CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a body, corpus, corporis)

sanctioned by parliament. According to this act of incorporation, the three main objects for which the society exists arefirst, the carrying out of the business of marine insurance; secondly, the protection. of the interests of the members of the association; and thirdly, the collection, publication and diffusion of intelligence and information with respect to shipping. In the promotion of the last-named object an intelligence department has been developed which for wideness of range and efficient working has no parallel among private enterprises. By Lloyd's Signal Station Act 1888, powers were conferred on Lloyd's to establish signal stations with telegraphic communications, and by the Derelict Vessels (Report) Act ,896, masters of British ships are required to give notice to Lloyd's agents of derelict vessels, which information is published by Lloyd's.
The rooms at Lloyd's are available only to subscribers and members. The former pay an annual subscription of five guineas without entrance fee, but have no voice in the management of the institution. The latter consist of non-underwriting members, who pay an entrance fee of twelve guineas, and of underwriting members who pay a fee of loo. Underwriting members are also required to deposit securities to the value of 5000 to 1o,000, according to circumstances, as a guarantee for their
si
engagements. The management of the

establishment

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

is delegated by the members to certain of their number selected as a " committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's." With this body lies the appointment of all the officials and agents of the institution, the daily routine of duty being entrusted to a secretary and a large staff of clerks and other assistants. The mode employed in effecting an insurance at Lloyd's is simple. The business is done entirely by brokers, who write upon a slip of paper the name of the ship and shipmaster, the nature of the voyage, the subject to be insured, and the amount at which it is valued. If the

risk

RISK

is accepted, each underwriter subscribes his name and the amount he agrees to take or underwrite, the insurance being effected as soon as the total value is made up.
See F. Martin, History of Lloyd's and of Marine Insurance in Great Britain (1876).

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