Asquith, H(erbert) H(enry), 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith 1852-1928
English statesman

He was born in Morley, Yorkshire, and educated at City of London School and Balliol College, Oxford. Called to the Bar in 1876, he became a QC in 1890 and was Liberal MP for East Fife (1886-1918). He became Home Secretary (1892-95) and, despite upsetting many of his fellow Liberals by his support for the anti-Boer imperialists during the South African War (1899-1902), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1905-08), succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister in April 1908. The social reforms in the early years of his administration (which included the introduction of old-age pensions) were overshadowed by a clash with the House of Lords over the 'People's Budget' of 1909, resulting in a restriction of their powers in the Parliament Act 1911. Asquith was also confronted by the suffragette movement, industrial strife, the threat of civil war over Home Rule for Ireland and the international crises which led to World War I. In May 1915 he formed and headed a war coalition but was ousted in December 1916 by supporters of Lloyd George and some Conservatives who thought his conduct of the war was not sufficiently vigorous. He lost his East Fife seat in 1918, led the Independent Liberals who rejected Lloyd George's continuing coalition with the Conservatives, and returned to the Commons as MP for Paisley in 1920. His disagreements with Lloyd George weakened the Liberal party and, although he was recognized as leader again between 1923 and 1926, the Liberals failed to regain their earlier position as the main opposition to the Conservatives. He was created an earl in 1925. He wrote his Memories and Reflections (1928) and his second wife Margot Asquith wrote a lively Autobiography (1922; revised edition 1962).

Bibliography: J A Spender and Cyril Asquith, Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith (2 vols, 1932)