Chamberlain, (Arthur) Neville 1869-1940
English statesman

He was born in Birmingham, the son of Joseph Chamberlain by his second marriage, and educated at Rugby and Birmingham University. He was Lord Mayor of Birmingham (1915-16) and a Conservative MP from 1918. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1923-24, 1931-37), Minister for Health (1924-29) and became Prime Minister in 1937. For the sake of peace, and with the country unprepared for war, he chose initially to follow a policy of appeasement of Italy and Germany and signed the 1938 Munich Agreement, claiming to have found 'peace in our time'. Having meantime pressed on with rearmament, he declared war in 1939. Criticism of his war leadership accompanied initial military reverses, and in 1940 he yielded the premiership to Churchill, dying six months later. Subsequent re-evaluations of his career have shown his policy of appeasement in a more favourable light.