Austen Chamberlain

The Right Honourable Sir Austen Chamberlain KG
Chamberlain in 1931
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 24 August 1931 – 5 November 1931
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	A. V. Alexander
Succeeded by	Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell
Foreign Secretary
In office 3 November 1924 – 4 June 1929
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	Ramsay MacDonald
Succeeded by	Arthur Henderson
Lord Privy Seal Leader of the House of Commons
In office 1 April 1921 – 23 October 1922
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Bonar Law
Succeeded by	Robert Cecil
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 9 October 1903 – 4 December 1905
Prime Minister	Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Charles Thomson Ritchie
Succeeded by	H. H. Asquith
In office 10 January 1919 – 1 April 1921
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Bonar Law
Succeeded by	Sir Robert Horne
Secretary of State for India
In office 25 May 1915 – 17 July 1917
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe
Succeeded by	Edwin Montagu
Postmaster General
In office 11 August 1902 – 9 October 1903
Prime Minister	Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry
Succeeded by	Lord Stanley
Member of Parliament for Birmingham West
In office 14 July 1914 – 16 March 1937
Preceded by	Joseph Chamberlain
Succeeded by	Walter Higgs
Member of Parliament for East Worcestershire
In office 30 March 1892 – 7 July 1914
Preceded by	George Hastings
Succeeded by	Leverton Harris
Personal details
Born	Joseph Austen Chamberlain (1863-10-16)16 October 1863 Birmingham, England
Died	16 March 1937(1937-03-16) (aged 73) London, England
Political party	Liberal Unionist Conservative[1]
Spouse	Ivy Muriel Dundas ​ (m. 1906)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Joseph Chamberlain Harriet Kenrick
Education	Rugby School
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge Sciences Po University of Berlin
Signature

Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain KG (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 45 years, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly Conservative Party leader before serving as Foreign Secretary.

Brought up to be the political heir of his father, whom he physically resembled, he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal Unionist at a by-election in 1892. He held office in the Unionist coalition governments of 1895–1905, remaining in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1903–05) after his father resigned in 1903 to campaign for Tariff Reform. After his father's disabling stroke in 1906, Austen became the leading tariff reformer in the House of Commons. Late in 1911 he and Walter Long were due to compete for the leadership of the Conservative Party (in succession to Arthur Balfour), but both withdrew in favour of Bonar Law rather than risk a party split on a close result.

Chamberlain returned to office in H. H. Asquith's wartime coalition government in May 1915, as Secretary of State for India, but resigned to take responsibility for the disastrous Kut Campaign. He again returned to office in David Lloyd George's coalition government, once again serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He then served as Conservative Party leader in the Commons (1921–1922), before resigning after the Carlton Club meeting voted to end the Lloyd George Coalition.

Like many leading coalitionists, he did not hold office in the Conservative governments of 1922–1924. By now regarded as an elder statesman, he served an important term as Foreign Secretary in Stanley Baldwin's second government (1924–1929). He negotiated the Locarno Treaties (1925), aimed at preventing war between France and Germany, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Chamberlain last held office as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1931. He was one of the few MPs supporting Winston Churchill's appeals for rearmament against the German threat in the 1930s and remained an active backbench MP until his death in 1937.