H. H. Asquith

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The Right Honourable The Earl of Oxford and Asquith KG PC KC FRS
Asquith c. 1910s
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 5 April 1908 – 5 December 1916
Monarchs	Edward VII George V
Preceded by	Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Succeeded by	David Lloyd George
Leader of the Opposition
In office 12 February 1920 – 21 November 1922
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George Bonar Law
Preceded by	Donald Maclean
Succeeded by	Ramsay MacDonald
In office 6 December 1916 – 14 December 1918
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Edward Carson
Succeeded by	Donald Maclean
Leader of the Liberal Party
In office 30 April 1908 – 14 October 1926
Preceded by	Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Succeeded by	David Lloyd George
Ministerial portfolios Secretary of State for War In office 30 March 1914 – 5 August 1914 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by J. E. B. Seely Succeeded by The Earl Kitchener Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 10 December 1905 – 12 April 1908 Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman Preceded by Austen Chamberlain Succeeded by David Lloyd George Home Secretary In office 18 August 1892 – 25 June 1895 Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery Preceded by Henry Matthews Succeeded by Matthew White Ridley
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Hereditary peerage 10 February 1925 – 15 February 1928 Succeeded by The 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith Member of Parliament for Paisley In office 12 February 1920 – 9 October 1924 Preceded by John McCallum Succeeded by Edward Mitchell Member of Parliament for East Fife In office 27 July 1886 – 25 November 1918 Preceded by John Boyd Kinnear Succeeded by Alexander Sprot
Personal details
Born	Herbert Asquith (1852-09-12)12 September 1852 Morley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	15 February 1928(1928-02-15) (aged 75) Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire, England
Resting place	All Saints' Church, Sutton Courtenay
Political party	Liberal
Spouses	Helen Kelsall Melland ​ ​ (m. 1877; died 1891)​ Emma Margaret "Margot" Tennant ​ ​ (m. 1894)​
Children	10, including Raymond, Herbert, Arthur, Violet, Cyril, Elizabeth and Anthony
Education	City of London School
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Profession	Barrister
Signature
H. H. Asquith's voice Asquith delivering his Budget Speech, recorded in 1909.

Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith KG PC KC FRS (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last Liberal Party prime minister to command a majority government, and the most recent Liberal to have served as Leader of the Opposition. He played a major role in the design and passage of major liberal legislation and a reduction of the power of the House of Lords. In August 1914, Asquith took Great Britain and the British Empire into the First World War. During 1915, his government was vigorously attacked for a shortage of munitions and the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign. He formed a coalition government with other parties but failed to satisfy critics, was forced to resign in December 1916 and never regained power.

After attending Balliol College, Oxford, he became a successful barrister. In 1886, he was the Liberal candidate for East Fife, a seat he held for over thirty years. In 1892, he was appointed Home Secretary in Gladstone's fourth ministry, remaining in the post until the Liberals lost the 1895 election. In the decade of opposition that followed, Asquith became a major figure in the party, and when the Liberals regained power under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in 1905, Asquith was named Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1908, Asquith succeeded him as prime minister. The Liberals were determined to advance their reform agenda. An impediment to this was the House of Lords, which rejected the People's Budget of 1909. Meanwhile, the South Africa Act 1909 passed. Asquith called an election for January 1910, and the Liberals won, though they were reduced to a minority government. After another general election in December 1910, he gained passage of the Parliament Act 1911, allowing a bill three times passed by the Commons in consecutive sessions to be enacted regardless of the Lords. Asquith was less successful in dealing with Irish Home Rule. Repeated crises led to gun running and violence, verging on civil war.

When Britain declared war on Germany in response to the German invasion of Belgium, high-profile domestic conflicts were suspended regarding Ireland and women's suffrage. Asquith was more of a committee chair than a dynamic leader. He oversaw national mobilisation, the dispatch of the British Expeditionary Force to the Western Front, the creation of a mass army and the development of an industrial strategy designed to support the country's war aims. The war became bogged down and there was a call for better leadership. He was forced to form a coalition with the Conservatives and Labour early in 1915. He was weakened by his own indecision over strategy, conscription and financing.^[1] David Lloyd George replaced him as prime minister in December 1916. They became bitter enemies and fought for control of the fast-declining Liberal Party. Asquith's role in creating the modern British welfare state (1906–1911) has been celebrated, but his weaknesses as a war leader and as a party leader after 1914 have been highlighted by historians. He remained the only prime minister between 1827 and 1979 to serve more than eight consecutive years in a single term.