Asquith, Herbert Henry, Earl of Oxford and Asquith

Born Sept. 12, 1852, in Morley, Lancashire; died Feb. 15, 1928, in Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire. English statesman; one of the leaders of the Liberal Party.

Educated at Oxford, Asquith was a lawyer by profession. Beginning in 1892, he repeatedly served in the government. From 1908 to 1916 he was prime minister. In the struggle with the growing workers’ movement, the Liberals headed by Asquith and Lloyd George employed tactics of social demagogy and halfhearted reforms, such as limiting the power of the House of Lords in 1911. Asquith’s government carried out preparations for a war with Germany and contributed to the unleashing of World War I. His government cruelly suppressed the Irish uprising of 1916. Great Britain’s reverses in World War I and the sharpening of internal contradictions led to Asquith’s retirement (December, 1916).