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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Neville Chamberlain
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(1869–1940)
Conservative politician, prime minister 1937–40. Son of Joseph *Chamberlain by his second wife, he followed his father in a business career and in city politics in Birmingham. He became MP for the Ladywood division of Birmingham in 1918 (he was already in his 50th year), changing in 1929 to the Edgbaston division which he held until his death. By 1923 he was chancellor of the exchequer in Stanley *Baldwin's brief first government, a post he held again (1931–7) in the *national governments of Ramsay *MacDonald and Baldwin. When Baldwin retired in 1937, Chamberlain was his natural successor as prime minister.
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By then there was a single dominant issue in world affairs – the aggressive intentions of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. The majority in Britain hoped that a peaceful solution could be found for Germany's claims on areas of other countries with German populations, and Chamberlain was a willing spokesman for this policy of *appeasement. With the agreement at *Munich in 1938 he effectively abandoned Czechoslovakia (whose trouble with its German citizens he described as 'a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing'). But he immediately accelerated Britain's rearmament programme and the following year declared that Britain would defend Poland against German attack. This commitment led, in September 1939, to the start of *World War II.
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Chamberlain brought into his war cabinet the leading opponent of appeasement, Winston *Churchill. The failure of the campaign in Norway in April 1940 caused criticism of Chamberlain's leadership and he resigned on May 10, being succeeded by Churchill. Chamberlain was already an ill man, and he died later the same year.
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