David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British Liberal politician and statesman.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer (1908–1915), Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of many reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government (1916–22), during and immediately after the First World War. He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of Germany in the Great War. He arguably made a greater impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader, thanks to his pre-war introduction of Britain's social welfare system, his leadership in winning the war, his post-war role in reshaping Europe and his partitioning Ireland (between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland which remained part of the UK).

He was the last Liberal to serve as Prime Minister. Parliamentary support for the coalition premiership was mostly from Conservatives rather than his own Liberals. The Liberal split led to the permanent decline of that party as a serious political force. Although he became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, he was unable to regain power, and by the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. In the Second World War he was known for defeatism.

Although many barristers have been Prime Minister, Lloyd George is to date the only solicitor to have held that office. He is also so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and to have spoken English as a second language. He was voted the third greatest British prime minister of the 20th century in a poll of 139 academics organised by MORI, and in 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote.

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Lloyd George's cabinets

War Cabinet

• Lord Curzon of Kedleston – Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords
• Andrew Bonar Law – Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons
• Arthur Henderson – Minister without Portfolio
• Lord Milner – Minister without Portfolio

War Cabinet changes

• May — August 1917 – In temporary absence of Arthur Henderson, George Barnes, Minister of Pensions acts as a member of the War Cabinet.
• June 1917 – Jan Smuts enters the War Cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio
• July 1917 – Sir Edward Carson enters the War Cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio
• August 1917 – George Barnes succeeds Arthur Henderson (resigned) as Minister without Portfolio and Labour Partymember of the War Cabinet.
• January 1918 – Carson resigns and is not replaced
• April 1918 – Austen Chamberlain succeeds Lord Milner as Minister without Portfolio.
• January 1919 Law becomes Lord Privy Seal, remaining Leader of the House of Commons, and is succeeded as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Chamberlain; both remaining in the War Cabinet. Smuts is succeeded by Sir Eric Geddes as Minister without Portfolio.

Other members of Lloyd George's war government

• Lord Finlay – Lord Chancellor
• Lord Crawford – Lord Privy Seal
• Sir George Cave – Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Arthur Balfour – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• Walter Long – Secretary of State for the Colonies
• Lord Derby, and then (after April 1918), Lord Milner – Secretary of State for War
• Austen Chamberlain (to 1917), and then Edwin Samuel Montagu – Secretary of State for India
• Sir Edward Carson, and then (from 1917) Sir Eric Geddes – First Lord of the Admiralty
• Sir Frederick Cawley (to 1918), and then Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Downham – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• Sir Albert Stanley – President of the Board of Trade
• H. E. Duke and then Edward Shortt – Chief Secretary for Ireland
• William Fisher – President of the Local Government Board (to 1918)
• Sir Auckland Geddes – President of the Local Government Board (to 1919)
• Winston Churchill – Minister of Munitions (appointed 17/7/17)
• Neville Chamberlain, and then (from 1917) Sir Auckland Geddes – Director of National Service

Peacetime government, January 1919 – October 1922

The War Cabinet was formally maintained for much of 1919, but as Lloyd George was out of the country for many months this made little difference. In October 1919 a formal Cabinet was reinstated.

• David Lloyd George — Prime Minister
• Lord Birkenhead – Lord Chancellor
• Lord Curzon of Kedleston – Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords
• Andrew Bonar Law – Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons
• Austen Chamberlain – Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Edward Shortt – Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Arthur Balfour – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• Lord Milner – Secretary of State for the Colonies
• Winston Churchill – Secretary of State for War and Air
• Edwin Samuel Montagu – Secretary of State for India
• Walter Hume Long – First Lord of the Admiralty
• Sir Albert Stanley – President of the Board of Trade
• Robert Munro – Secretary for Scotland
• James Ian Macpherson – Chief Secretary for Ireland
• Lord French – Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
• Christopher Addison – President of the Local Government Board
• Rowland Edmund Prothero – President of the Board of Agriculture
• Herbert Fisher – President of the Board of Education
• Lord Inverforth – Minister of Munitions
• Sir Robert Horne – Minister of Labour
• George Nicoll Barnes – Minister without Portfolio
• Sir Eric Geddes – Minister without Portfolio

Peacetime changes

• May 1919 – Sir Auckland Geddes succeeds Sir Albert Stanley as President of the Board of Trade. Sir Eric Geddes becomes Minister of Transport.
• October 1919 – Lord Curzon of Kedleston succeeds Balfour as Foreign Secretary. Balfour succeeds Curzon as Lord President. The Local Government Board is abolished. Christopher Addison becomes Minister of Health. The Board of Agriculture is abolished. Lord Lee of Fareham becomes Minister of Agriculture. Sir Eric Geddes becomes Minister of Transport.
• January 1920 – George Barnes leaves the cabinet.
• March 1920 – Sir Robert Horne succeeds Sir Auckland Geddes as President of the Board of Trade. Thomas McNamara succeeds Horne as Minister of Labour.
• April 1920 – Sir Hamar Greenwood succeeds Ian Macpherson as Chief Secretary for Ireland. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans joins the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio.
• February 1921 – Winston Churchill succeeds Lord Milner as Colonial Secretary. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans succeeds Churchill as War Secretary. Lord Lee of Fareham succeeds Walter Long at the Admiralty. Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen succeeds Lee as Minister of Agriculture.
• March 1921 – Austen Chamberlain succeeds Bonar Law as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Commons. Sir Robert Horne succeeds Chamberlain at the Exchequer. Stanley Baldwin succeeds Horne at the Board of Trade.
• April 1921 – Lord French resigns from the cabinet, remaining Lord Lieutenant. Christopher Addison becomes a Minister without Portfolio. Sir Alfred Mond succeeds him as Minister of Health. The Ministry of Munitions is abolished.
• November 1921 – Sir Eric Geddes resigns from the cabinet. His successor as Minister of Transport is not in the Cabinet. The Attorney General, Sir Gordon Hewart, enters the Cabinet.
• March 1922 – Lord Peel succeeds Edwin Montagu as India Secretary.
• April 1922 – The First Commissioner of Works, Lord Crawford, enters the Cabinet.

Honours

Peerage

Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, Viscount Gwynedd, of Dwyfor in the county of Caernarvonshire – created 1 January 1945.

Decorations

• Order of Merit (civil) 1919
• Knight of Grace, Order of St John of Jerusalem. He was also Chancellor for the Welsh Priory of the Order from 1918 and Prior from 1943.
• Grand Cordon of Legion of Honour (France) 1920
• Grand Cordon of Order of Leopold (Belgium)
• Grand Cordon of Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus (Italy)
• Cross of Liberty (Estonia) (3rd class 1st rank) for Civilian Service, 29 April 1925

Academic

• Oxford University –

DCL 1908

Fellow of Jesus College 1910

• University of Wales – LLD 1908
• Glasgow University – LLD 1917
• University of Edinburgh:

LLD 1918

Rector1920

• Durham University – DCL 1919
• Sheffield University – DLitt 1919
• Cambridge University – LLD 1920
• Birmingham University – LLD 1921
• Leeds University – LLD 1922

Freedoms

Lloyd George was honorary Freeman of the following cities and towns:

• Blackpool[128] – 1918
• City of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol, York, Glasgow, Barnsley – 1921
• Leeds, Aberystwyth – 1922
• Montreal, Canada; Brecon, Llandovery, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Swansea – 1923

Namesakes

Lloyd George Avenue is an extension of the A470 road, connecting the city of Cardiff to Cardiff Bay.

Mount Lloyd George in the Northern Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada was named after Lloyd George during the First World War, and still retains the name.

Kibbutz Ramat David in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel and the adjacent Ramat David Airbase are named after him.

A locomotive on the Ffestiniog Railway is named after Lloyd George who grew up near the railway and also travelled on it. The locomotive was built in 1992.

Cultural references

"Lloyd George Knew My Father" is a well-known ditty, with the lyrics "Lloyd George knew my father/Father knew Lloyd George" repeated incessantly to the tune of "Onward, Christian Soldiers". The origin and meaning of the song are disputed.

A feature film, The Life Story of David Lloyd George, was made in 1918 by Ideal Films, suppressed, rediscovered in 1994, and first shown in 1996.[132] Norman Page played the role of Lloyd George.

A television series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George was made in 1981. Philip Madoc played Lloyd George.

In the Irish historical television film The Treaty, Lloyd George was played by Ian Bannen.