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LLOYD GEORGE, DAVID (1863— )

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 834 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LLOYD See also:GEORGE, See also:DAVID (1863— ) , See also:British statesman, was See also:born at See also:Manchester on the 17th of See also:January 1863. His See also:father, See also:William George, a Welshman of See also:yeoman stock, had See also:left See also:Pembrokeshire for See also:London at an See also:early See also:age and became a schoolteacher there, and afterwards in See also:Liverpool and See also:Haverfordwest, and then headmaster of an elementary school at See also:Pwllheli, See also:Carnarvonshire, where he married the daughter of David Lloyd, a neighbouring Baptist See also:minister. Soon afterwards William George became headmaster of an elementary school in Manchester, but after the See also:birth of his eldest son David his See also:health failed, and he gave up his See also:post and took a small See also:farm near Haverfordwest. Two years later he died, leaving his widow in poor circumstances; a second See also:child, another son, was posthumously born. Mrs George's See also:brother, See also:Richard Lloyd, a shoemaker at Llanystumdwy, and pastor of the Campbellite See also:Baptists there, now became her See also:chief support; it was from him that See also:young David obtained his earliest views of See also:practical and See also:political See also:life, and also the means of starting, at the age of fourteen, on the career of a See also:solicitor. Having passed his See also:law preliminary, he was articled to a See also:firm in Portmadoc, and in 1884 obtained his final qualifications. In 1888 he married See also:Margaret, daughter of Richard See also:Owen of See also:Criccieth. From the first he managed to combine his solicitor's See also:work with politics, becoming secretary of the See also:South Carnarvonshire See also:Anti-tithe See also:League; and his See also:local reputation was made by a successful fight, carried to the High See also:Court, in See also:defence of the right of Nonconformists to See also:burial in the See also:parish See also:churchyard. In the first See also:county See also:council elections for Carnarvonshire he played a strenuous See also:part on the See also:Radical See also:side, and was chosen an See also:alder-See also:man; and in 189o, at a by-See also:election for See also:Carnarvon Boroughs, he was returned to See also:parliament by a See also:majority of 18 over a strong Conservative opponent. He held his seat successfully at the contests in 1892, 1895 and 1900, his reputation as a See also:champion of Welsh nationalism, Welsh See also:nonconformity and extreme Radical-ism becoming thoroughly established both in parliament and in the See also:country. In the See also:House of See also:Commons he was one of the most prominent See also:guerrilla fighters, conspicuous for his audacity and pungency of utterance, and his capacity for obstruction while the Conservatives were in See also:office. During the South See also:African crisis of 1899–1902 he was specially vehement in opposition to Mr See also:Chamberlain, and took the " See also:pro-See also:Boer " side so bitterly that he was mobbed in See also:Birmingham during the 1900 election when he attempted to address a See also:meeting at the See also:Town See also:Hall.

But he was again returned for Carnarvon Boroughs; and in the ensuing parliament he came still more to. the front by his resistance to the See also:

Education See also:Act of 1902. As the See also:leader of the Welsh party, and one of the most dashing parliamentarians on the Radical side, his See also:appointment to office when See also:Sir H. See also:Campbell-Bannerman became premier at the end of 1905 was generally expected; but his See also:elevation See also:direct to the See also:cabinet as See also:president of the See also:Board of See also:Trade was somewhat of a surprise. The responsibilities of See also:administration have, however, often converted a political See also:free-See also:lance into a steady-going See also:official, and the Unionist See also:press did its best to encourage such a tendency by continual praise of the departmental See also:action of the new minister. His See also:settlement of the railway dispute in 1906 was universally applauded; and the bills he introduced and passed for reorganizing the See also:port of London, dealing with See also:Merchant See also:Shipping, and enforcing the working in See also:England of See also:patents granted there, and so increasing the employment of British labour, were greeted with See also:satisfaction by the See also:tariff-reformers, who congratulated themselves that a Radical free-trader should thus throw over the policy of laisser faire. The president of the Board of Trade was the chief success of the See also:ministry, and when Mr See also:Asquith became premier in 1908 and promoted Mr Lloyd George to the chancellorship of the See also:exchequer, the appointment was well received even in the See also:City of London. For that See also:year the See also:budget was already settled, and it was introduced by Mr Asquith himself, the ex-See also:chancellor; but Mr Lloyd George earned See also:golden opinions, both at the See also:Treasury and in parliament, by his See also:industry and his handling of the See also:Finance See also:Bill, especially important for its inclusion of Old Age See also:Pensions, in the later stages. It was not till the See also:time came nearer for the introduction of the budget for 1909–19ro that See also:opinion in See also:financial circles showed the See also:change which was afterwards to become so marked. A considerable deficit, of about £16,000,000, was in prospect, and the chancellor of the exchequer aroused misgivings by alluding in a speech to the difficulty he had in deciding what " See also:hen roost " to " rob." The See also:government had been losing ground in the country, and Mr Lloyd George and Mr Winston See also:Churchill were conspicuously in See also:alliance in advocating the use of the budget for introducing drastic reforms in regard to licensing and See also:land, which the resistance of the House of Lords prevented the Radical party from effecting by See also:ordinary legislation. The well-established See also:doctrine that the House of Lords could not amend, though it might reject, a See also:money-bill, coupled with the fact that it never had gone so far as to reject a budget, was relied on by the extremists as dictating the obvious party See also:tactics; and before the year 1909 opened, the possibility of the Lords being driven to compel a See also:dissolution by See also:standing on their extreme rights as regards the financial See also:provision for the year was already canvassed in political circles, though it was hardly credited that the government would precipitate a constitutional crisis of such magnitude. When Mr Lloyd George, on the 29th of See also:April, introduced his budget, its revolutionary See also:character, however, created widespread dismay in the City and among the propertied classes. In a very lengthy speech, which had to be interrupted for See also:half an See also:hour while he recovered his See also:voice, he ended by describing it as a " See also:war budget " against poverty, which he hoped, in the result, would become " as remote to the See also:people of this country as the wolves which once infested its forests." Some of the See also:original proposals, which were much criticized, were subsequently dropped, including the permanent diversion of the Old Sinking Fund to a See also:National Development Fund (created by a See also:separate bill), and a tax on " ungotten minerals," for which was substituted a tax on See also:mineral rights.

But the See also:

main features of the budget were adhered to, and eventually passed the House of Commons on the 4th of See also:November, in spite of the persistent opposition of the scanty Unionist minority. Apart from certain non-contentious provisions, such as a tax on motor-cars, the main features of the measure were large increases in the spirit and See also:tobacco duties, license duties, See also:estate, See also:legacy and See also:succession duties, and income tax, and an elaborate and novel See also:system of duties on land-values (" increment See also:duty," " reversion duty," " undeveloped land duty "), depending on the setting up of arrangements for valuation of a highly complicated See also:kind. The discussions on the budget entirely monopolized public See also:attention for the year, and while the measure was defended by Mr Lloyd George in parliament with much suavity, and by Mr Asquith, Sir See also:Edward See also:Grey and Mr See also:Haldane outside the House of Commons with tact and moderation, the feelings of its opponents were exasperated by a See also:series of inflammatory public speeches at Limehouse and elsewhere from the chancellor of the exchequer, who took these opportunities to rouse the passions of the working-classes against the landed classes and the peers. When the Finance Bill went up to the House of Lords, See also:Lord See also:Lansdowne gave See also:notice that on the second See also:reading he would move " that this House is not justified in giving its consent to this bill until it has been submitted to the See also:judgment of the country," and or, the last See also:day of November this See also:motion was carried by an overwhelming majority of peers. The government passed a See also:solemn See also:resolution of protest in the House of Commons and appealed to the country; and the See also:general election of January 1910 took See also:place amid unexampled excitement. The Unionists gained a See also:hundred seats over their previous See also:numbers, but the constitutional issue undoubtedly helped the government to win a victory, depending indeed solely on the votes of the Labour members and Irish Nationalists, which a year before had seemed improbable. Events had now made Mr Lloyd George and his financial policy the centre of the Liberal party See also:programme; but party tactics for the moment prevented the ministry, who remained in office, from simply sending the budget up again to the Lords and allowing them to pass it. There was no majority in the Commons for the budget as such, since the Irish Nationalists only supported it as an See also:engine for destroying the See also:veto of the Lords and thus preparing the way for Irish See also:Home See also:Rule. Instead, therefore, of proceeding with the budget, the government LLOYD'S, an association of merchants, shipowners, under-writers, and See also:ship and See also:insurance brokers, having its headquarters in a See also:suite of rooms in the See also:north-See also:east corner of the Royal See also:Exchange, London. Originally a See also:mere gathering of merchants for business or See also:gossip in a See also:coffee-house kept by one Edward Lloyd in See also:Tower See also:Street, London, the earliest notice of which occurs in the London See also:Gazette of the 18th of See also:February ,688, this institution has gradually become one of the greatest organizations in the See also:world in connexion with See also:commerce. The See also:establishment existed in Tower Street up to 1692, in which year it was removed by the proprietor to Lombard Street, in the centre of that portion of the city most frequented by merchants of the highest class. Shortly after this event Mr Lloyd established a weekly newspaper furnishing commercial and shipping See also:news, in those days an undertaking of no small difficulty.

This See also:

paper took the name of Lloyd's News, and, though its life was not See also:long, it was the precursor of the now ubiquitous Lloyd's See also:List, the See also:oldest existing paper, the London Gazette excepted. In Lombard Street the business transacted at Lloyd's coffee-house steadily See also:grew, but it does not appear that throughout the greater part of the 18th See also:century the merchants and underwriters frequenting the rooms were See also:bound together by any rules, or acted under any organization. By and by, however, the increase of marine insurance business made a change of system and improved See also:accommodation necessary, and after finding a temporary resting-place in See also:Pope's See also:Head See also:Alley, the underwriters and brokers settled in the Royal Exchange in See also:March 1774. One of the first improvements in the mode of effecting marine insurance was the introduction of a printed See also:form of policy. Hitherto various forms had been in use; and, to avoid numerous disputes the See also:committee of Lloyd's proposed a general form, which was adopted by the members on the 12th of January 1779, and remains in use, with a few slight alterations, to this day. The two most important events in the See also:history of Lloyd's during the loth century were the reorganization of the association in 1811, and the passing of an act in 1871 granting to Lloyd's all the rights and privileges of a See also:corporation sanctioned by parliament. According to this act of See also:incorporation, the three main See also:objects for which the society exists are—first, the carrying out of the business of marine insurance; secondly, the See also:protection. of the interests of the members of the association; and thirdly, the collection, publication and See also:diffusion of intelligence and See also:information with respect to shipping. In the promotion of the last-named See also:object an intelligence See also:department has been See also:developed which for wideness of range and efficient working has no parallel among private enterprises. By Lloyd's See also:Signal Station Act 1888, See also:powers were conferred on Lloyd's to establish signal stations with telegraphic communications, and by the See also:Derelict Vessels (See also:Report) Act ,896, masters of British See also:ships are required to give notice to Lloyd's agents of derelict vessels, which information is published by Lloyd's. The rooms at Lloyd's are available only to subscribers and members. The former pay an See also:annual subscription of five guineas without entrance See also:fee, but have no voice in the management of the institution. The latter consist of non-underwriting members, who pay an entrance fee of twelve guineas, and of underwriting members who pay a fee of £See also:loo.

Underwriting members are also required to See also:

deposit securities to the value of £5000 to £1o,000, according to circumstances, as a See also:guarantee for their si engagements. The management of the establishment is delegated by the members to certain of their number selected as a " committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's." With this See also:body lies the appointment of all the officials and agents of the institution, the daily routine of duty being entrusted to a secretary and a large See also:staff of clerks and other assistants. The mode employed in effecting an insurance at Lloyd's is See also:simple. The business is done entirely by brokers, who write upon a slip of paper the name of the ship and shipmaster, the nature of the voyage, the subject to be insured, and the amount at which it is valued. If the See also:risk is accepted, each See also:underwriter subscribes his name and the amount he agrees to take or underwrite, the insurance being effected as soon as the See also:total value is made up. See F. See also:Martin, History of Lloyd's and of Marine Insurance in See also:Great See also:Britain (1876).

End of Article: LLOYD GEORGE, DAVID (1863— )

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