3634 x 5181 px | 30,8 x 43,9 cm | 12,1 x 17,3 inches | 300dpi
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Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, KG (16 October 1863 – 17 March 1937) was a British statesman, politician, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In the last years before the outbreak of the Great War, Chamberlain was concerned with one issue above all others: Home Rule for Ireland. The issue which had prompted his father to split the Liberal Party in the 1880s now threatened to spill over into outright civil war, with the government of Herbert Henry Asquith committed to the passage of a Third Home Rule Bill. Chamberlain was resolutely opposed to the dissolution of the Union with Ireland, and to the strain of these years was added the death of his father in July 1914, only a few days after the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand began the train of events which led to the First World War. Pressure from the Conservative opposition, in part led by Chamberlain eventually resulted in the formation of the wartime coalition government, in 1915. Chamberlain joined the cabinet as Secretary of State for India. Chamberlain remained at the India Office after Lloyd George succeeded Asquith as Prime Minister in late 1916, but following the failure of various British campaigns in Mesopotamia (undertaken by the separately-administered Indian Army), Chamberlain resigned his post in 1917. This was despite any wrongdoing on his part, and it is widely believed that Austen acted according to his principles: he was the minister ultimately responsible; therefore the fault lay with him. He was widely acclaimed for such a selfless act. Later he returned to government and became a member of the War Cabinet in 1918. Following the victory of the Lloyd George coalition in the elections of 1918, Chamberlain was again appointed to the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Chamberlain immediately faced the huge task of restoring Britain’s finances after four disastrous years of wartime expenditure.
