Editing Neville Chamberlain (section)

== Early life and political career (1869–1918) ==
{{main|Rise of Neville Chamberlain}}

=== Childhood and businessman ===
[[File:Jchamberlain-achamberlain.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Joseph Chamberlain and Austen Chamberlain, 1892|[[Joseph Chamberlain]] (seated) and [[Austen Chamberlain]], 1892]]
Chamberlain was born on 18 March 1869 in a house called Southbourne in the [[Edgbaston]] district of [[Birmingham]].{{sfn|Crozier|2004–09}} He was the only son of the second marriage of [[Joseph Chamberlain]], who later became [[List of Lord Mayors of Birmingham|Mayor of Birmingham]] and a Cabinet minister. His mother was Florence Kenrick, a cousin of [[William Kenrick (Birmingham MP)|William Kenrick MP]]; she died when he was a small boy. Joseph Chamberlain had had another son, [[Austen Chamberlain]], by his first marriage.{{sfn|Macklin|2006|p=11}} The Chamberlain family were Unitarian, though Joseph lost personal religious faith by the time Neville was six years old and never required religious adherence of his children.<ref name=lapsed>{{cite web
| last =Ruston
| first =Alan
| title =Neville Chamberlain
| publisher =Unitarian Universalist Historical Society
| url =http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/nevillechamberlain.html
| access-date =28 January 2022
| archive-date =21 February 2007
| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070221213453/http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/nevillechamberlain.html
| url-status =dead
}}</ref> Neville, who disliked attending worship services of any kind and showed no interest in organised religion, described himself as a Unitarian with no stated faith and also a "reverent agnostic".<ref name=lapsed />

Neville Chamberlain was educated at home by his elder sister [[Beatrice Chamberlain]] and later at [[Rugby School]].{{sfn|Smart|2010|pp=2–3}} Joseph Chamberlain then sent Neville to [[Mason College]],{{sfn|Smart|2010|pp=5–6}} now the [[University of Birmingham]]. Neville Chamberlain had little interest in his studies there, and in 1889 his father apprenticed him to a firm of accountants.{{sfn|Smart|2010|pp=6–8}} Within six months he became a salaried employee.{{sfn|Self|2006|p=21}} In an effort to recoup diminished family fortunes, Joseph Chamberlain sent his younger son to establish a [[sisal]] plantation on [[Andros, Bahamas|Andros Island in the Bahamas]].{{sfn|Self|2006|p=22}} Neville Chamberlain spent six years there but the plantation was a failure, and Joseph Chamberlain lost £50,000{{efn|name=plantation lose}}{{sfn|Dutton|2001|p=9}} (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|50000|1895|r=-3}}}} in {{CURRENTISOYEAR}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}

On his return to England, Neville Chamberlain entered business, purchasing (with assistance from his family) Hoskins & Company, a manufacturer of metal ship berths.{{sfn|Smart|2010|p=33}} Chamberlain served as managing director of Hoskins for 17&nbsp;years during which time the company prospered.{{sfn|Smart|2010|pp=33–34}} He also involved himself in civic activities in Birmingham. In 1906, as Governor of [[Birmingham General Hospital]], and along with "no more than fifteen" other dignitaries, Chamberlain became a founding member of the national United Hospitals Committee of the [[British Medical Association]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/44042799/|title=The United Hospitals Conference of Great Britain and Ireland|work=The Times|date=7 December 1906|page=8|access-date=25 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301111428/http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/44042799/|archive-date=1 March 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Self|2006|p=31}}

At forty, Chamberlain was expecting to remain a bachelor, but in 1910 he fell in love with [[Anne Chamberlain|Anne Cole]], a recent connection by marriage, and married her the following year.{{sfn|Self|2006|pp=33–35}} They met through his Aunt Lilian, the Canadian-born widow of Joseph Chamberlain's brother Herbert, who in 1907 had married Anne Cole's uncle [[Alfred Clayton Cole]], a director of the [[Bank of England]].{{sfn|Dilks|1984|pp=115–116}}

She encouraged and supported his entry into local politics and was to be his constant companion, helper, and trusted colleague, fully sharing his interests in housing and other political and social activities after his election as an MP. The couple had a son and a daughter.{{sfn|Self|2006|pp=33–35}}

=== Entry into politics ===
Chamberlain initially showed little interest in politics, though his father and half-brother were in Parliament. During the "[[Khaki election]]" of [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900]] he made speeches in support of Joseph Chamberlain's [[Liberal Unionists]]. The Liberal Unionists were allied with the Conservatives and later merged with them{{sfn|Smart|2010|p=39}} under the name "Unionist Party", which in 1925 became known as the "Conservative and Unionist Party". In 1911, Neville Chamberlain successfully stood as a Liberal Unionist for [[Birmingham City Council]] for the All Saints' Ward,{{sfn|Self|2006|p=40}} located within [[Birmingham West (UK Parliament constituency)|his father's parliamentary constituency]].{{sfn|Smart|2010|p=53}}
[[File:Hughes and Chamberlain - crop.jpg|thumb|right|Chamberlain as [[Lord Mayor of Birmingham]] in May 1916, alongside Prime Minister [[Billy Hughes]] of Australia]]
Chamberlain was made chairman of the Town Planning Committee.{{sfn|Self|2006|pp=40–41}} Under his direction, Birmingham soon adopted one of the first town planning schemes in Britain. The start of the [[First World War]] in 1914 prevented implementation of his plans.{{sfn|Self|2006|p=41}} In 1915, Chamberlain became [[Lord Mayor of Birmingham]]. Apart from his father Joseph, five of Chamberlain's uncles had also attained the chief Birmingham civic dignity: they were Joseph's brother [[Richard Chamberlain (MP for Islington West)|Richard Chamberlain]], William and George Kenrick, [[Charles Gabriel Beale|Charles Beale]], who had been four times Lord Mayor and [[Sir Thomas Martineau|Thomas Martineau]]. As a lord mayor in wartime, Chamberlain had a huge burden of work and he insisted that his councillors and officials work equally hard.{{sfn|Self|2006|pp=42–43}} He halved the lord mayor's expense allowance and cut back on the number of civic functions expected of the incumbent.{{sfn|Smart|2010|p=62}} In 1915, Chamberlain was appointed a member of the Central Control Board on liquor traffic.<ref name=www>{{cite book|title=Who Was Who, 1929–1940|year=1949|publisher=A and C Black|page=235}}</ref>

In December 1916, Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] offered Chamberlain the new position of [[Director of National Service]], with responsibility for co-ordinating [[conscription]] and ensuring that essential war industries were able to function with sufficient workforces.{{sfn|Smart|2010|p=67}} His tenure was marked by conflict with Lloyd George; in August 1917, having received little support from the Prime Minister, Chamberlain resigned.{{sfn|Smart|2010|pp=77–79}} The relationship between Chamberlain and Lloyd George would, thereafter, be one of mutual hatred.{{sfn|Smart|2010|p=70}}

Chamberlain decided to stand for the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]],{{sfn|Self|2006|p=68}} and was adopted as Unionist candidate for [[Birmingham Ladywood]].{{sfn|Dilks|1984|p=262}} After the war ended, [[1918 United Kingdom general election|a general election]] was called almost immediately.{{sfn|Dilks|1984|p=262}} The campaign in this constituency was notable because his Liberal Party opponent was [[Margery Corbett Ashby]], one of the seventeen women who stood for Parliament at the first election at which women were eligible to do so. Chamberlain reacted to this intervention by being one of the few male candidates to specifically target women voters deploying his wife, issuing a special leaflet headed "A word to the Ladies" and holding two meetings in the afternoon.<ref>[http://www.brewinbooks.com/taking_on_the_men Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328042826/http://www.brewinbooks.com/taking_on_the_men |date=28 March 2019 }}, Studley, 2018 chapter 4, 'Corbett Ashby in Ladywood'. Chamberlain's letters to his sisters detailing the campaign are deposited at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.</ref> Chamberlain was elected with almost 70% of the vote and a majority of 6,833.{{sfn|Self|2006|p=73}} He was 49 years old, which was at the time the greatest age at which any future prime minister had first been elected to the Commons.{{sfn|Englefield|1995|p=388}}