Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

===Family background===
[[File:H-H-Asquith-as-a-boy.jpg|thumb|Asquith (left) with his sister Emily and elder brother William, {{circa|1857}}]]
Asquith was born in [[Morley, West Yorkshire|Morley]], in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], the younger son of Joseph Dixon Asquith (1825–1860) and his wife Emily, ''née'' Willans (1828–1888). The couple also had three daughters, of whom only one survived infancy.{{sfn|Jenkins|p=13}}<ref>Davies, Edward J. "The Ancestry of Herbert Henry Asquith", ''Genealogists' Magazine'', 30 (2010–12), pp. 471–479</ref>{{efn|Some sources mention only two daughters. See {{harvnb|Bates|p=9}}. The brother and sister who survived into adulthood were William Willans and Emily Evelyn. See {{harvnb|Margot Asquith 1962|p=263}}.}} The Asquiths were an old Yorkshire family, with a long [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] tradition.{{efn|The surname, a variant of [[Askwith]], a village in [[North Yorkshire]], derives from Old Norse ''ask-viðr'' – "ash-wood". See {{harvnb|Ekwall|p=16}}.}} It was a matter of family pride, shared by Asquith, that an ancestor, Joseph Asquith, was imprisoned for his part in the pro-[[Roundhead]] [[Farnley Wood Plot]] of 1664.{{sfn|Alderson|p=1}}

Both Asquith's parents came from families associated with the Yorkshire wool trade. Dixon Asquith inherited the Gillroyd Mill Company, founded by his father. Emily's father, William Willans, ran a successful [[wool-stapler|wool-trading]] business in [[Huddersfield]]. Both families were middle-class, [[Congregationalist]], and politically [[Radicalism (historical)|radical]]. Dixon was a mild man, cultivated and in his son's words "not cut out" for a business career.{{sfn|Jenkins|p=13}} He was described as "a man of high character who held Bible classes for young men".{{sfn|Margot Asquith 1962|pp=194–195}} Emily suffered persistent poor health, but was of strong character, and a formative influence on her sons.{{sfn|Margot Asquith 1962|p=195}}