Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

===Childhood and schooling===
In his younger days, he was called Herbert ("Bertie" as a child) within the family, but his second wife called him Henry. His biographer [[Stephen Koss]] entitled the first chapter of his biography "From Herbert to Henry", referring to upward [[social mobility]] and his abandonment of his Yorkshire Nonconformist roots with his second marriage. However, in public, he was invariably referred to only as H. H. Asquith. "There have been few major national figures whose Christian names were less well known to the public" according to biographer [[Roy Jenkins]].{{sfn|Jenkins|p=13}}

Herbert Asquith and his brother were educated at home by their parents until 1860, when Dixon Asquith died suddenly. William Willans took charge of the family, moved them to a house near his own, and arranged for the boys' schooling.{{sfn|Jenkins|p=15}} After a year at [[Huddersfield College]] they were sent as [[boarding school|boarders]] to [[Fulneck School]], a [[Moravian Church]] school near [[Leeds]]. In 1863 William Willans died, and the family came under the care of Emily's brother, John Willans. The boys went to live with him in London; when he moved back to Yorkshire in 1864 for business reasons, they remained in London and were lodged with various families.

The biographer Naomi Levine writes that in effect Asquith was "treated like an orphan" for the rest of his childhood.{{sfn|Levine|p=75}} The departure of his uncle effectively severed Asquith's ties with his native Yorkshire, and he described himself thereafter as "to all intents and purposes a Londoner".{{sfn|Bates|p=10}} Another biographer, [[H. C. G. Matthew]], writes that Asquith's northern nonconformist background continued to influence him: "It gave him a point of sturdy anti-establishmentarian reference, important to a man whose life in other respects was a long absorption into metropolitanism."<ref name="dnb" />

The boys were sent to the [[City of London School]] as day boys. Under the school's headmaster, [[E. A. Abbott]], a distinguished classical scholar, Asquith became an outstanding pupil. He later said that he was under deeper obligations to his old headmaster than to any man living;<ref name=dinner/> Abbott disclaimed credit for the boy's progress: "I never had a pupil who owed less to me and more to his own natural ability."<ref name=dinner>Dinner to Mr. Asquith", ''The Times'', 25 November 1892, p. 6</ref>{{sfn|Alderson|p=10}} Asquith excelled in [[classics]] and English, was little interested in sports, read voraciously in the [[Guildhall Library]], and became fascinated with oratory. He visited the public gallery of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], studied the techniques of famous preachers, and honed his own skills in the school debating society.{{sfn|Bates|pp=10–11}} Abbott remarked on the cogency and clarity of his pupil's speeches, qualities for which Asquith became celebrated throughout the rest of his life.{{sfn|Alderson|p=3}}{{sfn|Jenkins|p=17}} Asquith later recalled seeing, as a schoolboy, the corpses of five murderers left hanging outside [[Newgate Prison#Executions|Newgate]].{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|p=30}}