Editing Joseph Chamberlain (section)

== Memory and historiography ==
[[File:Old Joe Big.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower]] at the [[University of Birmingham]]]]
[[Winston Churchill]] called Chamberlain "a splendid piebald: first black, then white, or, in political terms, first fiery red, then true blue".<ref>Winston Churchill, ''Great Contemporaries'' (1938), ch 4.</ref> That is the conventional view of Chamberlain's politics – that he became gradually more conservative, beginning to the left of the Liberal party and ending to the right of the Conservatives. An alternative view is that he was always a radical in home affairs and an imperialist in foreign affairs, and that those stances were not in great conflict with each other – with both he rejected "[[laissez-faire capitalism]]". For instance, after leaving the Liberals he remained a proponent of workmen's compensation and old-age pensions.

Historian [[J. A. R. Marriott]] says that in the 1870–1905 period Chamberlain was:
: of all English statesman, the most representative and one of the most influential. Firmly convinced of the merits of parliamentary democracy, an ardent social reformer, though opposed to social revolution, above all, a whole-hearted believer in the Imperial mission of the British race, Chamberlain preeminently embodied the most vital of the most characteristic ideas of that epoch....[in Birmingham he was] A strong advocate of municipal enterprise, he stimulated the Corporation to purchase the gas-works, the water-works, the sewage farm, and by extensive scheme of slum clearance and rehousing, he transformed the outward aspect of the city is his adoption....[Once in Parliament,] from the [Liberal] Party point of view Chamberlain's support became increasingly indispensable but it was rendered with increasing reluctance.<ref>J. A. R. Marriott. ''Modern England: 1885–1945'' (4th ed. 1948), pp. 18, 19.</ref>

Historian Dennis Judd says:
:There is something so elemental and, in a way, timeless about the meteoric rise of Chamberlain: from his modest London Unitarian background, via his brilliant industrial and commercial career in Birmingham, to a position of almost supreme political power, where he could (and did) make and break the two major parties of late-Victorian and Edwardian England, destroy the immediate prospect of Irish Home Rule, reshape the British Empire, press for a restructuring of British economic policies and bestride the international stage as significantly as [[Cecil Rhodes|Rhodes]] or [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Judd|first=Denis|year=2011|title=Joseph Chamberlain A Most Radical Imperialist (review)|journal=[[History Today]]|volume=61|issue=11|pages=55–56}}</ref>

Historian R. J. A. Adams writes:
:A great patriot who burned to guarantee his country's future, Chamberlain's brilliance and impatience guaranteed that he would be judged a political messiah to some, but an unstable destroyer to many more.<ref>R. J. A. Adams, " Chamberlain, Joseph," in John Ramsden, ed. ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics'' (2002), p. 109.</ref>

[[A. J. P. Taylor]] states:
:Joseph Chamberlain was the greatest force in British politics between the decline of Gladstone and the rise of Lloyd George. He was a pioneer in social reform and municipal enterprise. He defeated Irish Home Rule. He inspired a new era in British Imperialism and directed its triumph in the Boer War... He challenged the accepted dogmas of Free Trade and launched the movement for Tariff Reform, which was to transform British economic life a generation after his death.  Despite these achievements, nothing went right with him.  He stands pre-eminent as a Splendid Failure... Chamberlain, it seems, was successful only in destruction, bringing ruin first to the Liberal, and then to the Unionist, party.<ref>{{cite book|author=A. J. P. Taylor|title=Politicians, Socialism, and Historians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EM-ZAAAAIAAJ|year=1980|page=95|publisher=H. Hamilton |isbn=9780241104866}}</ref>

=== Memorials ===
He is commemorated by the large [[Chamberlain Memorial]] in [[Chamberlain Square]], in central Birmingham, erected in 1880; and by the large cast-iron [[Chamberlain Clock]] in the city's [[Jewellery Quarter]], erected in 1903 (in both cases, therefore, during his lifetime). His Birmingham home, [[Highbury Hall]], is now a civic conference venue and a venue for civil marriages, and is open occasionally to the public. Highbury Hall is situated in [[Moseley]], two kilometres from [[Winterbourne Botanic Garden|Winterbourne House and Garden]] which was commissioned as a family home for Chamberlain's niece Margaret by her husband [[John Sutton Nettlefold (social reformer)|John Nettlefold]]: Winterbourne is now owned by the University of Birmingham.

[[Midland Metro]] named an [[AnsaldoBreda T-69]] tram in his honour.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101006213841/http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/midland.html Midland Metro] British Trams Online</ref> [[Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College]] in Birmingham is named after him. Chamberlain School, a pre-kindergarten-to-grade-12 public school in [[Grassy Lake, Alberta]], Canada, is named in his honour: the name was chosen by William Salvage, a British immigrant and prosperous farmer, who donated land for its construction in 1910.

=== University of Birmingham ===
[[File:Joseph Chamberlain Chancellor.jpg|thumb|upright|Joseph Chamberlain in the Chancellor's robes of [[Birmingham University]]]]
The [[University of Birmingham]] may be considered Chamberlain's most enduring legacy. He proposed the establishment of a university to complete his vision for the city, seeking to provide "a great school of universal instruction", so that "the most important work of original research should be continuously carried on under most favourable circumstances".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/history/vision.aspx|title=Chamberlain's vision: A great school of universal instruction – University of Birmingham|website=www.birmingham.ac.uk|access-date=17 October 2014|archive-date=19 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019090816/http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/history/vision.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> He is regarded as the university's main founder and was its first chancellor. He was largely responsible for its gaining its [[royal charter]] in 1900, and for the development of the [[University of Birmingham#Edgbaston campus|Edgbaston campus]]. The 100-metre tall [[Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower]] ("Old Joe") is named in his honour and is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/history/academic-history/establishment.aspx|title=Establishment of the University 1900–1949|website=www.birmingham.ac.uk|access-date=17 October 2014|archive-date=22 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022061150/http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/history/academic-history/establishment.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

His papers are held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.<ref>{{Cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XJC|access-date=2021-01-28|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref>