Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

===Oxford===
[[File:Asquith-scholarship-announcement.jpg|thumb|right|Early press mention of Asquith, 1869]]
In November 1869, Asquith won a [[classics|classical]] [[scholarship]] at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], going up the following October. The college's prestige, already high, continued to rise under the recently elected Master, [[Benjamin Jowett]]. He sought to raise the standards of the college to the extent that its undergraduates shared what Asquith later called a "tranquil consciousness of effortless superiority".<ref>"Political Notes", ''The Times'', 23 July 1908, p. 12</ref> Although Asquith admired Jowett, he was more influenced by [[T. H. Green]], [[White's Professor of Moral Philosophy]]. The abstract side of philosophy did not greatly attract Asquith, whose outlook was always practical, but Green's progressive liberal political views appealed to him.<ref name=dnb>Matthew, H. C. G. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30483 "Asquith, Herbert Henry, first earl of Oxford and Asquith (1852–1928)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923023127/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30483;jsessionid=780481B80A019682477AF3CC37D0E421 |date=23 September 2021 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2015 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

Asquith's university career was distinguished—"striking without being sensational" in the words of his biographer, [[Roy Jenkins]]. An easy grasp of his studies left him ample time to indulge his liking for debate. In the first month at university he spoke at the [[Oxford Union]]. His official biographers, [[J. A. Spender]] and [[Cyril Asquith]], commented that in his first months at Oxford "he voiced the orthodox Liberal view, speaking in support, ''inter alia'', of the [[disestablishment]] of the Church of England, and of non-intervention in the [[Franco-Prussian War]]".<ref>Spender, J. A. and Cyril Asquith. "Lord Oxford", ''The Times'', 12 September 1932, p. 11</ref> He sometimes debated against his Balliol contemporary [[Alfred Milner]], who although then a Liberal was already an advocate of British imperialism.{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|pp=31–32}} He was elected Treasurer of the Union in 1872 but was defeated at his first attempt at the Presidency.{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|p=33}} During the [[1874 United Kingdom general election|General Election in January and February 1874]] he spoke against [[Lord Randolph Churchill]], who was not yet a prominent politician, at nearby [[Woodstock (UK Parliament constituency)|Woodstock]].{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|p=34}} He eventually became [[List of Presidents of the Oxford Union|President of the Union]] in [[Trinity Term]] 1874, his last term as an undergraduate.{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|pp=33–34}}{{sfn|Jenkins|p=24}}

Asquith was ''proxime accessit'' (runner-up) for the Hertford Prize in 1872, again ''proxime accessit'' for the Ireland Prize in 1873, and again for the Ireland in 1874, on that occasion coming so close that the examiners awarded him a special prize of books. However, he won the Craven Scholarship and graduated with what his biographers describe as an "easy" [[double first]] in [[Mods and Greats]].{{sfn|Spender & Asquith|p=32}} After graduating he was elected to a prize [[fellow]]ship of Balliol.{{sfn|Jenkins|p=23}}