Charles Masterman

The Right Honourable Charles Masterman
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 11 February 1914 – 3 February 1915
Prime Minister	Herbert Henry Asquith
Preceded by	Charles Hobhouse
Succeeded by	Edwin Samuel Montagu
Personal details
Born	24 October 1873
Died	17 November 1927 (aged 54)
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge

Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters, He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill in designing social welfare projects, including the National Insurance Act of 1911. During the First World War, he played a central role in the main government propaganda agency.

He was distantly related to the Gurney family of Norfolk. His great-grandfather was William Brodie Gurney; his brother was Howard Masterman who became the Bishop of Plymouth.

Masterman was educated at Weymouth College, Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Union, and joint Secretary of Cambridge University Liberal Club from 1895 to 1896. He was elected a junior Fellow of Christ′s College in February 1900. At university he had two primary interests: social reform (influenced by Christian Socialism) and literature. His first published work was From The Abyss, a collection of articles he had written anonymously whilst living in the slums of south east London. These were highly impressionistic pieces, and reflected his literary leanings. Following this he became involved in journalism and co-edited the English Review with Ford Madox Ford. In 1901, he edited a collection of essays by eminent people of the day, entitled The Heart of the Empire: a discussion of Problems of Modern City Life in England. A second edition of that book was published in 1907. In 1905 he published In Peril of Change, a collection of his own essays. He also wrote a biography of the Reverend F D Maurice (Frederick Denison Maurice), which was published in 1907. During the period of his life up to 1906, he established many of the literary friendships that would be important in his later role as head of British propaganda in the First World War.

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