The Right Honourable Neville Chamberlain FRS |
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Neville Chamberlain in 1921
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
In office 28 May 1937 – 10 May 1940 |
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Monarch | George VI |
Preceded by | Stanley Baldwin |
Succeeded by | Winston Churchill |
Leader of the Conservative Party | |
In office 27 May 1937 – 9 October 1940 |
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Preceded by | Stanley Baldwin |
Succeeded by | Winston Churchill |
Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
In office 5 November 1931 – 28 May 1937 |
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Prime Minister |
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Preceded by | Philip Snowden |
Succeeded by | Sir John Simon |
In office 27 August 1923 – 22 January 1924 |
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Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
Preceded by | Stanley Baldwin |
Succeeded by | Philip Snowden |
Lord President of the Council | |
In office 10 May 1940 – 3 October 1940 |
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Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
Preceded by | The Earl Stanhope |
Succeeded by | Sir John Anderson |
Minister of Health | |
In office 25 August 1931 – 5 November 1931 |
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Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
Preceded by | Arthur Greenwood |
Succeeded by | Edward Hilton Young |
In office 6 November 1924 – 4 June 1929 |
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Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
Preceded by | John Wheatley |
Succeeded by | Arthur Greenwood |
In office 7 March 1923 – 27 August 1923 |
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Prime Minister |
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Preceded by | Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen |
Succeeded by | William Joynson-Hicks |
Personal details | |
Born |
Arthur Neville Chamberlain 18 March 1869 Edgbaston, Birmingham, England |
Died | 9 November 1940 Heckfield, Hampshire, England |
(aged 71)
Resting place | Westminster Abbey |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Anne de Vere Cole (m. 1911; his death 1940) |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | Mason College (now the University of Birmingham) |
Profession | Businessman |
Signature |
Arthur Neville Chamberlain, PC, FRS (/ˈtʃeɪmbərlɪn/; 18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany. However, when Adolf Hitler later invaded Poland, the UK declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, and Chamberlain led Britain through the first eight months of World War II.
After working in business and local government and after a short spell as Director of National Service in 1916 and 1917, Chamberlain followed his father, Joseph Chamberlain, and older half-brother, Austen Chamberlain, in becoming a member of parliament in the 1918 general election at age 49. He declined a junior ministerial position, remaining a backbencher until 1922. He was rapidly promoted in 1923 to Minister of Health and then Chancellor of the Exchequer. After a short Labour-led government, he returned as Minister of Health, introducing a range of reform measures from 1924 to 1929. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the National Government in 1931.