LLOYD GEORGE, DAVID (1863– ), British man, was born at Manchester on Jan. 17, 1863. His father, Wil liam George, a Welshman of yeoman stock, had left Pembrokeshire and lived in Liverpool and Haverfordwest, and then was head master of an elementary school at Pwllheli, Carnarvonshire, where he married the daughter of David Lloyd, a neighbouring Baptist minister. Soon afterwards William George became headmaster of an elementary school in Manchester, but after the birth of his eldest son David his health failed, and he gave up his post and took a small farm near Haverfordwest. Two years later he died, leaving his widow in poor circumstances; a second child, another son, was posthumously born. Mrs. George's brother, Richard Lloyd, a shoemaker at Llanystumdwy, and pastor of the Camp bellite Baptists there, now became her chief support ; it was from him that young David obtained his earliest views of practical and political life, and also the means of starting, at the age of fourteen, on the career of a solicitor.
Having passed his law preliminary, he was articled to a firm in Portmadoc, and in 1884 obtained his final qualifications. In 1888 he married Margaret, daughter of Richard Owen of Criccieth. From the first he managed to combine his solicitor's work with politics, becoming secretary of the South Carnarvonshire Anti tithe League; and his local reputation was made by a successful fight, carried to the High Court, in defence of the right of Non conformists to burial in the parish churchyard. In the first county council elections for Carnarvonshire he played a strenuous part on the radical side, and was chosen an alderman; and in 189o, at a by-election for Carnarvon Boroughs, he was returned to parlia ment by a majority of 18 over a strong conservative opponent. He held his seat successfully at the contests in 1892, 1895 and 190o, his reputation as a champion of Welsh nationalism, Welsh nonconformity and extreme radicalism becoming thoroughly established both in parliament and in the country. In the House of Commons he was one of the most prominent guerrilla fighters, conspicuous for his audacity and pungency of utterance, and his capacity for obstruction while the conservatives were in office.
During the South African crisis of 1899-1902 he was specially vehement in opposition to Chamberlain, and took the "pro-Boer" side so fiercely that he was mobbed in Birmingham during the 190o election when he attempted to address a meeting at the town hall. But he was again returned for Carnarvon Boroughs; and in the ensuing parliament he came still more to the front by his resistance to the Education Act of 1902.
As the leader of the Welsh party, and one of the most dashing parliamentarians on the radical side, his appointment to office when Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman became premier at the end of 1905 was generally expected; but his elevation direct to the cabinet as president of the board of trade was somewhat of a surprise. The responsibilities of administration have, however, often converted a political free-lance into a steady-going official. His settlement of the railway dispute in 1906 was universally applauded ; and the bills he introduced and passed for reorganiz ing the port of London, dealing with merchant shipping, and enforcing the working in England of patents granted there, and so increasing the employment of British labour, were greeted with satisfaction by the tariff-reformers, who congratulated themselves that a radical free-trader should thus throw over the policy of laisser faire. The president of the board of trade was the chief success of the ministry, and when Asquith became premier in 1908 and promoted Lloyd George to the chancellorship of the exchequer, the appointment was well received even in the City of London. For that year the budget was already settled, and it was introduced by Asquith himself, the ex-chancellor; but the provi sion of the finance for old age pensions was left to Lloyd George. The money was raised by the new taxation provided for in the budget of 1909-1o.