CHAMBERLAIN, Joseph, English states man: b. London, 8 July 1836; d. Birmingham, 2 July 1914. He was for a time at University College School, London, and in 1854 he en tered into partnership with his cousin, Joseph Nettlefold, as a screw manufacturer in Bir mingham—a business in which his father was also interested. He retired from active busi ness life in 1874 after having amassed a hand some fortune. He was by this time coming to the front as the "rising hope of the advanced Radicals. As a member of the Birmingham School Board, and its chairman from 1874 to 1876, he took up an attitude of uncompromising hostility to the denominational school system. In 1869 he was elected a member of the Bir mingham Town Council. His tenure of the may oralty (1874-76) was notable for sweeping re forms; new municipal buildings were built, the gas and water undertakings wire municipalized and a great city improvement scheme was suc cessfully carried out. After an unsuccessful parliamentary contest at Sheffield in 1874, he was in 1876 returned unopposed for Birming ham. He rapidly made his mark in Parliament; he infused new life into the Radical organiza tion. and on the return of the Liberals to of fice in 1880 entered the Cabinet as president of the Board of Trade. To Mr. Chamberlain's exertions was due the passing of an important bankruptcy act, and his attempt to amend• the merchant shipping acts, though unsuccessful, formed the basis of later legislation. His in fluence meantime was rising in the country; he stood out as an opponent of "coercion)) in Ireland and favored a large measure of self government, and in the election of 1885 he preached the doctrine of "ransom" and the °restitution° of property with a frankness that alarmed moderate Liberals, and enunciated an "unauthorized program') which included free education, small holdings and a graduated system of taxation. After that election and the subsequent defeat of the Salisbury ministry and when the tenure of the Liberal government in office depended on the Irish vote and a Home Rule measure became imminent, he ac cepted the presidency of the Local Govern ment Board, but resigned on 15 March 1886 on account of hostility to Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill of that year. With the other "dissentient Liberals° he voted against that measure and assisted materially in the defeat of the Liberals at the polls at the ensuing general election. For a time it seemed as if the breach in the Liberal ranks might be healed, but after a "Round Table conference in 1887 it grew wider and Mr. Chamberlain became the object
of intense dislike on the part of the Home Rule party. He held no office in the Unionist administration from 1886 to 1892, but his in fluence was felt in legislation,. and he suc ceeded in getting some radical measures passed, such as free education. As a member of the commission to settle the fisheries dis pute with Canada, he visited Washington in 1::7 and succeeded in negotiating the Cham berlain-Bayard Treaty, which however was refused ratification by the American Senate. Another result of his visit was that he mar ried in as his third wife, Mary, daughter of William C. Endicott, Secretary of War in President Cleveland's first administration.
On the elevation of Lord Hartington to the House of Lords as the Duke of Devonshire in 1891, Mr. Chamberlain succeeded to the leader ship of the Liberal Unionists in the House of Commons. During the passage of Mr. Glad stone's second Home Rule bill (1893) through the House of Commons, Mr. Chamberlain was the life and soul of the opposition, his discus sion of the various amendments being marked by a masterly debating power and keen ana lytical skill. On the return of the Unionists to power in 1895 he was appointed Secretary for the Colonies. His tenure of that office may be said to have been the turning point in the relations of the colonies with the mother country; his sympathetic understanding of colonial aspirations was soon apparent, and his talents as a business man and skill in admin istration found a fruitful field. When the "Jameson Rai& occurred in the Transvaal, he at once repudiated all connection with it on the part of the British authorities, and he sub sequently denied in the most distinct manner having had any personal foreknowledge or suspicion of what was about to take place. The country was sharply divided on his conduct of the negotiations preceding the outbreak of the war with the South African Republic in 1899, but his influence in the country was a main cause in the Unionist triumph in the °Khaki" election in 1900. On the conclusion of hostili ties he visited South Africa and personally initiated the measures adopted to repair the ravages of war. His influence was manifest in the provisions of the Workmen's Compensa tion Act of 1897, and he carried through the Australian Commonwealth Bill in 1900.