H. H. Asquith

He married Helen Kelsall Melland, daughter of a Manchester doctor, in 1877. The couple had five children. Helen died of an illness in 1891.

His second marriage was to Margot Tennant, daughter of Sir Charles Tennant, in 1894. This union resulted in the birth of two more children.

H. H. Asquith was also involved in romantic liaisons with women other than his wives. He was also notorious for being a groper.

Herbert Henry Asquith was born on 12 September 1852 to Joseph Dixon Asquith and his wife Emily Willans. His father was a wool merchant and their family was a middle-class one.

Herbert was only seven when his father died. He was sent to live with an uncle in London in 1863. He received his schooling from the City of London School.

He was a bright student and won a classical scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford in 1870. He became president of the Oxford Union in the Trinity (summer) term of his fourth year.

After his graduation he enrolled in Lincoln's Inn as a pupil barrister and served his pupilage under Charles Bowen.

H. H. Asquith was called to the bar in 1876 and within a few years he became a prosperous lawyer. Along with being a lawyer he also harbored political ambitions and was elected to the Parliament in 1886 as the Liberal representative for East Fife, in Scotland.

He became the Home Secretary in Prime Minister William Gladstone's fourth cabinet in 1892. In this position he was responsible for overseeing security-related issues in Great Britain.

His tenure as the Home Secretary helped to establish him as an able administrator with good debating skills. He became one of the leading figures of his party while working in this position.

In the1895 election the Liberals lost power and for the next ten years were in opposition. The Liberals finally returned to power in 1905 and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman became the Prime Minister. Campbell-Bannerman appointed Asquith as the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The position of the Chancellor of the Exchequer held by Asquith was a powerful Cabinet-level position and he was very influential in the nation’s politics.

Asquith became much famous for the extensive social welfare programmes, which were undertaken during his administration. He introduced legislations for providing pensions to the elderly and for social insurance for the unemployed, disabled and ill. Working alongside the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, he presented a radical budget to finance these reforms through land and income taxes.