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- 1836-1914. British politician, reformist
- mayor of and member of Parliament for
- Birmingham; in 1886, resigned from the
- cabinet over Gladstone's policy of home rule
- for Ireland, and led the revolt of the
- Liberal-Unionists. By 1874 Chamberlain had
- made a sufficient fortune in the Birmingham
- screw-manufacturing business to devote
- himself entirely to politics. He adopted
- radical views, and took an active part in
- local affairs. Three times mayor of
- Birmingham, he carried through many schemes
- of municipal development. In 1876 he was
- elected to Parliament and joined the
- republican group led by Charles Dilke, the
- extreme left wing of the Liberal Party. In
- 1880 he entered Gladstone's cabinet as
- president of the Board of Trade. The climax
- of his radical period was reached with the
- unauthorized programme, advocating, among
- other things, free education, graduated
- taxation, and smallholdings of `three acres
- and a cow'. As colonial secretary in
- Salisbury's Conservative government,
- Chamberlain was responsible for relations
- with the Boer republics up to the outbreak of
- war in 1899. In 1903 he resigned to campaign
- for imperial preference or tariff reform as a
- means of consolidating the empire. From 1906
- he was incapacitated by a stroke. Chamberlain
- was one of the most colourful figures of
- British politics, and his monocle and orchid
- made him a favourite subject for political
- cartoonists.
-