LLOYD GEORGE’S YOUTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16905, 2 December 1922, Page 12

LLOYD GEORGE’S YOUTH.

INFLUENCES OF EARLY DAYS.

In tii6 year 1863 a YY elsli school master and his wife left their beloved motherland for England. Here in the same year was born to them in Manchester, a son whom they named David Eioyd George, destined to become Prime Minister of Great Britain, and one of the greatest personalities of the age. One of the earliest influences in the life of Mr Llo,yd George and his people was the Rev Dr Martineau, manager of the Hope Street school in Man Chester, where the Premier’s father was a master. The family still cherish several memorials of the great divine’s friendship. Two years later the Welsh school master died in Wales, leaving his wife, the daughter of a Welsh Baptist minister. to bring up the children. She was a fine character—“ gentle, unselfish, and courageous.” Mr Lloyd George often says when speaking of his mother: She never complained of her struggles; it was not until long after that her children fully appreciated how much they owed to her, and how fine her spirit had been in the hard task of bringing up her fatherless fam-

“ She took little interest outside her family, knew nothing of politics, but was stirred b,v religious questions.”

After her husband’s death Mrs Lloyd George went to the home of her brother at Llanystumdwv, South Carnarvon. It was a typical Welsh village, set in an amphitheatre of hills and woods, with sea in the near distance—picturesque, beautiful and inspiring. The Premier cherishes mixed memories of the village church school, but it is still his pride that lie was “ especially strong ” in the Church catechism, usually obtaining first place in this branch of the curriculum. “All right.” was his. verdict on his own teacher, but the managers cf the school “varied according to temperament.”

The promising young pupil indicated his future strength of character by organising a successful boycott of examination. questions which were “ insulting to the religious faith of the parents of his schoolmates. ’

The school’s defects were remedied at the shoeinaking shop of his uncle, who helped him to pursue his studies at homo. This shop was the rendezvous for the village, the centre of gossip, of disputation, of all the conflict of religious and political creed. The shoemaker, a man of mild and broad temper, acted as mediator among the combatants when conflict grew too

He never married, and set himself the task of educating the children of his sister as a sacred and supreme duty. To that task he gave his time,

The kindness of the 'little Welsh shoe maker often comes back to the mind of the British Premier to-day, bringing whimsical memories of a home. “ comfortable, xet thrifty and pinched, where the bread was home made, fresh meat a rarity, and the greatest luxury the Sunday morning egg divided between two children.”

“But it fairly succeeded.” is how Mr Lloyd George speaks gleefully of the method to-day. At the age of fourteen Mr Lloyd George began his meteoric career by passing the preliminary examination to ente.r a lawyer’s office, and at sixteen he was articled in Portmadoc. COSTLY ROBES.

it was no easy matter under the circumstance., ioi mm to thus, start mg law. The £BO to £IOO he had to pay tor his articles, the money ior the ol law oooKs, Liio expense of the journey to London for the final t'xamioauoii, mounted up to what was to him then a tr«*meiiu. .us

His apprenticeship lasted five and a half years, during which time he lived with a lonely om cuupie.

A lawyer in \\ ales cannot “get audience ’ unless fie appear in robes. “ llieso cost three guineas,” Mr Lloyd (Jeorgc is wont to rue-

iulijV, ‘ a sum which i could only raise then after o:iy or two bases.

it is interesting to note that after a complicated equity case—lns first —in -which no lever than eleven lawyers were employed, Mr Lloyd Georg® had liis office at t riccieth, then and now his home. His day began at 7.30

How olten does fame hinge on what at first appears to be trifles! Dad it not been for what was popularly

Known as the Llanfrothan burial case Mr Lloyd George might to-day—or at least, for many years—have been still a country lawyer.

A quarry man. who was a Dissenter, made a dying request that he should bo buried bv the side of a much-loved daughter, but in a moment of pique the local vicar had the body interred in a spot “ bleak and sinister, in which were buried the bodies of the unknown drowned that were washed up from the sea in this region of shipwrecks, of suicides, and of the few Jews who died in the district.” This deliberate flouting of the Burials Act, passed by the late Mr Osnorne Morgan, excited public passion, and a strong protest was made. ‘‘force the churchyard gates.” was the advice Mr Lloyd George gave to the indignant townsfolk, who promptly acted upon it. By the time the long litigation which followed had come to an enrl his name was known throughout the principality. This success led to his selection to ™£ est the . Carnarvon boroughs in ISB9, and in April the following year he was returned for the first time.