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THE GENESIS OF GEORGE.* 



This early part of the life of Mr, Lloyd 

 George is a very human document, and it is just 

 as well that we should get the human as well as 

 the political side of a man who is so much before 

 the world. 



It has sometimes been queried why he should 

 have a double name without a hyphen. The 

 reason is quite simple. As is well known, his 

 father died when he was little more than sixteen 

 months old. Mr. William George was for a 

 time a schoolmaster in Liverpool (where 

 amongst his close friends were Daniel Morell, of 

 Grammar fame, and Dr. James Martineau), 

 hence it results that Mr. Lloyd George was not 

 actually born in Wales, but in Liverpool. When 

 his father died his mother was left almost with- 

 out means, but she had a devoted brother, Mr. 

 Richard Lloyd, the principal shoemaker in the 

 village of Llanystumdwy, and he took his sister 

 and her children into his own home. Conse- 

 quently, when the boys went to school they were 

 the little Lloyds, and so much was this the case 

 that one of the occasions when David Lloyd 

 George carved his own name on the village 

 bridge the initials he put were D. LI. Moreover, 

 to him that uncle has always been in the place 

 of a father. 



Our history tells us that he was not wholly a 

 saint, for when mischief was done in the school 

 he was generally supposed to be the ringleader. 

 The boys of the village had the great advantage 

 of the fine woods in the neighbourhood as a 

 playground, and here we are told : — 



There was a hiding place to which the two boys sometimes 

 resorted in order to enjoy secretly the delights of tobacco. 

 David, who was anxious to keep the secret from his 

 uncle, used to hide his pipe in a spot near the river; 

 and William Williams, who seems to have had fewer 

 obstacles to face, used to procure the tobacco for their 

 joint use. 



The village school in those days was under the 

 care of the parson, and so, though most of the 

 villagers were stout dissenters, they were 

 taught in school the tenets of the Church of 

 England, and there is an amusing story of a 

 revolt led by the young Lloyd. When the 

 squire, whom oddly enough, Lloyd George de- 

 feated later in a political contest, came to hear 

 the boys their catechism the boys had privately 

 decided that they would maintain absolute 



*Life of David Lloyd George. By H. du 

 Parcq. (The Caxton Publishing Company. 

 Vol. L gs. net.) 



silence, and their tactics on that and another 

 occasion succeeded so well that the great 

 annual procession to Church on Ash Wednesday 

 was finally given up. 



The Lloyds were neither poor nor rich. The 

 two boys knew well that their rise in life would 

 depend upon themselves. The young David had 

 decided to be a solicitor, and the first step was 

 the preliminary Lavi^ examination. For this it 

 was necessary to master the elements of French 

 and Latin. Neither the village schoolmaster 

 nor Mr. Richard Lloyd knew French, and the 

 difficulty was increased by the fact that David 

 did not wish it to be known that he had em- 

 barked upon so ambitious a career, so the uncle 

 and nephew actually worked with a French 

 Grammar and Dictionary, spending long and 

 laborious hours over difficult pieces of syntax or 

 evasive idioms, without a soul to help. Won- 

 derful to say, their labour was successful, and 

 the boy passed the examination at the age of 

 fourteen. None can say that he lacked industry 

 and perseverance, though, like many another 

 genius, he often cannot work until the spirit 

 takes him — at least, according to his biographer, 

 who says : — 



From quite early days he loathed the labour pf 

 writing letters, and his correspondents complained that 

 they were ignored, and were careful, if they knew him 

 well enough, to urge attention upon him. He has never * 

 got the better of that aversion, and is, indeed, enthusi- 

 astic in his hatred of letter-writing. Nor has he any love 

 for regular hours in the study or at the writing-table. 

 He will put off to the last moment the evil hour of a 

 troublesome task, and then, as in his school-days, finish 

 the whole job in less time than it would take another to 

 master the preliminary difficulties. Those who work 

 under him confess that they do not know how he gets 

 through his work in the short time he leaves himself for 

 It. What is certain is that it is done, and done 

 thoroughly. 



One of his great chums at school was Robert 

 Williams, who afterwards became a pupil 

 teacher, and now, oddly enough, is a resident 

 Canon of St. Davids, and as such, one of the 

 heads of the Opposition to the Welsh Disestab- 

 lishment Bill, to which Mr. Lloyd George him- 

 self IS pledged. 



A political afi"air that made a deep impression 

 upon the young George during his school davs 

 showed that, although the villagers nominal'lv 

 had a vote, as a matter of fact they all belonged 

 to the squire. Before the nomination day the 

 landlords would have a meeting and decide 

 which aniong them should stand for the seat. 

 Such an idea as opposition was "never expected, 

 but in 1868, when the boy was five years old, 



