George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd

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George Ambrose Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd, GCSI, KCIE, PC, (1879-February 4, 1941) was a British Conservative politician strongly associated with the "Diehard" wing of the party.

Educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1901 he joined the family firm Stewart and Lloyds Limited, a Birmingham-based steel tubes manufacturer, and was involved with the tariff reform movement of Joseph Chamberlain before serving as an honorary trade consul to the Ottoman Empire. At the January 1910 general election he was elected as a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for West Staffordshire, marrying Blanche Lascelles the following year. During World War I he served on the staff of Sir Ian Hamilton at Gallipoli landing with the ANZACs on the first day of that campaign and, after a time in Cairo, with T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Bureau in Hejaz, the Negev and the Sinai desert.

In conjunction with Edward Wood (later Earl of Halifax) he wrote The Great Opportunity in 1918. This book was meant to be a Conservative challenge to the Lloyd George coalition and stressed devolution of power from Westminster and the importance of reviving English industry and agriculture.

In December 1918 he was appointed Governor of Bombay and made KCIE. His principal activities while Governor were reclaiming land for housing in the Back Bay area of the city of Bombay and building the Sukkur Barrage an irrigation scheme both of which were funded by loans raised in India instead of in England. Lloyd's administration was the first to raise such funds locally. He completed his term as Governor in 1922 and was made a Privy Counsellor and GCSI.

In the 1920s he served as High Commissioner to Egypt until his resignation was forced by Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson. He returned to Parliament again for Eastbourne in 1924, serving until 1925, when he was made Baron Lloyd. During the 1930s he was one of the most prominent opponents of proposals to grant Indian Home Rule, working alongside Winston Churchill against the National Government. When Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940, he appointed Lloyd as Secretary of State for the Colonies and in December of that year he conferred the additional job of Leader of the House of Lords. However Lloyd died in office two months later.

[edit] Biography

Lord Lloyd and the decline of the British Empire, John Charmley, Weidenfeld 1987

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Henry McLaren	Member of Parliament for West Staffordshire January 1910–1918	Succeeded by: (constituency abolished)
Political offices
Preceded by: The Lord Willingdon	Governor of Bombay 1918-1923	Succeeded by: Leslie Orme Wilson
Preceded by: Malcolm MacDonald	Secretary of State for the Colonies 1940–1941	Succeeded by: The Lord Moyne
Preceded by: The Viscount Halifax	Leader of the House of Lords 1940–1941
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: (new creation)	Baron Lloyd 1925–1941	Succeeded by: Alexander Lloyd