The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-15
EARL ASQUITH,
noted British
LEADER, DEAD
Prime Minister in World
War SuCcumbS to
PharyngitiS.
IN POLITICS 40 YEARS
Last Orator of Victorian
School; Broke With
Lloyd George.
By United Press

BIZ United Press
ON-COURTNEY, England,
Feb. 15.-The Earl of Oxford and
Asquith, one of England's great po-
litical figures and prime minister
during the early stages OF the World
War, died today at $50 a. m.
He had been i'll since Sunday,
when he was stricken with an at
tack of pharyngitis.
He had been in a coma most Of
the time.
Death came peacefully to the rs
year-old former prime minister
who for two score years had been
one Of the outstanding politicians Of
England.
AT $50 a. m. doctors notified his
family that he could not live until
dawn. His wife, Margot Asquith,
whose memoirs caused a sensation
some years back, already was at the
bedside, having been in almost con-
slant attention for the past fifty
hours.
Revered In Village
At $50 doctors announced Lord
Oxford was dead.
Residents of this little village on
the Upper Thames-who revered
the elderly statesman - quickly
gathered in front of the home.
Lady oxford notified the King
and Prime Minister Baldwin of the
death of her husband.
Members of the family besides
the widow are Sir Maurice and
Lady Violet Bonham- Carter, Prin-
cess Bibesod and the four sons,
Herbert Asquith, Brig. Gen. Arthur
AsqWth, Cyril and Anthony, and
Cyril's wife.
The venerable Lord Oxford-he
was born Sept. IL, 1852-was the
last in Great Britain of the Victo-
rian school of silver-tongued ora
tors, still extant in the United
States. Other speakers were forced
to change their styles of address to-
suit the more business-like times.
Lord Oxford's sonorous sentences.
polished and rounded out with fire.
quent classical allusionoS, were IA
nous. ~
From College to Politics
He was an excellent student at
oxford University and went directly
from college into politics. His first
election to the House OF Commons
was in 1886.
Six years later he had progressed
so rapidly in British affairs that he
was made home secretary. his first
cabinet job.
In 1894, he married Miss Emma
Margaret Tenant - the Margot
whose memoirs created a sensation
in England and America alike-as
his second wife.
He became prime minister in 1908
and held the post until late in 1916,
when his cabinet dissatisfied with
the prosecution Of the war. He re-
signed.
1t was at that time that he and
his political lieutenant, David LLOYD
George, his successor in Office, be-
came enemies and this breach
never had been healed completely.
Years after the war the In
dependent Liberal party, which
Lord Oxford had formed to combat
Lloyd Georges coalition liberals,
was merged and again the Liberal
party was united.
Takes Peerage in 1925
Lord oxford took his peerage ON
Jan. 26, 1925, and apparently ceased
to be active as a party politician.
Prior to that he and Lloyd George
had held a sort of joint leadership,
with Lord Oxford the nominal head
and Lloyd George the actual head of
the party.
In recent years, Lord Oxford, who
had aged rapidly, had remained
fairly we'll out of political life.
The heir to the earldom is Wis
count Asquith, IL, the son Of Ray
mond Asquith, killed during the war.
Lord oxford was the second Of the
great British war figures to die with
in the last few weeks. Recently Earl
Haig, British field marshal during
the World War, died and was buried
near his former home in Bermer-
Syde, Scotland.