In his speech in the House of Commons yesterday Mr Lloyd George announced that Mr Neville Chamberlain was to be appointed Director General of National Service. Alderman Neville Chamberlain is now serving his second year as Lord Mayor of Birmingham, in which office he has been preceded by seven relatives. He is the second son of the late Mr Joseph Chamberlain (who was mayor for three years from 1873) and is now 47 years of age. He came to municipal work with an established reputation as a businessman, being connected with some of the largest local industrial concerns. He is the head of the firm of Hoskins and Sons, ship’s berth makers, chairman of Elliotts Metal Company, and a director of the Birmingham Small Arms Company.
Although he had been associated with his father in the political life of the city for many years, it was not until November 1911 that Mr Chamberlain entered the City Council as one of the representatives of All Saints Ward, which forms part of the West Birmingham Parliamentary Division so long represented by his father. He has particularly directed his attention to town planning, public health, and housing, and his remarkable success in the formation of a municipal savings bank is a matter of general public knowledge.
Mr Chamberlain, on returning to Birmingham from London last night, stated that his new appointment would mean his resignation of the position of Lord Mayor.
We have received the following appreciation of Mr Neville Chamberlain from an old friend: It was to the disappointment of his father that Mr Neville Chamberlain in his earlier years displayed no inclination towards a public career. His strong desire always was to pursue a business career as his uncle, the late Mr Arthur Chamberlain, had done most successfully.
His re-election to the Lord Mayoralty last month was the occasion for a demonstration by the Corporation of their sincere belief in his capacity as the governing head of a great municipality; and the breadth of his views in regard to questions affecting labour has won for him a sympathy in the community generally far outside the ranks of his own political party.
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