Margaret Lloyd George
.jpg)
Dame Margaret Lloyd George, GBE (née Owen; 4 November 1864[1] – 20 January 1941) was the first wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George from 1888 until her death in 1941.
Biography
She was a daughter of Richard Owen, an elder of Capel Mawr (CM) of Criccieth, Caernarfonshire, a well-to-do Methodist farmer and valuer [1] who initially disapproved of Lloyd George, the radical young Baptist solicitor.
On 1 January 1888, she married Lloyd George and they had five children:
- Richard, later 2nd Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (1889–1968)
- Mair Eluned (1890–1907)
- Olwen Elizabeth, Lady Carey Evans, DBE (3 April 1892 – 2 March 1990);[2] she married Major Sir Thomas John Carey Evans (died 25 August 1947) in 1917 at London's Welsh Baptist Chapel. She was the grandmother of Margaret MacMillan[3][4] and great-grandmother of historian Dan Snow
- Gwilym, later 1st Viscount Tenby (1894–1967)
- Lady Megan Arfon (1902–1966)
In 1918, during her husband's premiership, Margaret was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) after raising over £200,000 for war charities.[1]
On 8 December 1920, Margaret Lloyd George visited Leeds and stayed with Lady Airedale whose home was nearby. Baroness Airedale "expressed her great pleasure at the presence of Dame Margaret Lloyd George at the very successful reception at Leeds, to which over 150 prominent ladies of Coalition Liberal sympathies were invited from all parts of Yorkshire".[5][6]
Margaret Lloyd George had earlier presided over a meeting on 21 October 1920, at which the Young Wales Association was founded. This meeting, at the Portman Rooms, Baker Street, was attended by over 400 members of the London Welsh community. Margaret Lloyd George subsequently became its President (from 1921 to 1922). The Young Wales Association, which afterwards became the London Welsh Trust, runs the London Welsh Centre on Gray's Inn Road, London, which she opened on 29 November 1930.[7][8]
She died at her home in Criccieth in 1941 (four years before her husband was raised to the Peerage) after a period of illness following a fall when she injured her hip.[9] Her husband later married his secretary and long-term mistress, Frances Stevenson in 1943.
References
- 1 2 3 George, Dr. W. R. P. "Dictionary of Welsh Biography". © LlGC 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
MARGARET OWEN was b. 4 Nov. 1864 . She was made Dame Grand Cross of the British Empire in 1918 . She d. 20 Jan. 1941 ....
- ↑ "Lady Olwen Carey Evans shares childhood memories of her father, David Lloyd George". BBC Two Yesterday's Witness.
- ↑ University affairs:"The making of a best-seller" (January, 2004)
- ↑ Profile of "David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor" in Peerage.com
- ↑ Lloyd George, David. "The Lloyd George Liberal Magazine 1920-1923, Volume 1, Issues 1-6". (re-print) Harvester Press 1973 Great Britain, pp. 246-385. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
- ↑ "Lady Airedale" (Leeds Mercury 9 December 1920). Retrieved 31 March 2016.
Lady Airedale, with whom Mrs. Lloyd George has been staying on her Leeds visit, was the daughter (of the late Edward, Baron von Schunck and Kate Lupton)...
- ↑ "History: London Welsh Centre". London Welsh Centre website. London Welsh Centre. 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ↑ "Our Former Presidents: London Welsh Centre". London Welsh Centre website. London Welsh Centre. 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ↑ Staff (21 January 1941). "Dame Margaret Lloyd George". The Times. London, UK. p. 4.
External links
- "Archival material relating to Margaret Lloyd George". UK National Archives.
- Profile of Olwen Elizabeth, Lady Carey Evans, dailymail.co.uk; accessed 2 April 2016.
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Margot Asquith |
Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1916–1922 |
Vacant Title next held by Lucy Baldwin |