41cm (16in) x 27cm (10.5in) x 11cm (4.7in)
Provenance:
H.H. ‘Squiffy’ Asquith, in office 8 April 1908 - 5 December 1916
David Lloyd George, in office 6 December - 19 October 1922
Thence by descent to
Gwilym Lloyd-George, 1st Viscount Tenby, (1894-1967)
William Lloyd George, 3rd Viscount Tenby (1927-2023)
Dark blue leather over wood with brass fittings, the hinged lid and back inset with swivel carrying handles, the top further inset with two red leather panels embossed in gilt with the crowned cypher of Edward VII (reigned 1901-1910), the chamfered leading edge inscribed ‘FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY’. The brass lock stamped ‘Wright / Manufacturer / London’, the internal leading edge further stamped ‘WICKWAR & CO 96 JERMYN STREET W’.
The present despatch box was used by David Lloyd-George as Prime Minister during the First World War. It’s Edwardian royal cyphers on the lid indicate he inherited it from his predecessor as British Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, Herbert Asquith. Every Prime Minister since Sir Robert Walpole has held the title of First Lord of the Treasury. Indeed the letterbox on the front door of 10 Downing Street is inscribed ‘First Lord of the Treasury’. In 1912 Asquith, then 59 famously became infatuated with a well-connected socialite 35 years his junior. It is claimed he wrote obsessively to 24-year-old Venetia Stanley over the next three years. Up to three times a day, sometimes during Commons debates, even in Cabinet meetings.
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In December 1916 Asquith resigned but not willingly. He had successfully reconstituted the Liberal Government as a wartime Coalition with Conservative and Labour support. His fall from power took many observers by surprise. No general election had been held, no vote of confidence had been lost in the House of Commons, nor had any formal challenge been made to his position as leader of the Liberal Party. His ejection from office was effectively a political coup d’état by the War Secretary David Lloyd George - a fellow Liberal - and senior Conservatives. Having lost faith in Asquith’s ability to secure victory in the Great War, Lloyd George threatened to resign from the Government unless the Prime Minister agreed to turn over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the conflict to a small executive ‘War Cabinet’. Rather than acquiesce to this humiliation Asquith dissolved the Government, and two days later Lloyd George formed a new Coalition ministry with the backing of the Tories.