I happened to know (believe) that Prime Minister Asquith signed the Declaration of War on 4th August 1914 at his home in Sutton Courtney, Oxfordshire.
So on my way back from the North I called in to find the house and his grave in local church.
I was a bit surprised that asking locals proved that they were not familiar with Asquith's house even though when I eventually found it myself it had a plaque to confirm that Asquith lived there.
I asked at one of the local pubs if anything was being done on the WW1 front tomorrow and was told no not that we know of we are shut tomorrow. Seems to be a village event missed.
George Orwell's grave (but with his real name on gravestone - Eric Arthur Blair) was in same graveyard.
That is probably due to the fact that really the longest serving Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, Viscount Grey of Fallodon was the most instrumental figure in the crucial lead up to WW1. It was he who was the pivotal figure in the British Government's dealings with the Ambassadors of the soon to be leading combatants in the coming war. It was he who misjudged and miscalculated the intentions of, in particular, the Germans, Russians and French. Unfortunate meetings in London (he did not travel much!) and telephone calls with the ambassadors of those countries unintentionally gave rise to confusion, and instead of settling a growing crisis, actually stirred the situation up to where the Russians mobilised, with the Germans quickly following with an unstoppable mobilisation of their own, fully supported by war hungry German military advisor's to the Kaiser. Over 37 days, to some historians, over just 13 days Europe stumbled into the Great War with Sir Grey feeling the failure of his efforts and making the famous comment about the lights going out all over Europe. It was a catastrophic failure of diplomacy as entry into war usually is.
Within two years Sir Grey and Asquith had departed their posts, with the real political winner of the victory in 1918 judged to be the then Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who from 1916 had steered the British war effort to a favourable conclusion.
That is why Asquith is not remembered by many as he led the Government that failed to keep the peace. Like Chamberlain in 1940, who was replaced by the so memorable Winston Churchill, he is also not remembered by so many. It is the successful, winning, Prime Ministers like Lloyd George and Winston Churchill who are remembered. Ironically of course both George and Churchill had been members of Asquith's cabinet. So strength came out of failure.
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Topic: WW1 centenary commemoration (Read 629 times)