(1879–1924)

Liberal politician, was elected to parliament in 1906, becoming private secretary to Herbert Asquith (later prime minister). As parliamentary undersecretary of state for India from 1910 to 1914, he championed Indian aspirations to independence. In 1914 he became financial secretary to the Treasury, in 1915, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and in 1916, minister of munitions. Secretary of state for India in Lloyd George's administration (1917–22), he was responsible for the Government of India Act (1919), devolving wide powers of self-government. He resigned in 1922, because of his opposition to government policy which was offensive to Indian Muslims, and lost his parliamentary seat the same year. In Jewish affairs, he was best known as an uncompromising opponent of Zionism and of the Balfour Declaration, being largely responsible for the modification of the original text

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