Clement Attlee Biography

Clement Attlee was born on January 3, 1883, in Putney, then part of Surrey, now in Greater London, to Henry Attlee and Ellen Bravery Watson. His father was a solicitor.

He developed a view that private charities would do no good for the poor people and income redistribution by the state was the only way out. Thus, he joined the Independent Labour Party in 1908, in order to become actively involved in the country’s politics.

He was a lecturer at the London School of Economics from 1912 to 1914, before being commissioned in the World War I. After the war he came back to the London School and held his position till 1923.

He became the Member of Parliament from Limehouse after the 1922, general elections and also served as Ramsay MacDonald’s parliamentary private secretary in the brief 1922, parliament.

In the 1924 first Labor government led by Ramsay MacDonald he served as the Under-Secretary of State for War.

In 1930, he became the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Postmaster-General in 1931.

In the 1931, general elections the Labour Party lost heavily and most of the senior leaders lost their seats. Attlee and George Lansbury were among the few who survived and then Lansbury was elected the Leader with Attlee as his deputy.

Lansbury resigned in 1935, and Attlee became the interim leader before the 1935 elections. Afterwards he won both the first and the second ballots and defeated Herbert Morrison and Arthur Greenwood to become the Leader of the Labour Party.

During the World War II the Labour Party and the Conservatives entered a coalition government led by Winston Churchill. In this period he became Britain’s first ever Deputy Prime Minister in 1942, and then also held the positions of Dominions Secretary and the Lord President of the Council.

Attlee was appointed the Prime Minister by King George VI at the Buckingham Palace. He assumed office on July 26, 1945, and in the next three years the government passed over 200 public Acts of Parliament.

In the 1950, general elections the Labour Party won a majority of only five seats but he was re-elected. Although this term didn’t equal his first, still important legislations regarding air and water pollution and industries in urban area were passed.

The Attlee government began to flounder by 1951, and Attlee in order to revitalize the government, called for a snap election. The Labour Party lost the elections and Attlee tendered his resignation as PM the next day.

He continued leading the party as the Leader of Opposition and in the 1955, general election he lost to Anthony Eden. In November, he retired as the Leader of the Labour Party and was succeeded by Hugh Gaitskell.

Clement Attlee married Violet Millar on January 10, 1922, and together they had four children, namely, Lady Janet Helen, Lady Felicity Ann, Martin Richard and Lady Alison Elizabeth.

Clement succumbed to pneumonia on October 8, 1967, at the age of 84.