IT WILL be 76 years next month since the Freedom of the City of York was bestowed on the 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (the Asquith was added at the insistence of the Harley family who previously held the earldom of Oxford).
The offspring of a family from Morley, Leeds, where there is an Asquith Avenue, Herbert Asquith rose to come Liberal Prime Minister (1908-16), whose second wife, Margot, from the wealthy Scottish chemical industry family Tennant, was famous in her own high society circles.
This meaty (nearly 500 pages of text), thoroughly readable book recounts the life and times of Asquith, Margot and their next generation up to his death in 1928. It is a fascinating insight into a privileged social and political world.
A quiet, thoughtful man, Asquith's political career, including such matters as his and the much more flamboyant Margot's mistrust of Lloyd George and their working relationship with Churchill, plays a less prominent part in the book than the family's far from commonplace affairs.
Hugh MacDougall
Updated: 09:08 Wednesday, September 10, 2003
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