Neville Chamberlain - Birmingham's undervalued Prime Minister

This talk will re-evaluate an unjustly forgotten Birmingham titan. Neville Chamberlain was Britain’s most creative social reformer between 1910 and 1940, the country’s leading authority on Housing, the Poor Law, Health and Local Government.

He was among Birmingham’s greatest Mayors, and as Chancellor of the Exchequer he rescued the country from near bankruptcy after 1931. His Munich policy was a disastrous failure but Winston Churchill, and Labour opponents have effectively buried his substantial achievement of re-arming Britain before 1939.

Andrew Reekes was appointed Writer-in-Residence in September 2023, and was educated at King’s School Worcester & Exeter College, Oxford, and has spent a lifetime in education, leading History departments, being Principal of Arnold Lodge School & ending his career as Sub-Warden of Radley College. He was also a Chief Examiner and a long-standing school inspector.

In retirement Andrew has returned to his first love, History, studying for a research degree under Malcolm Dick at the University of Birmingham, & writing for History West Midlands. He has written eight books, including The Birmingham Political Machine, a comparative biography on Joseph Chamberlain and George Cadbury (Two Titans) and George Dawson and his Circle (with Stephen Roberts). His latest book, Reporting Birmingham, 250 years of Birmingham’s newspapers is due for publication in Spring 2024.

Host or Publisher The Birmingham & Midland Institute