Chamberlain

Chamberlain, family name of 3 prominent British statesmen, Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) entered Parliament in 1876 as a Liberal. He fought for integration of the Empire through preferential tariffs. His son, Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (1863–1937), entered Parliament as a Conservative in 1892, and held various government offices from 1902. As foreign secretary (1924–29), he helped secure the Locarno Pact, which encouraged stability and good will in Europe following World War I, and shared the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize. Austen's half-brother, Arthur Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940), was a Conservative member of Parliament from 1918. He became prime minister in 1937. In his efforts to avert war with Germany, he followed a policy of appeasement and signed the Munich Pact (1938), which surrendered part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler.