Template:Featured picture/March 2009

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (1863-01-17 – 1945-03-26) was a British statesman who guided Britain and the British Empire through the latter half of World War I and the first four years of the peace as Prime Minister, 1916-1922. Although born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester and therefore a Mancunian by birth, Lloyd George was a Welsh-speaking man and Welsh by descent and upbringing, the only Welshman ever to hold the office of Prime Minister. In March 1863, his father William George returned to his native Pembrokeshire due to failing health. He took up farming but died in June, 1864. His mother Elizabeth (1828-1896) sold the farm and moved with her children to her native Llanystumdwy, where she lived with her brother Richard who, as a strong Liberal, proved a towering influence on the boy, encouraging him to take up a career in law and enter politics. Articled to a firm of solicitors in Porthmadog, Lloyd George was admitted in 1884 after taking Honours in his final law examination and set up his own practice in the back parlour of his uncle′s house in 1885. It is believed that Lloyd George was a regular passenger on the Festiniog Railway during this part of his life. In 1992 the railway named its newly completed Double Fairlie locomotive David Lloyd George. Photo credit: University of Texas Utopia Portrait Gallery Recently featured: 87 – The Boat's first passenger trip – Prince in the Aberglaslyn Pass