Attlee, Clement Richard (1883-1967), was the leader of the British Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from July 1945 to October 1951. During those years, the British government nationalized various industries and established tax-supported health and welfare services. It also granted independence to India, a cause Attlee had long supported.
Attlee was born on Jan. 3, 1883, in London. He was one of eight children born to Henry Attlee and Ellen Bravery Watson. Young Clement studied at Haileybury College and University College, Oxford. After four years of law practice, from 1905 to 1909, he did social-service work in the Limehouse district of London. In 1910, he became secretary of Toynbee Hall. The hall was the world’s first settlement house, an institution that aims to improve living conditions in poor city neighborhoods. Attlee lectured in social science at the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1913 to 1923. In 1919 and 1920, he was mayor of the Stepney district in London.
Attlee served as an officer in the British Army during World War I (1914-1918). In 1922, he married Violet Helen Millar, with whom he had four children. Later that year, Attlee entered Parliament as representative for Limehouse in the House of Commons. He became leader of the Labour Party in 1935. Attlee served as the United Kingdom’s deputy prime minister from 1942 to 1945 and as lord privy seal (the keeper of one of Britain’s official seals) from 1940 to 1942. Queen Elizabeth II made Attlee an earl in 1955, and he took his seat in the House of Lords. He died in London on Oct. 8, 1967.
