Neville Chamberlain his father's parliamentary constituency. Chamberlain was made chairman of the Town Planning Committee. Under his direction, Birmingham soon adopted one of the first town planning schemes in Britain. The start of war in 1914 prevented implementation of his plans. In 1915, Chamberlain became Lord Mayor of Birmingham. Apart from his father Joseph, five of Chamberlain's uncles had also attained the chief Birmingham civic dignity: they were Joseph's brother Richard Chamberlain, William and George Kenrick, Charles Beale, who had been four times Lord Mayor and Sir Thomas Martineau. As a Lord Mayor in wartime, Chamberlain had a huge burden of work
Rise of Neville Chamberlain action during the Battle of Cambrai, and in February 1918, Norman's body was found—a great blow to Neville Chamberlain, who described Norman as "the most intimate friend I had". Through the rest of his career, Neville Chamberlain laboured to further the ideals of his cousin, and wrote his biography—the only book he ever wrote. Some historians relate Norman's death to a hatred of war on his cousin's part which led to appeasement; according to Chamberlain's biographer Nick Smart, the death did not cause Chamberlain to hate World War I, and any influence on his later positions is far from certain.