Rise of Neville Chamberlain a half years as Chancellor, directing Britain's financial policies as the nation emerged from the Depression. When Baldwin (who had replaced MacDonald as Prime Minister in 1935) retired in 1937, Chamberlain succeeded him. Chamberlain was born in a house called Southbourne, in the Edgbaston district of Birmingham, England, as the only son of the second marriage of Joseph Chamberlain, who later became Mayor of Birmingham, and who also served as a Cabinet minister. Joseph Chamberlain had fathered two children by his first marriage, Beatrice and Austen. Joseph's first wife, Harriet, died giving birth to Austen; Neville's mother, the former Florence
Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain, (13 January 1856 – 28 May 1944) was a British Army officer, and later Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary who resigned in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. He is credited with having invented the game of snooker while serving in Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), India, in 1875. Chamberlain was born into a military family, the son of Charles Francis Falcon Chamberlain and nephew of Neville Bowles Chamberlain. He was educated at Brentwood School, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Chamberlain was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the 11th Foot