Neville Chamberlain March 1869 in a house called Southbourne in the Edgbaston district of Birmingham. He was the only son of the second marriage of Joseph Chamberlain, who later became Mayor of Birmingham and a Cabinet minister. His mother was Florence Kenrick, cousin to William Kenrick MP; she died when he was a small boy. Joseph Chamberlain had had another son, Austen Chamberlain, by his first marriage. Neville Chamberlain was educated at Rugby School. Joseph Chamberlain then sent Neville to Mason College (taking external exams of University of London). Neville Chamberlain had little interest in his studies there, and in 1889 his
Rise of Neville Chamberlain Bonar Law's ministry "a government of the second eleven". The conflict amongst the Unionists greatly benefited Neville Chamberlain, who rose, over the course of ten months, from backbencher to Chancellor of the Exchequer. Bonar Law appointed Chamberlain as Postmaster General, a ministerial post below Cabinet level. Bonar Law called an election shortly after his accession, which the Unionists won, and Chamberlain was re-elected, though his prediction that his seat was "safe as houses" proved dubious—his majority was reduced to 2,443. In January 1923, Chamberlain granted the first operating licence to the British Broadcasting Company, though he opposed its request to