as possible. Throughout this period Milner's opinion of Lloyd George was on the highest
level. Writing twenty years later in
two occasions in which Milner praised Lloyd George in the highest terms. On one of
these he called him a greater war leader than Chatham.
At this period it was not always possible to distinguish between the Cecil Bloc and the
Milner Group, but it is notable that the members of the former who were later clearly
members of the latter were generally in the fields in which Milner was most interested. In
general, Milner and his Group dominated Lloyd George during the period from 1917 to
1921. As Prime Minister, Lloyd George had three members of the Group as his
secretaries (P. H. Kerr, 1916-1922; W. G. S. Adams, 1916-1919; E. W. M. Grigg, 1921-
1922) and Waldorf Astor as his parliamentary secretary (1917-1918). The chief decisions
were made by the War Cabinet and Imperial War Cabinet, whose membership merged
and fluctuated but in 1917-1918 consisted of Lloyd George, Milner, Curzon, and
Smuts—that is, two members of the Milner Group, one of the Cecil Bloc, with the Prime
Minister himself. The secretary to these groups was Maurice Hankey (later a member of
the Milner Group), and the editor of the published reports of the War Cabinet was W. G.
S. Adams. Amery was assistant secretary, while Meston was a member of the Imperial
War Cabinet in 1917. Frederick Liddell (Fellow of All Souls) was made First
Parliamentary Counsel in 1917 and held the position for eleven years, following this post
with a fifteen-year period of service as counsel to the Speaker (1928-1943).(2)
Within the various government departments a somewhat similar situation prevailed.
The Foreign Office in its topmost ranks was held by the Cecil Bloc, with Balfour as
Secretary of State (1916-1919), followed by Curzon (1919-1924). When Balfour went to
the United States on a mission in 1917, he took along Ian Malcolm (brother-in-law of
Dougal Malcolm). Malcolm was later Balfour's private secretary at the Peace Conference
in 1919. In Washington, Balfour had as deputy chairman to the mission R. H. Brand. In
London, as we have seen, Robert Cecil was Parliamentary Under Secretary and later
Assistant Secretary. In the Political Intelligence Department, Alfred Zimmern was the
chief figure. G. W. Prothero was director of the Historical Section and was, like Cecil and
Zimmern, chiefly concerned with the future peace settlement. He was succeeded by J. W.
Headlam-Morley, who held the post of historical adviser from 1920 to his death in 1928.
All of these persons were members of the Cecil Bloc or Milner Group.
In the India Office we need mention only a few names, as this subject will receive a
closer scrutiny later. Austen Chamberlain was Secretary of State in 1915-1917 and gave
the original impetus toward the famous act of 1919. Sir Frederick Duke (a member of the
Round Table Group, whom we shall mention later) was chief adviser to Chamberlain's
successor, E. S. Montagu, and became Permanent Under Secretary in 1920. Sir Malcolm
Seton (also a member of the Round Table Group from 1913 onward) was Assistant Under
Secretary (1919-1924) and later Deputy Under Secretary.
In blockade and shipping, Robert Cecil was Minister of Blockade (1916-1918), while
Reginald Sothern Holland organized the attack on German trade in the earlier period
(1914). M. L. Gwyer was legal adviser to the Ministry of Shipping during the war and to
the Ministry of Health after the war (1917-1926), while J. Arthur Salter (later a
contributor to
director of ship requisitioning in 1917 and later secretary to the Allied Maritime
Transport Council and chairman of the Allied Maritime Transport Executive (1918).
After the war he was a member of the Supreme Economic Council and general secretary
to the Reparations Commission (1919-1922).
A. H. D. R. Steel-Maitland was head of the War Trade Department in 1917-1919,
while Lord Wolmer (son of Lord Selborne and grandson of Lord Salisbury) was assistant
director in 1916-1918. Henry Birchenough was a member or chairman of several
committees dealing with related matters. R. S. Rait was a member of the department from
its creation in 1915 to the end of the war; H. W. C. Davis was a member in 1915 and a
member of the newly created War Trade Advisory Committee thereafter. Harold Butler
was secretary to the Foreign Trade Department of the Foreign Office (1916-1917). H. D.
Henderson (who has been a Fellow of All Souls since 1934) was secretary of the Cotton
Control Board (1917-1919).
The Board of Agriculture was dominated by members of the Cecil Bloc and Milner
Group. Lord Selborne was President of the board in 1915-1916, and Prothero (Lord
Ernle) in 1916-1919. Milner and Selborne were chairmen of the two important
committees of the board in 1915 and 1916. These sought to establish as a war measure