North Wales,
had a letter delivered to him by the postman which was to alter the
whole of his simple and placid life. It was a letter from his sister
and bore melancholy tidings. The letter told how she had lost her
husband and how she and her two little children were in distress. She
was the mother of the present Prime Minister of Britain. The elder of
her two children, then three years old, was David Lloyd George.

Miss Lloyd, the sister of Richard Lloyd, the cobbler, had married, a
few years before, a William George who came of farming people in South
Wales. A studious young fellow, he had devoted himself to reading, and
presently passed the examinations necessary to become a teacher in the
elementary schools. The countryside offered him no opportunity of
advancement and he migrated to the big city of Manchester, where he
secured a position as master in one of the national schools of the
district. In Manchester were born two children, the elder of whom,
David, was fated in after years to rise to fame. David's birthday was
January 17, 1863. Far indeed were thoughts of future eminence from the
struggling family during that time in Manchester.

Under the strain of city life the health of William George began to
fail. Country-bred as he was, he pined for the open air of the fields
and the valleys, and very soon the doctor gave him no choice and told
him that if he wished to prolong his life he must leave the city
streets. And so it came about that William George and the two children
forsook Manchester and went back again to country life in South Wales
to a place called Haverfordwest. William George took a farm and for a
year or more he and his wife toiled on it. How much of the work fell
on Mrs. George can only be guessed, but she must have carried a full
share, for her husband's health was undermined, and the home had to be
kept up not only for the sake of her husband, but the children as well.
She was in delicate health, and her efforts must have been arduous and
painful. Withal, destiny had its severest blow still in hand. William
George had not recovered his strength; an attack of pneumonia came upon
him, and his death occurred some few months after leaving Manchester.

Mrs. George, overwhelmed by the death of her husband, was at the same
time faced by financial difficulties and the problem of maintaining the
existence of herself and her two children. To carry on the farm
single-handed was impossibl