---
title: How H. H. Asquith died
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/
description: Herbert Henry Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916, died at his home at Sutton Courtenay on 15 February 1928, aged 75…
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg)

[Regimes](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/) / [How they died](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/)

# How H. H. Asquith died

At a glance

The British Prime Minister of 1908 to 1916, made Earl of Oxford and Asquith in 1925, had a stroke in 1926, resigned the Liberal leadership that October, suffered further attacks in 1927, died at his home on 15 February 1928 and was buried in the village churchyard, with no public funeral, at his own wish.

- **Leader:** H. H. Asquith
- **Died:** 15 February 1928
- **Place:** The Wharf, Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England
- **Cause:** Illness following a stroke in 1926 and further attacks in 1927, ending in coma (no certified cause appears in the sources)
- **Regime:** [Asquith government](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/asquith-government/)

On this page

- [The final days](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#the-final-days)
- [The death](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#the-death)
- [What happened to the body](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#what-happened-to-the-body)
- [How the death was announced and used](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#how-the-death-was-announced-and-used)
- [Timeline](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#timeline)
- [Same-standard note](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#same-standard-note)
- [Sources](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/endings/h-h-asquith/#sources)

**In one line:** Herbert Henry Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916, died at his home at Sutton Courtenay on 15 February 1928, aged 75, after a decline that began with a stroke in 1926, and was buried in the village without a public funeral.

## The final days

Asquith lost the premiership in December 1916 (see [Asquith government](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/asquith-government/)), led the Liberal Party in opposition, and was created Earl of Oxford and Asquith and a Knight of the Garter in 1925. The Journal of Liberal History records that after the General Strike of May 1926 he and Lloyd George fell out in public, and that a few days before the National Liberal Federation meeting at Weston-super-Mare he was "incapacitated by a stroke which kept him out of action for three months". He resigned the party leadership on 15 October 1926.

![Head-and-shoulders studio portrait of a clean-shaven middle-aged man in a dark suit and high collar, looking to one side](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/endings/h-h-asquith-1.jpg)

H. H. Asquith in 1908, the year he became Prime Minister, in a portrait credited on Commons to George Charles Beresford. The photograph shows him twenty years before his death. [Source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herbert-Henry-Asquith-1st-Earl-of-Oxford-and-Asquith.jpg): Portrait by George Charles Beresford, 1908, as credited on Commons., Public domain (Commons: photograph of 1908 by George Charles Beresford, who died in 1938).

His official biographers, J. A. Spender and Cyril Asquith, record that his health, "for over seventy years ... as nearly perfect as may be", failed suddenly that year. Early in 1927, "on rising from a table, he again felt a loss of power in one leg"; for some months he was "wheeled in a chair from room to room", and in the autumn he "seemed to rally again" and went on motoring expeditions. "But shortly afterwards fell a third and what was to prove a fatal blow. He lingered in a state of coma and alternating consciousness into 1928" (Spender and Asquith, vol. 2, 1932, pp. 372 to 373).

## The death

Asquith died at The Wharf on 15 February 1928 (Journal of Liberal History; Spender and Asquith). His biographers give the last stage as a coma that lasted into the new year and give no diagnosis, and no certified cause of death appears in the sources.

## What happened to the body

Spender and Asquith write that "some time before his death he had expressed the wish that there might be no public funeral. This wish was respected, and he was laid to rest, after a service of great beauty, in the quiet village cemetery of Sutton Courtney" (their spelling). Westminster Abbey's own record says that he "declined a public funeral" and the offer of burial in the Abbey, and that he is buried at Sutton Courtenay.

![A stone chest tomb on grass, its front panel carved HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH, EARL OF OXFORD & ASQUITH, Born 12 September 1852, Died 15 February 1928](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/endings/h-h-asquith-2.jpg)

The tomb of H. H. Asquith in the churchyard of All Saints, Sutton Courtenay, photographed in August 2015 by Steve Daniels. The panel gives his name, title and dates of birth and death. [Source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_grave_of_Herbert_Henry_Asquith_in_All_Saint's_churchyard_-_geograph.org.uk_-_7420246.jpg): Photograph by Steve Daniels, 20 August 2015, via Geograph Britain and Ireland, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0., CC BY-SA 2.0.

![A pale stone memorial tablet on a column, headed Parliament placed this stone here in memory of Herbert Henry Asquith, with four lines of verse at the foot](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/endings/h-h-asquith-3.jpg)

The memorial tablet to Asquith in the north transept of Westminster Abbey, unveiled on 26 July 1934 and photographed in August 2022 by 14GTR. [Source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asquith_memorial,_Westminster_Abbey.jpg): Photograph by 14GTR, 25 August 2022, own work, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0., CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Abbey held a memorial service, according to its own record and Spender and Asquith. A Purbeck marble tablet in the north transept, unveiled by Stanley Baldwin on 26 July 1934, reads: "Parliament placed this stone here in memory of Herbert Henry Asquith Earl of Oxford and Asquith. Born September 12 1852 Died February 15 1928. Prime Minister 1908-1916" (Westminster Abbey). The tablet also carries a quotation from Milton's *Paradise Lost* on loyalty and constancy.

## How the death was announced and used

The House of Lords adjourned on 16 February 1928 as a mark of respect, on a motion by the Lord Privy Seal, the Marquess of Salisbury, seconded by Viscount Haldane; Viscount Grey of Fallodon and Lord Gainford also spoke, and the motion passed with no dissent (Hansard, HL Deb 16 February 1928, vol 70, cc159-72). Salisbury said: "He was the Prime Minister who had the moral courage to accept the arbitrament of war." Haldane recalled meeting him as a young barrister in 1882. The record contains no reference to the funeral.

## Timeline

- 1925: created Earl of Oxford and Asquith and a Knight of the Garter.
- 1926: stroke before the National Liberal Federation meeting; out of action for about three months.
- 15 October 1926: resigns the Liberal leadership.
- Early 1927: loss of power in one leg; some months in a wheelchair.
- Autumn 1927: a third and fatal attack, followed by coma.
- 15 February 1928: dies at The Wharf, Sutton Courtenay.
- 16 February 1928: the House of Lords adjourns in tribute.
- 26 July 1934: memorial tablet unveiled in Westminster Abbey.

## Same-standard note

This page uses the same sections and definitions as every "How they died" page and says where the record is thin. Asquith died of illness at home, twelve years after leaving office, and chose a private burial; the state's response was an adjournment of the House of Lords and, six years later, a memorial in the Abbey. This differs from leaders who were killed, who died in office or who were given state funerals, and no equivalence is implied.

## Sources

- Hansard, House of Lords, 16 February 1928, "Tributes to the late Earl of Oxford and Asquith": https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1928/feb/16/tributes-to-the-late-earl-of-oxford-and
- Michael Brock, "Herbert Henry Asquith (Earl of Oxford and Asquith), 1852 to 1928", *Journal of Liberal History*: https://liberalhistory.org.uk/history/asquith-herbert-henry-earl-of-oxford-and-asquith/ ; "On this day, 15 October 1926": https://liberalhistory.org.uk/timeline-event/on-this-day-15-10-1926/
- Westminster Abbey, "Herbert Asquith, Earl of Oxford and Asquith": https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/herbert-asquith-earl-of-oxford-and-asquith
- J. A. Spender and Cyril Asquith, *Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith*, vol. 2 (1932), "Illness and Death", pp. 372 to 373: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210619
- Gaps: the date of the funeral, the mourners and the certified cause of death were not found; the digitised Times and Australian and New Zealand newspaper archives were not accessible in this pass.