Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin (1867-1947), Prime Minister

Sitter in 62 portraits
Conservative politician and three times Prime Minister during the 1920s and 1930s. Baldwin's premierships saw two major political events, the General Strike and the Abdication of Edward VIII. In both he acted with judgement and his popular public broadcasts brought the nation through the crises. After 1939, Baldwin was criticised for supposed failures on rearmament in the lead-up to war. However recent scholarship has restored his reputation revealing that a rearmament programme was in place by the time of Baldwin's retirement in 1937.