NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 4 February 1923

4 FEBRUARY 1923

David Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister, said that he felt the American debt terms agreed by Stanley Baldwin, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, were “very hard”. He added that he would though support the measures, but he had concerns about the future of Europe. At the end of the war, the UK owed the US approximately $4.7 billion, which proved to be a significant burden on the British economy. The debt was finally fully paid off in 2006, over 90 years after the end of World War I.

The death of James William Herschell Gully, 2nd Viscount Selby (1867–1923) was announced. His father had been William Court Gully, 1st Viscount Selby, who had served as the Speaker of the House of Commons between 1895 and 1905. James married Ada Pirie in 1893, but divorced her in 1909, marrying Dorothy Grey in the same year. He died at the age of 55 and his son, Thomas Gully, became the new Viscount.

Wal Hannington, the leader of the unemployed ‘hunger marchers’ was arrested in Coventry for offences that had been alleged to have taken place in Rugby. Before his arrest, he was walking with 130 other marchers from London to Birmingham.