Herbert Louis Samuel was educated at University College, London and Balliol, Oxford where he received a first class degree in History. He was of Jewish birth - a fact that would become pertinent later in his career. His early career was spend helping the poor in the East End of London. He became a Liberal MP for the Cleveland division of Yorkshire in 1902 and stayed there until 1918. As a politician, he served as under-secretary of state to the Home Office, the Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, postmaster-general, president of the Local Government board and he became Home Secretary in 1916. At this time, he was in charge of Irish affairs when the Easter Rising occurred. He was responsible for the arrests and executions that took place.

When Lloyd-George took over from Asquith, Herbert Samuel resigned his post. He was to lose his seat in the 1918 'coupon' election. However, he was to use his administrative experience as the high profile High Commissioner for the new mandate of Palestine and TransJordan. His Jewish faith was called into question by many Arabs in the mandate.

On returning the Britain in 1925, he pursued ideas of creating a multi-national commonwealth whilst rejoining the political scene as Liberal MP for Darwin. He advocated the 'National' Government and became the leader of the Liberals in the Lords. He approved of the Munich deals of Chamberlain, retiring from politics that same year.