Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British politician and statesman, who was first a radical Liberal then a leading imperialist.Chamberlain made his career in Birmingham, first as a manufacturer of screws and then as a notable Mayor of the city. During his early adulthood he was a radical Liberal Party member and a campaigner for educational reform. As a self-made businessman who never attended university, he had contempt for the aristocracy.