Fenner Brockway

1 Nov 1888 - 28 April 1988

Archibald Fenner Brockway, was born in Calcutta, India, and attended the School for the Sons of Missionaries, Blackheath (now Eltham College) 1897-1905.

As editor of the Labour Leader, newspaper of the Independent Labour Party, he was arrested three times during the first world war, first for publishing seditious material, for which he was acquitted, second for distributing anti-conscription leaflets, for which he was jailed for two months after refusing to pay a fine, third for refusal to be conscripted, after being denied recognition as a conscientious objector, for which he was court-martialled and imprisoned until 1919.

During the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War he supported armed resistance to fascism, but continued to serve as Chair of the Central Board for Conscientious Objectors until his death.

He was a Labour MP for Leyton East 1929-31 and rejoined the Labour Party after the war to become MP for Eton and Slough from 1950-64 and then accepted a life peerage.

He was a founding member of the charity War on Want and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He proposed legislation to end racial discrimination and chaired the Movement for Colonial Freedom. He was a member of the advisory council of the British Humanist Association.

A statue of Fenner Brockway stands at the entrance to Red Lion Square Park, Holborn, London. [Photo taken by G. P. Jelliss 6 May 2010.]

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Sources and Links

BHA
Wikipedia
Spartacus schoolnet
Google timeline.