39 Facts About Fenner Brockway

Archibald Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway was a British socialist politician, humanist campaigner and anti-war activist.

Fenner Brockway developed an interest in politics while attending the School for the Sons of Missionaries, then in Blackheath, London, from 1897 to 1905.

In 1907, Fenner Brockway joined the Independent Labour Party and was a regular visitor to the Fabian Society.

Fenner Brockway was appointed editor of the Labour Leader and was, by 1913, a committed pacifist.

Fenner Brockway opposed sending troops to France during the First World War and, through his position as editor of the Labour Leader, was outspoken in his views about the conflict.

Fenner Brockway acknowledged his wife, Lilla Fenner Brockway, had the foresight "that those who intended to refuse military service should band themselves together".

The offices of the Labour Leader were raided in August 1915 and Fenner Brockway was charged with publishing seditious material.

Fenner Brockway pleaded not guilty and was acquitted in court.

In 1916 Fenner Brockway was again arrested, this time for distributing anti-conscription leaflets.

Fenner Brockway was fined, and after refusing to pay the fine, was sent to Pentonville Prison for two months.

Shortly after his release, Fenner Brockway was arrested for a third time for his refusal to be conscripted, after being denied recognition as a conscientious objector.

Fenner Brockway was handed over to the Army and court-martialled for disobeying orders.

Fenner Brockway became secretary of the ILP in 1923 and later its chairman.

Fenner Brockway stood for Parliament several times, including at Lancaster in 1922 and against Winston Churchill at Westminster Abbey in a 1924 by-election.

Fenner Brockway was a member of the League against Imperialism created in Brussels in 1927.

Fenner Brockway tried to warn the public of the Nazi threat, but he was instructed by the British Embassy in Warsaw NOT to mention "the minority issue" of Poland.

Fenner Brockway polled 11,111 votes and, immediately after the election, the Liberal candidate announced that Brockway had converted him to socialism.

Fenner Brockway's convictions brought him into difficulties with the Labour Party.

Fenner Brockway was outspoken in Parliament, and was once "named" by the Speaker while demanding a debate on India at Prime Minister's Questions.

In 1931 Fenner Brockway lost his seat and the following year he disaffiliated from the Labour Party along with the rest of the ILP.

Fenner Brockway wrote a book on the arms trade, The Bloody Traffic, published by Gollancz Ltd in 1934.

Fenner Brockway assisted in the recruitment of British volunteers to fight the fascist forces of Francisco Franco in Spain through the ILP Contingent.

Fenner Brockway sailed to Calais in February 1937 and was believed to have been destined for Spain.

Fenner Brockway wrote a number of articles about the conflict and was influential in getting Orwell's Homage to Catalonia published.

Notwithstanding his support for British participation in the Second World War, Fenner Brockway served as chair of the Central Board for Conscientious Objectors throughout the war, and continued to serve as chair until his death.

Fenner Brockway sought to re-enter Parliament, unsuccessfully contesting wartime by-elections for the ILP at Lancaster in 1941 and Cardiff East in 1942.

In May 1946, Fenner Brockway toured the British occupation zone in Germany as an accredited war correspondent, meeting German socialists and reporting on living conditions there; he wrote about the visit in German Diary, published by the Left Book Club.

Fenner Brockway appeared in Hitler's Black Book that contained a list of British subjects and residents who would have been subject to arrest had the Nazis successfully invaded the UK.

In 1951, Fenner Brockway was one of the four founders of the charity War on Want, which fights global poverty.

Fenner Brockway strongly opposed the use or possession of nuclear weapons by any nation and was a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

On 18 July 1961, Fenner Brockway was chosen by Speaker Harry Hylton-Foster to ask the first question at the very first Prime Minister's Questions in the current format.

Fenner Brockway was a prominent member of the British Humanist Association and South Place Ethical Society where he became an Appointed Lecturer during the 1960s.

Fenner Brockway gave the 1986 Conway Memorial Lecture on 21 May 1986.

Former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, who defected to the UK in 1985, alleged that Fenner Brockway had been a "confidential contact" of the KGB and had "accepted a great deal of hospitality from Soviet intelligence".

Fenner Brockway narrowly lost his seat in the House of Commons at the 1964 election, despite the national swing to Labour at that election, as he was portrayed by his opponents as being the principal cause of immigrants from the West Indies settling in Slough.

Fenner Brockway subsequently was created a life peer on 17 December 1964, taking the title Baron Brockway, of Eton and of Slough in the County of Buckingham, and took a seat in the House of Lords.

Fenner Brockway continued to campaign for world peace and was for several years the chairman of the Movement for Colonial Freedom.

Fenner Brockway was some six months shy of his centenary.

Fenner Brockway wrote more than twenty other books on politics and four volumes of autobiography.