72 Facts About Oswald Mosley

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism.

Oswald Mosley was a member of parliament and later founded and led the British Union of Fascists.

Oswald Mosley was considered a potential Prime Minister but resigned because of discord with the government's unemployment policies.

Oswald Mosley chose not to defend his Smethwick constituency at the 1931 general election, instead unsuccessfully standing in Stoke-on-Trent.

Oswald Mosley was imprisoned in May 1940 and the BUF was banned.

Oswald Mosley was released in 1943 and, politically disgraced by his association with fascism, moved abroad in 1951, spending most of the remainder of his life in Paris and two residences in Ireland.

Oswald Mosley stood for Parliament during the post-war era but received very little support.

Oswald Mosley is known for the influence he had on the thinking of the founders of the Soil Association, a catalyst for the organic farming movement in Great Britain.

Oswald Mosley was born on 16 November 1896 at 47 Hill Street, Mayfair, Westminster.

Oswald Mosley was the eldest of the three sons of Sir Oswald Mosley, 5th Baronet, and Katharine Maud Edwards-Heathcote, daughter of Captain Justinian H Edwards-Heathcote of Apedale Hall, Staffordshire.

Oswald Mosley had two younger brothers: Edward Heathcote Mosley and John Arthur Noel Mosley.

Oswald Mosley's father was a third cousin to the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, father of the future Queen Mother.

Oswald Mosley lived for many years at his grandparents' stately home, Apedale Hall, and was educated at West Downs School and Winchester College.

Oswald Mosley was a fencing champion in his school days; he won titles in both foil and sabre, and retained an enthusiasm for the sport throughout his life.

In January 1914, Oswald Mosley entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but was expelled in June for a "riotous act of retaliation" against a fellow student.

Oswald Mosley transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer, but while demonstrating in front of his mother and sister he crashed, which left him with a permanent limp, as well as a reputation for being brave and somewhat reckless.

Oswald Mosley returned to the trenches before the injury had fully healed and at the Battle of Loos passed out at his post from pain.

Oswald Mosley spent the remainder of the war at desk jobs in the Ministry of Munitions and in the Foreign Office.

Lord Curzon had to be persuaded that Oswald Mosley was a suitable husband, as he suspected Oswald Mosley was largely motivated by social advancement in Conservative Party politics and Cynthia's inheritance.

Oswald Mosley succeeded to the Baronetcy of Ancoats upon his father's death in 1928.

Oswald Mosley later called Gandhi a "sympathetic personality of subtle intelligence".

Cynthia died of peritonitis in 1933, after which Oswald Mosley married his mistress Diana Guinness, nee Mitford.

Oswald Mosley spent large amounts of his private fortune on the British Union of Fascists and tried to establish it on a firm financial footing by various means including an attempt to negotiate, through Diana, with Hitler for permission to broadcast commercial radio to Britain from Germany.

Oswald Mosley reportedly made a deal in 1937 with Francis Beaumont, heir to the Seigneurage of Sark, to set up a privately owned radio station on Sark.

Oswald Mosley was driven by, and in Parliament spoke of, a passionate conviction to avoid any future war, and this seemingly motivated his career.

Oswald Mosley was the youngest member of the House of Commons to take his seat, although Joseph Sweeney, an abstentionist Sinn Fein member, was younger.

Oswald Mosley soon distinguished himself as an orator and political player, one marked by extreme self-confidence, and made a point of speaking in the House of Commons without notes.

Oswald Mosley was at this time falling out with the Conservatives over its Irish policy, and condemned the operations of the Black and Tans against civilians during the Irish War of Independence.

Oswald Mosley was secretary of the Peace with Ireland Council.

Oswald Mosley immediately joined the Independent Labour Party as well and allied himself with the left.

Oswald Mosley therefore decided to oppose Neville Chamberlain in Birmingham Ladywood.

Oswald Mosley campaigned aggressively in Ladywood, and accused Chamberlain of being a "landlords' hireling".

The outraged Chamberlain demanded that Oswald Mosley retract the claim "as a gentleman".

Oswald Mosley was noted for bringing excitement and energy to the campaign.

Oswald Mosley was critical of Winston Churchill's policy as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In 1926, the Labour-held seat of Smethwick fell vacant, and Oswald Mosley returned to Parliament after winning the resulting by-election on 21 December.

Oswald Mosley felt the campaign was dominated by Conservative attacks on him for being too rich, including claims that he was covering up his wealth.

Oswald Mosley was Kingsway Hall lecturer in 1924 and Livingstone Hall lecturer in 1931.

Oswald Mosley then made a bold bid for political advancement within the Labour Party.

Oswald Mosley was close to Ramsay MacDonald and hoped for one of the Great Offices of State, but when Labour won the 1929 general election he was appointed only to the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a position without Portfolio and outside the Cabinet.

Oswald Mosley was given responsibility for solving the unemployment problem, but found that his radical proposals were blocked either by Lord Privy Seal James Henry Thomas or by the Cabinet.

Oswald Mosley published this memorandum because of his dissatisfaction with the laissez-faire attitudes held by both Labour and the Conservative party, and their passivity towards the ever-increasing globalisation of the world, and thus looked to a modern solution to fix a modern problem.

Oswald Mosley warns nations that buying cheaper goods from other nations may seem appealing but ultimately ravage domestic industry and lead to large unemployment, as seen in the 1930s.

Oswald Mosley was determined to unite the existing fascist movements and created the British Union of Fascists in 1932.

Oswald Mosley claimed that the UK Labour Party was pursuing policies of "international socialism", while fascism's aim was "national socialism".

Oswald Mosley had found problems with disruption of New Party meetings, and instituted a corps of black-uniformed paramilitary stewards, the Fascist Defence Force, nicknamed "Blackshirts", like the Italian fascist Voluntary Militia for National Security they were emulating.

Oswald Mosley continued to organise marches policed by the Blackshirts, and the government was sufficiently concerned to pass the Public Order Act 1936, which, amongst other things, banned political uniforms and quasi-military style organisations and came into effect on 1 January 1937.

Oswald Mosley made most of the Blackshirt employees redundant, some of whom then defected from the party with William Joyce.

Oswald Mosley's agitation was officially tolerated until the events of the Battle of France in May 1940 made the government consider him too dangerous.

Oswald Mosley was interrogated for 16 hours by Lord Birkett but never formally charged with a crime, and was instead interned under Defence Regulation 18B.

Oswald Mosley used the time in confinement to read extensively in classics, particularly regarding politics and war, with a focus upon key historical figures.

Oswald Mosley refused visits from most BUF members, but on 18 March 1943, Dudley and Norah Elam accompanied Unity Mitford to see her sister Diana.

Oswald Mosley agreed to be present because he mistakenly believed that it was Lady Redesdale, Diana and Unity's mother, who was accompanying Unity.

The internment, particularly that of Lady Oswald Mosley, resulted in significant public debate in the press, although most of the public supported the Government's actions.

Oswald Mosley, who was suffering with phlebitis, spent the rest of the war confined under house arrest and police supervision.

Oswald Mosley then purchased Crux Easton House, near Newbury, with Diana.

The Union Movement's meetings were often physically disrupted, as Oswald Mosley's meetings had been before the war, and largely by the same opponents.

Oswald Mosley was a key pioneer in the emergence of Holocaust denial.

Oswald Mosley sought to discredit pictures taken in places like Buchenwald and Belsen.

Oswald Mosley claimed that the Holocaust was to be blamed on the Jews and that Adolf Hitler knew nothing about it.

Oswald Mosley criticised the Nuremberg trials as "a zoo and a peep show".

Oswald Mosley led his campaign stridently on an anti-immigration platform, calling for forced repatriation of Caribbean immigrants as well as a prohibition upon mixed marriages.

Shortly after his failed election campaign, Oswald Mosley permanently moved to Orsay, outside Paris.

In 1977, by which time he was suffering from Parkinson's disease, Oswald Mosley was nominated as a candidate for Rector of the University of Glasgow in which election he polled over 100 votes but finished bottom of the poll.

Oswald Mosley's political thought is believed to have influence on the organic farming movement in Great Britain.

Oswald Mosley had three children with his first wife Lady Cynthia Curzon.

Oswald Mosley later joined Oswald's New Party and lost the 1931 election in Stoke.

Oswald Mosley died in 1933 at 34 after an operation for peritonitis following acute appendicitis, in London.

Oswald Mosley had two children with his second wife, Diana Mitford :.

Oswald Mosley's body was cremated in a ceremony held at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, and his ashes were scattered on the pond at Orsay.

Immediately following his release in 1943, Oswald Mosley lived with his second wife, Diana, at Crux Easton, Hampshire In 1945, he moved to Crowood Farm, located near Marlborough, Wiltshire, which he ran.

In November 1945, Oswald Mosley was summoned to court for allegedly causing unnecessary suffering to be caused to pigs by failing to provide adequate feeding and accommodation for them.