Edgar Trevelyan Stratford Dugdale (22 July 1876 – 14 October 1964) was a translator, completing the first English translation of ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...

''. He gained the rank of captain in the

Leicestershire Yeomanry The Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794 and again in 1803, which provided cavalry and mounted infantry in the Second Boer War and the First World War and provided two fie ...

and held the office of

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

. The first English translation of ''Mein Kampf'' was an abridgment by Edgar Dugdale, who began work on it in 1931, at the prompting of his wife Blanche. When he learned that the London publishing firm of Hurst & Blackett had secured the rights to publish an abridgment in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, he offered it gratis in April 1933. However, a local

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

representative insisted that the translation be further abridged before publication, so it was held back from the public until 13 October 1933, although excerpts were allowed to run in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' in late July. In America,

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

secured the rights to the Dugdale abridgment on 29 July 1933. The only differences between the American and British versions are that the title was translated as ''My Struggle'' in the UK and ''My Battle'' in America; and that Dugdale is credited as translator in the U.S. edition, while the British version withheld his name. No official reason was given for Dugdale's request for anonymity in the British edition, but his wife was a prominent Zionist, and the niece of

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...

, and they wished to avoid publicity. In 1934, Dugdale published a biography of the British diplomat

Maurice de Bunsen Sir Maurice William Ernest de Bunsen, 1st Baronet, (8 January 1852 – 21 February 1932),de BUNSEN, Rt Hon. Sir Maurice (William Ernest)’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 was a British diplomat. Background and earl ...

, who had died two years earlier.

Family

Dugdale married on 18 November 1902, at

St Mary Abbots St Mary Abbots is a church located on Kensington High Street and the corner of Kensington Church Street in London W8. The present church structure was built in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who combined neo-Gothic and early- ...

church,

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, to Blanche Elizabeth Campbell Balfour (1880–1948), the eldest daughter of Eustace James Anthony Balfour (1854–1911), an architect and the youngest brother of the prime minister

, and his wife, Lady Frances Campbell (1858–1931), daughter of

George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll George John Douglas Campbell, 8th and 1st Duke of Argyll (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900; styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847), was a Scottish polymath and Liberal statesman. He made a significant geological discovery in the 1850s when his ten ...

. They had two children, Frances and Michael, and lived at no. 1

Roland Gardens Roland Gardens (foaled 9 May 1975 – after 1993) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic 2000 Guineas in 1978. During a racing career which lasted from 1977 until 1979 he ran sixteen times and won f ...

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, London. His daughter Frances married

Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet of Kilkerran, (1904–1973) was a Scottish aristocrat, broadcaster, journalist and historian. Life Fergusson was born in Dailly in Ayrshire on 18 September 1904 the son of Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet of K ...

of Kilkerran.

References

The Peerage entry
1876 births 1964 deaths Translators from German Translators to English British translators Leicestershire Yeomanry officers Mein Kampf {{UK-writer-stub