The English National Association (ENA) was a political group active in the

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during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. It was accused of having fascist sympathies.

History

Formed by John Webster in 1942, the ENA was led by Edward Godfrey, a former member of the British Union of Fascists who had served under Admiral Sir

Barry Domvile Admiral Sir Barry Edward Domvile, (5 September 1878 – 13 August 1971) was a high-ranking Royal Navy officer who was interned during the Second World War for being a Nazi sympathiser. Throughout the 1930s, he had expressed support for Germany ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

.S. Dorrill, ''Blackshirt – Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism'', London: Penguin, 2007, p. 529 The ENA, which sought to regroup former members of the British Union of Fascists, was originally called the British National Party (BNP).Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations'', 2002, p. 177 The group was funded by the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

, a veteran supporter of right-wing movements, most notably the British People's Party. Calling for a negotiated peace, the group attempted to march on the

Cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

in 1942 but the demonstration was banned by the authorities and the group came under suspicion. The BNP, which emphasised

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, initially gained some support and not long after its foundation claimed to have 50 branches across the country. It also enjoyed the support of a number of right-wing journals, such as those of Captain Bernard Acworth and Joseph Ball, as well as the backing of the

British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women The British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women (BLESMAW) was a British ex-service organisation that became associated with far-right politics both during and after the Second World War. Origins The group had its origins in 1937, when James Taylor ...

, a group that had been associated with the BUF and which was later taken over by

Jeffrey Hamm Edward Jeffrey Hamm (15 September 1915 – 4 May 1992) was a leading British fascist and supporter of Oswald Mosley. Although a minor figure in Mosley's prewar British Union of Fascists, Hamm became a leading figure after the Second World War a ...

. William Craven, a farm worker from

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who was sentenced to life imprisonment for twice writing to government agencies of

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to offer his services, was also a BNP member following his expulsion from the BUF for extremism. In order to avoid the attentions of the government Godfrey disbanded the BNP in 1943 before recreating the group immediately as the ENA. Like most groups in existence at the time however many supporters were loath to join as they feared that active groups were too easily infiltrated by

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

.Dorrill, ''Blackshirt'', p. 530 Before long Webster had left to form his own English Legion and they did not survive the war. The group contested the 1943 Acton by-election with Godfrey officially running as

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, although he finished bottom of the poll with 258 votes.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1942 Far-right political parties in the United Kingdom 1942 establishments in the United Kingdom