Reginald Arthur Reynolds (1905 – 16 December 1958) was a British
left wing writer, poet, a Quaker and an anti-colonial activist who collaborated with
M.K. Gandhi and
Horace Alexander.
A
Quaker, he was General Secretary of the
No More War Movement from 1933 to 1937.
He was perhaps best known as a critic of
British imperialism
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and for his 1937 work ''The White Sahibs in India''. For many years he was also
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
's weekly satirical poet.
He married the left wing novelist
Ethel Mannin in 1938.
["Mannin, Ethel" in Todd, Janet M.(ed.)
'' British Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide''.Continuum, 1989 (pg. 441).]
He was a
conscientious objector 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 ...
, when he worked in
Air Raid Precautions and in a mobile hospital unit.
Works
*''India, Gandhi and World Peace'' (1931)
*''Police and Peasantry in India'' (1932)
*''Gandhi's Fast: its cause and significance'' (1932)
*''
The White Sahibs in India'' (1937)
*''
Prison Anthology'' (edited with A. G. Stock) (1938)
*''Why India?'' (1942)
*''Cleanliness and Godliness: or The Further Metamorphosis. A discussion of the problems of sanitation raised by Sir John Harington, etc.'' (1943)
*''
The New Indian Rope Trick: or What became of the debt?'' (1943)
*''The Fallow Ground of the Heart'' (1945)
*''Og and other Ogres'' (1946) with illustrations by
Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well-known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of ...
*''The Wisdom of John Woolman: with a selection from his writings as a guide to the seekers of today'' (1948)
*''British Pamphleteers'' (edited with
George Orwell) (1948)
*''Beards: Their Social Standing, Religious Involvements, Decorative Possibilities, and Value in Offence and Defence Through the Ages'' (1949)
*''Beards: an omnium gatherum'' (1950)
*''Beds: with many noteworthy instances of lying on, under, or about them (1951)
*''To Live in Mankind: A Quest for Gandhi'' (1951)
*''A Quest for Gandhi'' (1952)
*''Beware of Africans: a pilgrimage from Cairo to the Cape'' (1955)
*''My Life and Crimes'' (1956)
*''John Somervell Hoyland'' (1958)
*''John Woolman and the 20th century'' (1958)
*''The True Book about Mahatma Gandhi'' (1959)
*''The Loadstone'' (1960)
Notes
Biography
* Robert Huxter, ''Reg and Ethel: Reginald Reynolds his life and work and his marriage to Ethel Mannin'' (1992). Sessions Book Trust.
* Autobiography, ''My life and crimes'' (1956)
External links
Swarthmore Archives
1905 births
1958 deaths
British political writers
British conscientious objectors
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