Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (17 March 1851 – 17 December 1943) was an English
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
campaigner, journalist, and author in the United Kingdom. He was also noted as a prominent
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
,
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
and opponent of
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
. In the early 1920s, after the death of his wife, he turned towards
spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...
.
Early life
Blatchford was born 17 March 1851 in
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
, Kent. His parents, John Glanville Blatchford, a strolling comedian, and Georgina Louisa Corri ''(maiden;'' 1821–1890), an actress – named him after the Conservative Prime Minister
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...
who died the year before. His great-grandfather, by way of his mother,
Domenico Corri
Domenico Corri (4 October 1746 – 22 May 1825) was an Italian composer, impresario, Music publisher (popular music), music publisher, and voice teacher.
Career
Corri was born in Rome and studied voice with Nicola Porpora in Naples. The son o ...
(1746–1825), was an Italian musician and publisher who, in the late 18th century, moved from
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
to teach music.
One of his grandnieces,
Christine Glanville
Christine Glanville (born Nancy Christine Fletcher; 28 October 1924 – 1 March 1999) was an English puppeteer who spent much of her professional life contributing to television series produced by Gerry Anderson.
Career
Glanville became involv ...
(1924–1999), was an acclaimed English puppeteer.
Blatchford's father died in 1853, leaving him in the care of his mother. She continued her acting career for nine years, and Blatchford spent much of his early life close to the stage. To help support the family, Blatchford and his brother Montagu would perform with their mother, doing comedic renditions and dances for extra income. In 1862 the family moved to
Halifax, where it was hoped that Blatchford and his brother could learn a trade. Blatchford was first employed as an odd job boy in a lithographic printing works, for which he earned a salary of eighteen pence a week. As a child he attended school only occasionally, firstly in Halifax and later in Portsmouth. In spite of the brevity of his educational experience, he called the education system a "cram" method.
Though lacking a formal education, Blatchford taught himself from the age of eight, reading the Bible, ''
Pilgrim's Progress
''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...
'', and the works of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
. Throughout his childhood he was frail and sickly, and doctors suggested that he would not reach adulthood. This illness gave Blatchford time to read, something he would not have been able to pursue as thoroughly if employed. Around 1864, Georgina secured full-time employment as a dressmaker and immediately apprenticed both her sons, sending Montagu to a lithographic printer and Robert to a brush maker. At the brush maker factory, Blatchford met Sarah Crossley, whom he would marry in 1880.
By 1871 Blatchford left Halifax, though his reason for doing so has been the cause of debate.
Laurence Thompson
Laurence G. Thompson (1920 - July 10, 2005) was a World War II veteran, sinologist, classical violinist and professor emeritus of East Asian languages and cultures at the University of Southern California.
Biography
Thompson was born in 1920 ...
argues that the departure was due to a quarrel with his mother, but Blatchford's daughter Dorothea maintains that his decision to leave was caused by the difficulty of his life in Halifax. On May Day 1871, Blatchford walked to Hull, then continued on to London via Yarmouth.
Military and early journalistic career
After leaving Halifax, Blatchford joined the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
and rose to become a
sergeant major
Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world.
History
In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...
by 1874. By the time of his promotion, he had also achieved the Army's second class certificate of education. Blatchford served with the Irish regiment 103rd
Dublin Fusiliers and the
96th Regiment of Foot. The pleasures of army life stimulated some of Blatchford's best writing, but in 1877 he left the army to become a clerk in the
Weaver Navigation Company. While employed as a clerk, he carefully used his spare time to learn grammar, syntax, and shorthand. In 1880 he married Sarah Crossley, whom he met in Halifax, at the Zion Chapel in Halifax; they then settled in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
. Sarah was the daughter of a
domestic servant
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
and a mechanic. Around this time Blatchford became frustrated with his job and decided that he wished to become an artist. Because employment opportunities for artists in Norwich were scarce, however, he instead decided to become a writer. Blatchford's writing career began in 1882 at the ''Yorkshireman'' newspaper, where he had a sketch published. He obtained his first full-time writing job through his friend Alexander Muttock Thompson, who worked for the Manchester ''
Sporting Chronicle
The ''Sporting Chronicle'', known colloquially as ''The Chron'', was a Manchester-based, daily, national horse racing newspaper which operated in Great Britain for 112 years until its closure in 1983 due to unsustainable losses (£5.8 million si ...
''. Thompson recommended Blatchford to a friend who ran the newspaper ''
Bell's Life in London
''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886.
History
''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William I ...
''. A year later, Blatchford moved his family to South London to write for ''Bell's Life'' and the ''Leeds Toby''.
In 1885, Blatchford began to write for the Manchester ''
Sunday Chronicle
The ''Sunday Chronicle'' was a newspaper in the United Kingdom, published from 1885 to 1955.
The newspaper was founded in Manchester by Edward Hulton in August 1885. He was known for his sporting coverage, already publishing the ''Sporting Chron ...
''. When ''Bell's Life'' failed two years later, he moved to a full-time position at the ''Sunday Chronicle''. Before beginning at the ''Sunday Chronicle'', Blatchford took a short holiday on the Isle of Wight after the death of his two children. At this time he had not begun to espouse socialist views, but the societal reactions to the competitiveness of industrial society in Northern England began affecting his sentiments. The largest political influence on Blatchford was the South
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...
. This change is seen in a series of 1889 articles he wrote for the ''Sunday Chronicle'' which denounced the housing conditions in Manchester and organised two working men's Sanitary Organisations in the area.
Reflecting back on this period, Blatchford stated in the ''Fortnightly Review'' in 1907 that "Dr. Cozier is mistaken if he thinks I took my Socialism from
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...
, or that it depends upon the Marxian theory of value. I have never read a page of Marx. I got the idea of collective ownership from
H. M. Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 20 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist.
Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's '' Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first left-wing ...
; the rest of my Socialism I thought out myself. English Socialism is not German: it is English. English Socialism is not Marxian; it is humanitarian. It does not depend upon any theory of 'economic justice' but upon humanity and common sense."
''The Clarion''
In 1890, while based in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, Blatchford became actively involved in the Labour Movement. He founded the Manchester branch of the
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
, and launched a weekly socialist newspaper, ''
The Clarion'', in 1891. Later that year, he used his column to announce that he had accepted the invitation of the
Bradford Labour Union
The Bradford Labour Union was a political party based in Bradford in England, which was an important forerunner of the Independent Labour Party.
In late 1890 and early 1891, there was a major strike at the Manningham Mills in Bradford. Followi ...
to become the Independent Labour candidate in
Bradford East. However, his socialist stance forced him to leave the ''
Sunday Chronicle
The ''Sunday Chronicle'' was a newspaper in the United Kingdom, published from 1885 to 1955.
The newspaper was founded in Manchester by Edward Hulton in August 1885. He was known for his sporting coverage, already publishing the ''Sporting Chron ...
,'' which in turn left him with a severe reduction in income.
Having left the newspaper on 12 December 1891, Blatchford set up ''The Clarion'', but a printing error made its first edition was almost completely illegible. Nevertheless, it still sold at least 40,000 copies. It continued to sell this number and more during the following years. By 1910 it was selling about 80,000 copies of each issue.
Bernard Semmel described it as "the most successful socialist publication in Great Britain during the period before the war of 1914".
By 1892 Blatchford had removed himself from the candidature in Bradford East and began siding with the
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...
(SDF) against the Fabians' policy of "permeation." The joining of ''The Clarion'' and SDF resulted in the formation in 1892 of the Manchester Independent Labour Party, which soon devised the Manchester Fourth Clause. By 1893 Blatchford was the leader of his own clique within the newly founded national
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...
, the Clarionettes, whose extraordinary dynamism was expressed in its numerous choral societies,
''Clarion'' cycling clubs, Socialist Scouts, and glee clubs.
Central to the ''Clarion'' movement were the ''Clarion'' cycling clubs, whose members, frequently accompanied by the "''Clarion'' Van", travelled the country distributing socialist literature and holding mass meetings.
Robert Tressell
Robert Noonan (17 April 1870 – 3 February 1911), born Robert Croker and best known by the pen name Robert Tressell, was an Irish writer best known for his novel ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists''.
Tressell spent his entire early adult w ...
's socialist novel ''
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'' (1914) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death f ...
'' contains a detailed account based on a meeting organised by the
''Clarion'' scouts.
The ''Clarion'' movement also supported many industrial disputes at this time, including the three-year lockout of the slateworkers of the
Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to:
*Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River
**Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the to ...
slate quarry
The slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a ''slate quarry'' or reached by tunneling in a ''slate mine''. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring ma ...
in North
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. ''The Clarion'' collected £1,500 to support the people of
Bethesda.
There was a revolt in the county federation created by the ILP in 1894, as Blatchford urged the formation of a united socialist party. In the same year he resigned from the editorship of ''The Clarion'' due to ill health and developed depression. He started to edit it again in 1896. He supported the
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
, which lost him support from some sections of the labour movement. Blatchford denounced his "cosmopolitan friends, who are so cosmopolitan that they can admire every country but their own, and love all men except Englishmen".
[Semmel, p. 217.] He criticised the "smug, self-righteous prigs" in the labour movement who, while "despising military glory, are yet so eloquent over the marksmanship and courage of the Boers".
He wrote that his "whole heart is with the British troops ... When England is at war, I'm English. I have no politics and no party. I am English."
[Semmel, p. 218.] Responding to claims from the right-wing press that he wanted to ‘turn people against their country’, he retorted that he wanted ‘to make people so fond of their country that they shall desire to possess it’.
After the war Blatchford continued to agitate for a united socialist party and supported the London Progressive Party. He was critical of the
Labour Party, which was founded in 1900, for what he perceived as its complete subservience to Liberalism, especially in its
Cobdenite Cobdenism is an economic ideology (and the associated popular movement) which perceives international free trade and a non-interventionist foreign policy as the key requirements for prosperity and world peace. It is named after the British statesma ...
internationalist views on foreign policy. Blatchford said of himself and his colleagues at ''The Clarion'': "We were out for Socialism and nothing but Socialism, and we were Britons first and Socialists next."
Blatchford criticised free trade from an economic nationalist perspective. Free trade had made it impossible for Britain to feed herself and had destroyed British agriculture. This was especially serious in wartime because Britain could be starved into submission due to the dependence for her food on foreign nations.
When
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Cons ...
launched his crusade for
Tariff Reform
The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competitio ...
in 1903, Blatchford's response was ambiguous. He did not formally endorse Chamberlain's campaign, but ''The Clarion'' praised his aims—the revival of British agriculture, a self-sufficient Empire, and producer-focused instead of consumer-focused economic system. Blatchford said he did not believe in tariff reform as applied by
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, but that a socialist government would find it a necessary instrument.
A further development in Blatchford's thinking cost him further readers, when he began denouncing organised religion in such works as ''God and My Neighbour'' in 1903 and ‘Not Guilty: A Defence of the Bottom Dog’ 1905. Again, to antagonise the ILP, the ''Clarion'' raised funds for Victor Grayson, whom the ILP had declined to support. He justified his attacks as being because Labour was too close to the Liberals.
''Merrie England''
A series of articles on socialism in ''The Clarion'' were published in book form in 1893 as ''Merrie England''. The first edition sold 30,000 copies. The year after, a pocket-sized edition was published, which sold 25,000 copies. A penny edition was published in 1894, with 250,000 copies being ordered before publication and within a year 750,000 copies had been despatched across the English speaking world. In Britain and America, the book sold over two million copies. In the opinion of
Robert Ensor
Sir Robert Charles Kirkwood Ensor (16 October 1877 – 4 December 1958) was a British writer, poet, journalist, liberal intellectual and historian. He is best known for ''England: 1870-1914'' (1936), a volume in the ''Oxford History of England'' ...
, the book "helped to make socialism really well known in England for the first time...It was Blatchford's highest flight as a propagandist; he never surpassed it, and through it mainly he left his mark upon history".
[R. C. K. Ensor, ]
Blatchford, Robert Peel Glanville (1851–1943)
, rev. H. C. G. Matthew, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 13 January 2014. The book was translated into
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, Italian, Spanish and German.
[Thompson, p. 101.]
William Thomas Stead
William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was a British newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst e ...
picked the book as the ''
Review of Reviews
The ''Review of Reviews'' was a noted family of monthly journals founded in 1890–1893 by British reform journalist William Thomas Stead (1849–1912). Established across three continents in London (1891), New York (1892) and Melbourne (1893), t ...
'' book of the month and called Blatchford "the poor man's
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
".
[Thompson, p. 100.] Dr
Horton Horton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Horton Glacier, Adelaide Island, Antarctica
* Horton Ledge, Queen Elizabeth Land, Antarctica
Australia
* Horton, Queensland, a town and locality in the Bundaberg Region
* Horton River (Australia), ...
the Congregationalist minister compared Blatchford to
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
,
Amos
Amos or AMOS may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Amos Records, an independent record label established in Los Angeles, California, in 1968
* Amos (band), an American Christian rock band
* ''Amos'' (album), an album by Michael Ray
* ''Amos' ...
and
Micah
Micah (; ) is a given name.
Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and means "Who is like God?" The name is sometimes found with Theophoric name, theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in ''Jah, Yah'' and in ''Y ...
and said that "if Jesus Christ were a man on earth today, He would read the book not only with interest but with approval, and He would say to any officious disciples who took exception to parts of it, “Forbid him not; he that is not against Me is for Me"."
C. P. Scott
Charles Prestwich Scott (26 October 1846 – 1 January 1932), usually cited as C. P. Scott, was a British journalist, publisher and politician. Born in Bath, Somerset, he was the editor of the ''Manchester Guardian'' (now ''the Guardian'') ...
of the ''Manchester Guardian'' wrote to Blatchford, saying: "I have been reading ''Merrie England'' and (''pace'' the reviewers) find a great deal in it!"
The ''Manchester Guardian'' said that for every British convert to socialism made by ''
Das Kapital
''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in Historical mater ...
'' there were a hundred made by ''Merrie England''.
At the
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...
a motion was approved by 103 to 54 that stated that "the aims of the Socialist tract, ''Merrie England'', are but the baseless fabric of a vision". The motion was seconded by
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
.
Blatchford was a vegetarian and in ''Merrie England'' he mentioned the economic, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian diet.
War scare of 1909
At the end of the second week of December 1909, Blatchford wrote ten daily articles for the ''
Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' warning of the German menace:
I write these articles because I believe that Germany is deliberately preparing to destroy the British Empire; and because I know that we are not ready or able to defend ourselves against a sudden and formidable attack...At the present moment the whole country is in a ferment about the Budget and the Peers and the Election. It seems sheer criminal lunacy to waste time and strength in chasing such political bubble when the existence of the Empire is threatened.[Morris, p. 213.]
The articles received considerable attention in Britain and Germany, and when published as a pamphlet sold over one and a half million copies.
The
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
"lamented Blatchford's violence" and the
Kaiser
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...
read Blatchford's articles with care and denounced them as "very mischievous and singularly ill-timed". Sir
Charles Ottley
Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Langdale Ottley (8 February 1858 – 24 September 1932) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Director of Naval Intelligence.
Life
Ottley was born in 1858 to Lawrence and Elizabeth Ottley. His father was a canon in Ric ...
, the Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence, wrote to
Lord Esher
Viscount Esher, of Esher in the County of Surrey, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 November 1897 for the prominent lawyer and judge William Brett, 1st Baron Esher, upon his retirement as Master of the Rolls ...
that Blatchford's appeal was not based on a partisan, political basis as he had said that the country did not want a Liberal or Unionist government but a MAN: "His strength is that he knows what he wants and is not afraid to ask for it in plain language...The burthen of the song is—compulsory service, a strong navy and a general raising of the standard of education and living of the masses of the British people".
[Morris, p. 214.] Lord Cromer
Earl of Cromer is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, held by members of the Baring family, of German descent. It was created for Evelyn Baring, 1st Viscount Cromer, long time British Consul-General in Egypt. He had already been cr ...
publicly declared that he shared Blatchford's patriotism. The articles ensured that defence was a major issue in the ensuing
general election of January 1910. After the election the Liberal MP
Reginald McKenna
Reginald McKenna (6 July 1863 – 6 September 1943) was a British banker and Liberal politician. His first Cabinet post under Henry Campbell-Bannerman was as President of the Board of Education, after which he served as First Lord of the Admiral ...
boasted that Blatchford had not cost the Liberals a single vote.
[Thompson, p. 216.] Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.
Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...
said that "the whole Socialist movement was rocking with suppressed laughter".
The ''Daily Mail''′s Berlin correspondent told
Lord Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...
: "In a long experience...I do not recall a foreign journalistic event which so focused the attention of the German press and public".
There was universal condemnation in German newspapers, including Social Democratic, Catholic and Pan-German organs. When the German Chancellor
Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann Hollweg (29 November 1856 – 1 January 1921) was a German politician who was the chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. He oversaw the German entry into World War I. According to biog ...
complained to
Edward Goschen, the British ambassador in Berlin, the Foreign Secretary Sir
Edward Grey advised Goschen to explain the articles as "not really anti-German but alarmist...to create a scare".
Shortly before the
general election of December 1910, the ''Daily Mail'' published Blatchford's series of articles on ‘The Greatest Issue of All’, the German threat. However these were nowhere near as influential as his previous ones and defence was not an issue in the election.
In 1909 he began advocating conscription but in 1912 troops were used for strike breaking and Blatchford turned against it: "Universal military service under the (present) ruling classes would result in slavery. I regard invasion as the lesser evil". However, he supported conscription again in 1915 and proclaimed it should be implemented along with the "conscription of wealth". Before the war, Blatchford toured Germany and after he returned to England he wrote:
I am convinced that...they will be plunged into war without their will. I like Germany; I like German cities; and I like the German people. But I believe that the rulers of the German people are deliberately and cynically preparing to hurl them into a wicked and a desperate war of conquest...The Germans cannot prevent that war, because they do not believe it is coming. The British could prevent that war if, before it is too late, they could be really convinced that it is coming. That is why I want to convince them that war is coming, because I want to prevent that horrible war.
Blatchford was impressed by the cleanliness and efficiency in Germany: "You don't see anything like that in Germany. I thought to myself, is this how we are preparing to fight for the existence of our Empire? What use will these ragged, famished spectres be when we have our backs to the wall?"
Later life
On 4 August 1914, Blatchford wrote to his friend
Alexander Thompson: "I shall write today a cautious article counselling peace and suggesting that Sir
E. Grey should ask Russia and Germany to suspend hostilities pending a friendly mediation by America, England and Italy, or any one of those powers. But I do not think really that European peace is possible until Germany has been defeated and humiliated. And I realise the great possibility that we shall be at war with Germany before the ''Clarion'' comes out. And I hope we are". The Clarion Movement was split when Blatchford swung his paper in support of the British participation in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The circulation for ''The Clarion'' fell by 10,000 in a week but when in September 1914 Blatchford wrote a page of ''The Weekly Dispatch'' every Sunday its circulation rose by 50,000.
[Thompson, p. 223.] In his first article for that paper, Blatchford correctly predicted that the German Army would not reach Paris and of General Joffre's flank along the Marne.
Blatchford visited France in October 1914 and was shocked by the conduct of the Germans in waging war. Initially warning his readers of fake atrocity stories, Blatchford was shocked by the ruined villages in France and the stories he heard, "too horrible and too unclean to be revealed in print". He wrote to Thompson in 1933: "In the early days of the war the movement howled with indignation about the lying charges brought against the German General Staff and troops. The noble Germans were incapable of such crimes. British and Belgian and American witnesses were all liars. Today the same intelligent comrades are denouncing the atrocities committed by the Nazi 'storm troops' upon innocent and helpless Jews. Well, old pal, may I suggest that if the Germans of today are guilty perhaps the Huns of 1914 were not quite innocent".
In his articles during the war, Blatchford campaigned for better pay for the soldiers and considerable pensions for disabled soldiers, soldiers' widows and children. When a soldier wrote to him, claiming his opinions would not be accepted by the Army but those of
Philip Snowden
Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, PC (; 18 July 1864 – 15 May 1937) was a British politician. A strong speaker, he became popular in trade union circles for his denunciation of capitalism as unethical and his promise of a socialist utop ...
and
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
would, Blatchford replied: "I am sorry. I cannot help it. You want peace. But you cannot have peace without victory...The struggle with Germany will not end with the present war, and we may some day have to fight Germany single-handed".
In 1915, Blatchford formed the
National Democratic and Labour Party
The National Democratic and Labour Party, usually abbreviated to National Democratic Party (NDP), was a short-lived political party in the United Kingdom.
History
The party's origins lay in a split by the right wing of the British Socialist Part ...
(NDP) as a splinter from the right wing of the
British Socialist Party
The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw t ...
and for the
1918 General Election, the NDP stood in eighteen constituencies and returned nine Members of Parliament with 156,834 votes. It thereby became the first party formed by a right-wing split from the Labour Party in Britain to win seats in Parliament at a general election.
Blatchford's wife died in 1921, and later he took an interest in Spiritualism. In 1923 he wrote in response to claims in the press that he had been converted away from socialism by reading
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
's autobiography:
I have never been converted from Socialism. But careful observation of the facts of for the last twelve years or so has convinced me that Socialism will not work, and a study of Mr. Ford's methods has provided what seems to me as good a substitute as we may hope in this imperfect world. Socialism as I knew it in past years was an excellent, almost a perfect, theory...The golden rule will not work in international politics, because the nations are not good enough to live up to it. Real Socialism strongly resembles real Christianity. It is a counsel of perfection and cannot be adopted and adhered to by our imperfect humanity. There is nothing the matter with Socialism, but the people are neither wise enough nor good enough to make it a success. Socialism implies the self-abnegation of the individual for the good of the community.
When the first Labour government, led by Ramsay MacDonald, took office in 1924, Blatchford responded to Thompson's enthusiasm: "I don't like their policy and I don't trust them. They are in no sense Socialists. At present they are Liberals and we shall have a blend of Liberal shibboleths and communist insanity". When
Sir Edward Hulton sold most of his newspapers to
Lord Rothermere
Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in th ...
, Blatchford wrote a letter to ''The Morning Post'':
As a protest against the attempt of the syndicated newspapers to muzzle the press and dictate to the Government, I have resigned my position on ''The Sunday Chronicle'' and ''The Sunday Herald''...the public should be helped to realise that the political judgments of the syndicated newspapers are not sincere and considered opinions of trained, independent thinkers, but the broadcast railings of one rich man in a panic over the Capital Levy
A capital levy is a tax on capital rather than income, collected once, rather than repeatedly (regular collection would make it a wealth tax). For example, a capital levy of 30% will see an individual or business with a net worth of $100,000 pay a ...
. It is important that this should be said, and that the country should understand that the voice of Lord Rothermere is not the voice of public opinion. His standardised newspapers are journalistic tied houses, where proprietorial dope is sold as honest beer.[Thompson, p. 232.]
Blatchford voted Conservative in 1924.
However, his later books indicate a continued faith in his own English version of socialism. Moreover, the Clarion Movement carried on as a socialist popular movement, taking its cue from Blatchford, into the 1930s and beyond, as indicated by the continued existence of the Clarion rambling and cycling clubs and the founding of the newspaper ''The New Clarion'' in 1932. In a 1931 letter to Alexander Thompson, Blatchford proclaimed his last political credo, his language remaining fiery and eloquent:
I have always been a Tory Democrat...You remember that from the first the Clarion crowd and the Hardie crowd were out of harmony ... I loathe the "top-hatted, frock-coated magnolia-scented" snobocracy as much as you do; but I cannot away with the Keir Hardies and Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of th ...
s and Ramsay MacDonalds and Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
s and Maxtons. Not long ago you told me in a letter of some trade union delegates who were smoking cigars and drinking whisky at the House of Commons at the expense of their unions. You liked them not. Nor do I like the Trade Union bigots who have cheated J. H. Thomas
James Henry Thomas (3 October 1874 – 21 January 1949), sometimes known as Jimmy Thomas or Jim Thomas, was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour (later National Labour) politician. He was involved in a political scandal involving budget leaks. ...
of his pension...I am glad the Labour Party is defeated because I believe they would have disrupted the British Empire. I dreaded their childish cosmopolitanism; their foolish faith that we could abolish crime by reducing the police force. All the other nations are out for their own ends. American enthusiasm for Naval Disarmament is not dictated by a love of peace. It is an expression of naval rivalry. All the nations hated our naval supremacy. Do the Americans love us? Do the French love us? Is France, America, Italy, devoted to an unselfish and human peace? Can we dispel the bellicose sentiments of Russia and China and Japan by sending an old pantaloon to talk platitudes at Geneva, or by disbanding the Horse Guards and scrapping a few submarines?...The England of my affection and devotion is not a country nor a people: it is a tradition, the finest tradition the world has ever produced. The Labour Party do not subscribe to that tradition; do not know it; could not feel it. And if that tradition is to survive, the policy of scuttle and surrender must be abandoned. You agree with all this I feel sure. You always upheld the Pax Britannica
''Pax Britannica'' (Latin for "British Peace", modelled after '' Pax Romana'') was the period of relative peace between the great powers during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a " global pol ...
. We have not drifted apart, old pal: our separation is only geographical.
After
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
became German Chancellor in 1933, Blatchford "began to smell brimstone", in the words of his biographer Laurence Thompson. Blatchford said: "The people ought to know; but who will let me say what ought to be said?" Blatchford feared that people would say: "Oh, ''Blatchford''. He has Germany on the brain." When
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
began warning of the dangers of Nazi Germany, Blatchford remarked: "Ha! He's learning! Now watch ''him'' get it in the neck". Later on, Blatchford believed Churchill's conduct redeemed what he considered his past political errors.
On 17 December 1943, Blatchford died in
Horsham, Sussex
Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
at the age of 92.
Legacy
Blatchford's "love of country" themes were not a late aberration but can be found throughout his output. His combination of libertarianism, socialism and conservatism mark him out as one of the more original activists in English political history. The first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden, said of Blatchford in his autobiography:
In these years Mr. Blatchford gave invaluable help to Socialist propaganda. No man did more than he to make Socialism understood by the ordinary working man. His writings in them had nothing of economic abstruseness. He based his appeal on the principles of human justice. He preached Socialism as a system of industrial co-operation for the common good. His arguments and illustrations were drawn from facts and experiences within the knowledge of the common people. Socialism as he taught it was not a cold, materialistic theory, but the promise of a new life as full, sweet and noble as the world can give...Mr. Blatchford is still living, hale and hearty, his mental powers undiminished at the ripe age of eighty-three. I saw him recently, and we talked of those grand and inspiring times of forty years ago. Only the men who were in the Socialist movement in those days can know the great part Robert Blatchford took in making it popular, and of the personal devotion he inspired by his writings.
The General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress from 1925 to 1946, Sir
Walter Citrine
Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine, (22 August 1887 – 22 January 1983) was one of the leading British and international trade unionists of the twentieth century and a notable public figure. Yet, apart from his renowned guide to the co ...
, was influenced by Blatchford's writings. He said of ''Britain for the British'': "I found it a cogent and reasoned argument for Socialism. It was written with a clearness and bite which were unusual".
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
also spoke of Blatchford's influence on his beliefs.
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
said that Blatchford was "the greatest popular journalist since
Cobbett Cobbett is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Hilary Dulcie Cobbett (1885–1976), British artist
* William Cobbett (1763–1835), British radical agriculturist and prolific journalist.
* Walter Willson Cobbett
Walter Willson ...
".
[A. J. P. Taylor, ''Essays in English History'' (London: Pelican, 1976), p. 174.]
Writings
* ''The Nunquam Papers'' (from the ''Sunday Chronicle'')
Edward Hulton and Co., 1891.
* ''Fantasias'' John Heywood, Manchester, 1892.
* ''Merrie England'' Clarion Office, Walter Scott, 1893.
* ''The Nunquam Papers'' (from ''The Clarion'') Clarion Newspaper, 1895).
* ''A Bohemian Girl'' (McGinnis, P., pseudonym), London, 1898, Clarion Newspapers Co., Walter Scott, Ltd.
* ''Dismal England'', London, Clarion Press, May 1899.
* ''My Favourite Books'' The Clarion Office, (also Chesworth, 1900)
* ''My Favourite Books'', London, Clarion Press, 1901.
* ''Tales for the Marines'', London, Clarion Newspaper Co., Ltd., 1901.
* ''Britain for the British'', London, Clarion Press, 1902.
* ''A Book About Books'', London, Clarion Press, 1903.
* ''God and My Neighbour'' Clarion Press, 1903.
* ''Not Guilty: A Defense of the Bottom Dog'' Clarion Press, 1906.
* ''The Sorcery Shop: An Impossible Romance'', London, Clarion Press, 1907.
* ''The Dolly Ballads'' (Illustrated by Frank Chesworth) Clarion Press, 1907.
* ''The War That Was Foretold: Germany and England'', Reprinted from “The Daily Mail” of 1909.
* ''My Life in the Army'', London, Clarion Press, 1910.
* ''More Things in Heaven and Earth: Adventures in the Quest for a Soul'', London, Methuen & Co., 1925.
* ''As I Lay A-Thinking: Some Memories and Reflections of an Ancient and Quiet Watchman'' Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1926.
* ''Essays of To-Day and Yesterday'', London, George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., 1927.
* ''Saki’s Bowl'', London, Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, 1928.
* ''Where Are the Dead'', London, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1928
ontains a chapter by Blatchford, “Secrets of Life and Love.”* ''My Eighty Years'', Great Britain, Cassell & Company Limited. 1931.
* ''What's All This?'', London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1940.
* ''General Von Sneak'', London, Hodder & Stoughton, Publishers, n.d.
* ''Julie A Study of a Girl by a Man'', London, Clarion Press, 1904
* ''Stunts'', London, Clarion Press, n.d.
Notes
References
*Robert Blatchford, ''My Eighty Years'' (London: Cassell, 1931).
*Lord Citrine, ''Men and Work. An Autobiography'' (London: Hutchinson, 1964).
*R. C. K. Ensor,
Blatchford, Robert Peel Glanville (1851–1943), rev. H. C. G. Matthew, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 13 January 2014.
*A. J. A. Morris, ''The Scaremongers. The Advocacy of War and Rearmament 1896–1914'' (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984).
*Bernard Semmel, ''Imperialism and Social Reform. English Social-Imperial Thought 1895–1914'' (New York: Anchor, 1968).
*Philip, Viscount Snowden, ''An Autobiography. Volume One. 1864–1919'' (London: Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1934).
*Laurence Thompson, ''Robert Blatchford. Portrait of an Englishman'' (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1951).
Further reading
* Anon., ''The Clarion Van at Norton: Willie Wright's report to Julia Dawson'' reprinted from ''The Clarion'', Sheffield, 1898.
* Chesterton, Gilbert Keith ''The Blatchford Controversies'' _____________ ca. 1905.
* Lyons, Neil ''Robert Blatchford'' Clarion Press, 1910.
* Jones, Leslie S. A. ''Robert Blatchford and the Clarion'' Hyde Park Pamphlets Number Nine, 1986.
* Judge, Tony ''Tory Socialist: Robert Blatchford and Merrie England'' Mentor Books, 2013
* Judge, Tony, ''Tory Socialism in English Culture Politics and Society 1870–1940,'' 2019
* Peacock, Arthur ''Yours Fraternally'' Pendulum Publications, 1945.
* Suthers R. B. and Beswick H. ''The Clarion Birthday Book'' Clarion Press, 1951.
* Thompson, Alex M. ''Here I Lie'' George Routledge & Sons, 1937.
* Thompson, Laurence ''Robert Blatchford: Portrait of an Englishman'' Victor Gollancz, London, 1951.
* Williamson, Robert ''Robert Blatchford Calendar'' Frank Palmer 1912.
External links
*
*
*
*
at WCML.org.uk (archived 2005-10-26)
*
ttp://www.thebikezone.org.uk/thebikezone/thinkingcyclist/philanthropists.html 'The good old summer time.' Tressell's account of a meeting held by The Clarion Cycling ScoutsRobert Blatchford: Neglected Socialistat Rutgers University Libraries
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