A. K. Chesterton
Encyclopedia
Arthur Kenneth Chesterton MC
(1896 – 16 August 1973) was a far right-wing politician
and journalist
who helped found right-wing organisations in Britain, primarily in opposition to the break-up of the British Empire
, and later adopting a broader anti-immigration stance. His cousin, the author G. K. Chesterton
, was a critic of what he called "the solemn fools of Teutonism".
, A. K. Chesterton was taken with his family to South Africa
as a boy and did not return to England until the late 1920s. In 1915, he joined the British Army and was sent to East Africa
, where he almost died of malaria
and dysentery
. After officer training, he was on the Western Front
in 1917 with the Durban Light Infantry
. He was awarded the Military Cross
. His war experience was crucial to his repudiation of democracy
. The war also left Chesterton broken in health and an alcoholic.
After the war, he was a journalist for the Johannesburg Star. He secured a job with the Stratford-on-Avon Herald back in England, where, as theatre critic from 1925 to 1929, he cultivated his aesthetic sense of societal decadence and cultural decline.
For the next four years, according to Chesterton's biographer, David Baker:
socialist and pacifist
, Chesterton lived near the headquarters of Oswald Mosley
's British Union of Fascists
. He took to dropping by for conversation and argument, and by late 1933 he had joined the movement. He became the director of publicity
and propaganda
and chief organiser for the Midlands
.
In 1936, alcoholism and overwork led to a nervous breakdown. He consulted a German neurologist
and during 1936 to 1937 lived in Germany. After returning to Britain he was appointed editor of the Blackshirt, the official BUF newspaper. This position provided a pulpit for his increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
He left the BUF in 1938, disillusioned, but continued to be active in far-right politics by joining the Nordic League
and serving as editor of Lord Lymington's right-wing journal, the New Pioneer.
In 1939, Chesterton re-enlisted in the British Army after the outbreak of war. He served in East Africa
, but returned to Britain in 1944 due to poor health, and launched the short-lived National Front after Victory Group, a coalition that included the British Peoples Party. He became deputy editor of the publication Truth
.
He lived again in Africa for a short time, but soon returned to Britain
where he established the League of Empire Loyalists
in 1954. The League was a pressure group against the increasing dissolution of the British Empire, and was known at the time for stunts at Conservative Party
meetings and conferences. These included hiding underneath the platform overnight to emerge during the conference to put across points. The League had support from some Conservative Party members, but they were disliked by the leadership.
About this time, Chesterton was appointed by Lord Beaverbrook as a literary adviser, contributing to the Daily Mail
and the Sunday Express. He also wrote Beaverbrook's autobiography, Don't Trust to Luck.
Chesterton founded and edited the magazine Candour
, which he issued for the rest of his life, and which is still published today.
Chesterton co-founded the National Front. Chesterton was leader for a short time, although he tried to keep the party free from national socialists
. Upon stepping down the first of several long, inter-factional disputes took place within the NF which frequently affected its policies in ways of which Chesterton did not approve. Today, the NF describes itself as a "white nationalist organisation founded in 1967 in opposition to multi-racialism and immigration", although the term "multi-racialism" was not in common use in 1967.
of Mosley; Why I left Mosley (1938), which broke from his earlier work; The Tragedy of Anti-Semitism
(1948) in which he distanced himself from this form of prejudice; and The New Unhappy Lords, a diatribe against international finance.
with his wife, Doris. He died on 16 August 1973.
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(1896 – 16 August 1973) was a far right-wing politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who helped found right-wing organisations in Britain, primarily in opposition to the break-up of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, and later adopting a broader anti-immigration stance. His cousin, the author G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
, was a critic of what he called "the solemn fools of Teutonism".
Early life
Born in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, A. K. Chesterton was taken with his family to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
as a boy and did not return to England until the late 1920s. In 1915, he joined the British Army and was sent to East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, where he almost died of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
. After officer training, he was on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
in 1917 with the Durban Light Infantry
Durban Light Infantry
The Durban Light Infantry Regiment is a Mechanised infantry regiment of the South African Army. As a reserve unit, it has a status roughly equivalent to that of a British Territorial Army unit or United States Army Reserve Unit unit.-Formation and Name:...
. He was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
. His war experience was crucial to his repudiation of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. The war also left Chesterton broken in health and an alcoholic.
After the war, he was a journalist for the Johannesburg Star. He secured a job with the Stratford-on-Avon Herald back in England, where, as theatre critic from 1925 to 1929, he cultivated his aesthetic sense of societal decadence and cultural decline.
For the next four years, according to Chesterton's biographer, David Baker:
"he tilted at windmills and sharpened his skills as a controversialist while the Great DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
deepened and the bankruptcy of liberal and capitalist democracy became apparent. The corporate state, he came to believe, would rule in the interests of the whole nation, whereas democracy was the plaything of special interests and privilege."
Politics
Moving to London and marrying a FabianFabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
socialist and pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, Chesterton lived near the headquarters of Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
's British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
. He took to dropping by for conversation and argument, and by late 1933 he had joined the movement. He became the director of publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
and propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and chief organiser for the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
.
In 1936, alcoholism and overwork led to a nervous breakdown. He consulted a German neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
and during 1936 to 1937 lived in Germany. After returning to Britain he was appointed editor of the Blackshirt, the official BUF newspaper. This position provided a pulpit for his increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
He left the BUF in 1938, disillusioned, but continued to be active in far-right politics by joining the Nordic League
Nordic League
The Nordic League was a far right organisation in the United Kingdom from 1935 to 1939 that sought to serve as a co-ordinating body for the various extremist movements whilst also seeking to promote Nazism...
and serving as editor of Lord Lymington's right-wing journal, the New Pioneer.
In 1939, Chesterton re-enlisted in the British Army after the outbreak of war. He served in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, but returned to Britain in 1944 due to poor health, and launched the short-lived National Front after Victory Group, a coalition that included the British Peoples Party. He became deputy editor of the publication Truth
Truth (British periodical)
Truth was a British periodical publication founded by the diplomat and Liberal politician Henry Labouchère after he left a virtual rival publication The World. Truth was noted for its exposures of many kinds of frauds, and was at the centre of several civil lawsuits...
.
He lived again in Africa for a short time, but soon returned to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where he established the League of Empire Loyalists
League of Empire Loyalists
The League of Empire Loyalists was a British pressure group , established in 1954, which campaigned against the dissolution of the British Empire. The League was a small group of current or former members of the Conservative Party led by Arthur K...
in 1954. The League was a pressure group against the increasing dissolution of the British Empire, and was known at the time for stunts at Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
meetings and conferences. These included hiding underneath the platform overnight to emerge during the conference to put across points. The League had support from some Conservative Party members, but they were disliked by the leadership.
About this time, Chesterton was appointed by Lord Beaverbrook as a literary adviser, contributing to the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
and the Sunday Express. He also wrote Beaverbrook's autobiography, Don't Trust to Luck.
Chesterton founded and edited the magazine Candour
Candour
Candour is a British far right-wing magazine founded and edited by A.K. Chesterton until his death in 1973.It was founded in 1953 as the successor to Truth newspaper of which he had been deputy editor...
, which he issued for the rest of his life, and which is still published today.
Chesterton co-founded the National Front. Chesterton was leader for a short time, although he tried to keep the party free from national socialists
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
. Upon stepping down the first of several long, inter-factional disputes took place within the NF which frequently affected its policies in ways of which Chesterton did not approve. Today, the NF describes itself as a "white nationalist organisation founded in 1967 in opposition to multi-racialism and immigration", although the term "multi-racialism" was not in common use in 1967.
Writings
Amongst Chesterton's works are Portrait of a Leader (1937), a hagiographyHagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
of Mosley; Why I left Mosley (1938), which broke from his earlier work; The Tragedy of Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
(1948) in which he distanced himself from this form of prejudice; and The New Unhappy Lords, a diatribe against international finance.
Later life and death
The last 30 years of Chesterton's life were spent in a modest flat in South CroydonSouth Croydon
South Croydon is a locality in Greater London, the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon about 1 km in radius, centred on the Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is part of the South Croydon post town and in the London Borough of Croydon...
with his wife, Doris. He died on 16 August 1973.
External links
- Amok-Run of the Sexologist Chapter 6 of A. K. Chesterton's, Facing the Abyss.
- Candour & A.K. Chesterton Trust Website
- The New Unhappy Lords - A.K. Chesterton's book online at the Internet Archive