Arthur Seldon
| Arthur Seldon | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Abraham Margolis |
| Born |
May 29, 1916 Mrs Levy's Maternity Home, nr Aldgate, London |
| Died | 11 October 2005 (aged 89) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Marjory |
| Institution | Institute of Economic Affairs |
| Field | Economics |
| School or tradition |
London School of Economics |
| Alma mater | LSE |
| Influences | Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedmann, Antony Fisher |
| Influenced | Margaret Thatcher, Sir Keith Joseph |
| Contributions | Hobart Papers, Occasional Papers |
| Awards | CBE |
Arthur Seldon CBE (29 May 1916 – 11 October 2005) was joint founder president, with Ralph Harris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he directed editorial affairs and publishing for more than thirty years.
Arthur Seldon was born Abraham Margolis in the East End of London to Masha and Pinhas Margolis. They came to Britain from Kiev fleeing the anti-semitic pogroms in 1903 or 1904. Abraham was probably born at Mrs Levy's Maternity Home, Petticoat Lane, near Aldgate, London. Masha and Pinchas Margolis were married in Kiev; he was probably born at Perioslav, a village near Kiev. The family were very poor: Pinchas worked making caps at a Jewish immigrant's factory called Goldstein & Co, Commercial Road, Stepney and, they lived at 12 Marks Street, Aldgate. It was not until after they moved to 13 Beeford Street, Stepney that Abraham was actually born. His oldest brother Jack was born in 1906, and a sister Bess in 1910; brothers Susman and Solly Margolis changed their names to Cecil Margolis and Sidney Margolis respectively; only Abraham changed his whole name. His mother Masha had two brothers Ben and Morris Kopelolt who had also come to London as refugees. When his parents both died in the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, his uncles families took the boys in, and then sent them away to school. Abraham was put up for adoption by a cobbler, Pinchas Slaberdain, and his wife Eva at 154 Oxford Street, Commercial Road, Stepney. Arthur Seldon never forgot where he came from, and the intense poverty that had shaped his family's arrival in this country. But rather than turning for help to socialism he worked hard, first at school, and then to get a tertiary education becoming self-reliant.
Aged only eight he remembered cheering on the Labour candidate for Stepney in the 1924 General election campaign. The website dedicated to the most influential liberal thinker in post-war Britain, failed to explain how he could surmise 'marxist indoctrination' at such a tender age. He did however wonder how he managed the transition from state education to a top university. Abraham was educated at elementary school Sir Henry Raine's Grammar school. There in 1928 he was impressed by History master E J Hayward's interpretation of cottage industry's transition to capitalism. A scholarship paid for the London School of Economics where he read Friedrich Hayek, Arnold Plant and Lionel Robbins served to deepen his interest in classical liberalism. Friedrich Hayek's Road to Serfdom introduced him to Austrian economics. Seldon helped found the small university's student Liberal Society. Nonetheless he retained anti-fascist principles as war drew nearer.
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