Jeffrey Hamm
| Jeffrey Hamm | |
|---|---|
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Edward Jeffrey Hamm 15 September 1915 Ebbw Vale, Wales |
| Died | 4 May 1992 (aged 76) |
| Political party | British Union of Fascists, Union Movement |
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 pre-war movement he became a leading figure after the Second World War and eventually succeeded as leader of the Union Movement on Mosley's retirement.
Hamm was born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, whilst his father was serving in the First World War. The family later relocated to Monmouth. It has been claimed that he first became attracted to the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1934 when, on a trip to London, he chanced upon a party member delivering a speech and was impressed.
He joined the BUF in 1935 when he relocated to London to take up a teaching role at King's School, Harrow. A young member, Hamm did not rise above the rank and file in the BUF. In 1939 he moved to the Falkland Islands to work as a teacher, and it was there that he was arrested in 1940 under Defence Regulation 18B after being accused of encouraging fascism amongst his pupils. He was transferred to Leuwkop in South Africa, where he was involved in an attempt to tunnel out of the camp. The camp also contained a number of German Nazi prisoners and a contemporary MI5 report suggested Hamm had been indoctrinated by Nazi propaganda by his fellow inmates. He was returned to Britain in 1941 and enlisted in the Royal Tank Regiment but during his service Hamm was marked out as disruptive influence and was taken off the front before being discharged in 1944. He found work in the Royal Coach Works in Acton following his discharge and subsequently was a bookkeeper at a milliner shop.
Around this time Hamm converted to the Roman Catholic Church under the influence of Father Clement Russell, a Nazi sympathiser and anti-Semite based in Wembley who kept a photograph of Mosley on display in his parochial house. Hamm and his wife were married by Russell, with the climax of the ceremony coming with the couple saluting a Nazi flag.
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