The Britons
 |
|
| Formation | 1919 |
|---|---|
| Type |
Nationalist Conservatism Anti-Jewish sentiment |
| Purpose | Political organisation and publishing instrument |
| Location | |
|
Key people
|
Henry Hamilton Beamish John Henry Clarke |
The Britons was an English anti-Semitic and anti-immigration organisation founded in July 1919 by Henry Hamilton Beamish. The organisation published pamphlets and propaganda under the imprint names of the Judaic Publishing Co., and subsequently the Britons Publishing Society. These entities engaged primarily in disseminating anti-Semitic literature and rhetoric in the United Kingdom, and bore hallmarks of the British fascist movement. Imprints under the label of the Judaic Publishing Co. exist for the years 1920, 1921, and 1922.
The scholar Sharman Kadish writes:
But the most extreme group disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda in the early 1920s - indeed the very first organisation set up in Britain for this express purpose - The Britons.
The group was founded in London in 1919 by Henry Hamilton Beamish, who had developed an antisemitic viewpoint when he spent time in South Africa. Beamish wrote The Britons' constitution and the group was launched at a meeting of 14 people chaired by John Henry Clarke. The group held monthly meetings in London and launched its own publishing imprint The Judaic Publishing Company Ltd which was to be the source of much anti-Semitic and conspiratorial literature. Beamish became involved with the Silver Badge Party, although by 1919 he had left Britain altogether after losing a libel case brought by Sir Alfred Mond and thereafter became a 'travelling salesman for anti-Semitism'.
Despite the disappearance of Beamish, the Britons continued under John Henry Clarke, a homeopath who served as Chairman and Vice-President (with the Southern Rhodesia-based Beamish continuing as President) from the formation of the group until his death in 1931. Clarke helped the party to work with the right wing of the Conservative Party, and the Britons attracted such members as Arthur Kitson and Brigadier-General R.B.D. Blakeney.
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