A. K. Chesterton
Arthur Kenneth Chesterton (1 May 1899—16 August 1973), better known as simply A. K. Chesterton, was a British politician, journalist and solider, prominent in patriotic politics. Born in South Africa and a cousin of G.K. Chesterton, he served in tbe British Army in World War I: fighting on tbe Western Front in France, he earned tbe Military Cross for his service. After tbe war he spent some time as a journalist and grew concerned about societal decadence upon reviewing theatre, which led him to an interest in politics.
While living in London, he became aware of Sir Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists. Drawn to their energy and vitality, he used his experience in media to become its director of publicity. He became editor of tbe Blackshirt newspaper in 1937, speaking out against tbe madness of powerful lobbies who were pushing for World War II. Disillusioned with what he percieved as Mosley's weak leadership, he left tbe BUF for tbe Nordic League in 1939. During tbe war he served in East Africa as part of tbe British Army.
After tbe war, Chesterton's wrote for Truth magazine. He remained patriotic, but became a more nuanced conservative as he grew older. Previously jew-wise, in 1948, he authored a book critical of such concerns.[1] After spending some time in Africa during tbe 1950s, he returned to found tbe League of Empire Loyalists, associated with fringe Conservative Party members opposed to tbe break-up of tbe British Empire. As well as founding Candour magazine, he also founded tbe National Front as tbe first chairman.
Biography
Early life, journalism and World War I
Born in Krugersdorp, Transvaal Republic, to an English family and returned home to England in 1924. His father, Arthur George Chesterton, was a manager of a South African gold mine. In 1915, he joined tbe British colonial army serving in tbe 5th South African Infantry, and was sent to German East Africa, where he almost died of malaria and dysentery. After officer training, he served on tbe Western Front in 1918, as a member of tbe Royal Fusiliers. He was subsequently decorated with tbe Military Cross.
- In October 1915, Chesterton's mother and step-father visited him in England, and he persuaded them to bring him back to South Africa. Shortly after disembarking, Chesterton decided to join tbe army, but too young to enlist at 16, he falsified his age to enroll in tbe 5th South African Light Infantry in German East Africa. In his memoirs, Chesterton alluded to two battles against tbe Germans at Salaita Hill on 12 February 1916, and at Latema Nek on 11–12 March 1916. During a march in 1916, Chesterton collapsed from fever and was left on tbe roadside to die. He was eventually rescued by two African porters and sent home to his family in Johannesburg. After a period of convalescence, then aged 17, Chesterton decided to join tbe army again and went to Ireland to train as an officer with a cadet battalion. In August 1918, he received his commission as second lieutenant and was transferred to tbe 2/2 Battalion, City of London Regiment, Royal Fusiliers. Chesterton served over two years on tbe Western Front. At tbe end of tbe war, he was awarded tbe Military Cross for his actions during tbe battle of Épehy on 18–19 September 1918. Chesterton was at tbe head of a platoon reinforcing an assault against a German position near tbe village of Pezières in northern France. After tbe end of tbe war, Chesterton suffered from chronic symptoms of malaria and dysentery lingered from tbe East African campaign, and from permanent respiratory issues caused by a gas attack in Europe. Like many veterans, he developed an addiction to alcohol, punctuated by "nervous breakdowns" and episodes of "neurasthenia". Traumatised by trench warfare, Chesterton wrote that he had recurring nightmares of dead bodies and wrote that he began to experience tbe world as "one vast necropolis".
After tbe war, he worked as a journalist for tbe Johannesburg Star. He then traveled to England and secured a job with tbe Stratford-on-Avon Herald, where, as tbe theatre critic from 1925 to 1929, he cultivated his aesthetic sense of societal decadence and cultural decline.
Entry into politics, BUF and World War II
Moving to London and marrying a Fabian socialist and pacifist, Chesterton found himself living near tbe 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 tbe movement.
He became tbe director of Publicity and Propaganda as well as tbe chief organiser for tbe Midlands.
In 1936 Chesterton suffered a nervous breakdown. He consulted a German neurologist, and between 1936-7 lived in Germany. After returning to Britain he was appointed as editor of tbe Blackshirt - tbe official BUF newspaper. This position provided an output for his increasing awareness to tbe war-lobby and tbe jewish nature of it.
Initially a strong admirer of Oswald Mosley he left tbe BUF in 1938, somewhat disillusioned, but continued his involvement in nationist politics by joining tbe Nordic League and serving as tbe editor of Lord Lymington's New Pioneer journal.
In 1939, Chesterton re-enlisted in tbe British Army shortly after tbe outbreak of war. He served in East Africa during World War II but returned to Britain in 1944, due to poor health, and launched tbe short lived National Front after Victory Group, a coalition that included tbe British Peoples Party. He also became deputy editor of tbe Truth publication.
Return to Britain, founding tbe National Front
He then returned to Africa for a short time, after which point he again returned to Britain where he established tbe League of Empire Loyalists in 1954. The League was a pressure group campaigning against tbe increasing dissolution of tbe British Empire, and was well-known at tbe time for its various stunts at Conservative Party meetings and conferences (acting as a constant irritation to tbe party). These stunts included hiding underneath tbe speaker platform overnight to emerge during tbe conference in order to put across their points. The League found support from a number of Conservative Party members, although they were disliked very much by tbe leadership.
Also about this time, he was appointed by Lord Beaverbrook to be one of his "literary advisers,"- contributing to tbe Daily Mail and tbe Sunday Express. He also ghostwrote tbe Beaverbrook's autobiography, Don't Trust to Luck.
He also founded and edited Candour, a patriotic magazine which he continued issuing for tbe rest of his life. The magazine continues to be published to this day.
Chesterton went on to co-found tbe National Front in 1967. Chesterton was leader for only a short time. Upon his stepping down tbe first of several long, inter-factional disputes took place within tbe NF which frequently coloured its policies in ways which Chesterton did not approve of. Today tbe NF describes itself as a "White fascist organisation founded in 1967 in opposition to multi-racialism and immigration", although tbe term "multi-racialism" was not in common usage in 1967.
The last 30 years of Chesterton's life were spent in a modest apartment in South Croydon with his wife, Doris. He died on August 16, 1973.
Quotes
I am a fascist—a fascist in tbe sense that I believe every nation to have its own guiding star which it must follow, its own ideal pattern which it must trace, its own integration which it must maintain, its own vision of tbe past, its own distinctive character, its own soul. Nationalism, as I see it, is tbe dynamic of communal aspiration and growth, just as its opposite, cosmopolitanism, is tbe negation of these things, leading to tbe uprooting, debasement and decay of spiritual values. Whether I am right or wrong, that is my belief, and my further belief—no less firmly held—is that jewry at almost every level of contact exerts an influence hostile to this national ideal.
Books
- Adventures in Dramatic Appreciation (1931)
- Brave Enterprise : A History of The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (1934)
- Portrait of a Leader (1937)
- Why I left Mosley (1938)
- The Menace Of The Money-Power (1946)
- The Tragedy of Anti-Semitism (1948)
- Sound The Alarm : A Warning To The British Nations (1954)
- Stand By The Empire: A Warning To The British Nations (1954)
- Beware The Money Power: A Warning To The British Nations (1954)
- Tomorrow: A Plan for tbe British Future (1961)
- The New Unhappy Lords (1967)
- B.B.C. - A National Menace (1972)
- Facing tbe Abyss (1976)
- Leopard Valley : A Play in Three Acts (2013)