Action Replay. An Authobiography.

Jeffrey Hamm

Published by Howard Baker, London, 1983

About this Item

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY HAMM. 247 pages. Ex Libris. Edward Jeffrey Hamm (15 September 1915 - 4 May 1992) was a leading British supporter of Oswald Mosley. Although a minor figure in Mosley's prewar British Union of Fascists, Hamm became a leading figure after the Second World War and eventually succeeded as leader of the Union Movement after Mosley's retirement Early life Hamm was born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, it has been claimed that he first became attracted to the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1934 on a trip to London, when 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, where he was arrested in 1940 under Defence Regulation 18B after he had been accused of encouraging fascism to his pupils. He was transferred to Leeuwkop, South Africa, where he was involved in an attempt to tunnel out of the camp. The camp also contained some 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, he was identified as a disruptive influence and was taken off the front before his discharge in 1944. He found work at the Royal Coach Works in Acton after his discharge, and he subsequently was a bookkeeper at a milliner shop. Around then, Hamm converted to the Roman Catholic Church. Hamm joined and then took over the British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women, which claimed to look after veterans' interests and converted it to a movement designed to keep Mosley's ideas current, Hamm organized a series of meetings in Hyde Park from November 1944 onwards and later moved them to the traditional BUF areas of East London. Hamm's League rallies eventually began to attract thousands, which convinced him that a proper political return was a distinct possibility. Hamm's increasing profile did not go unnoticed by both supporters and opponents, and in 1946, he and his ally, Victor Burgess, suffered a severe beating from antifascists. (A similar incident in Brighton in 1948 resulted in Hamm spending time in hospital). The ideas and warnings of Mosley and Hamm are perhaps a sort of reality in today's UK. Ex Libris. Seller Inventory # 01213258

Bibliographic Details

Title: Action Replay. An Authobiography.

Publisher: Howard Baker, London

Publication Date: 1983

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Signed: Inscribed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition.