Jeffrey Hamm
Edward Jeffrey Hamm (15 September 1915 – 4 May 1994) was a leading British Fascist and supporter of Oswald Mosley.
Born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, he came into contact with the British Union of Fascists during a family trip to London and joined in 1935 when he relocated to London although initially, due to his youth, his role in the movement was a minor one. In 1939 he moved to the Falkland Islands to work as a teacher, and it was there that he was arrested in 1940 for his BUF membership under Defence Regulation 18B. Transferred to a camp in South Africa, he was released in 1941, and then was drafted into the Royal Armoured Corps where he served until his discharge in 1944.
Following his discharge, Hamm took over the 'British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women', which claimed to look after veterans interests, as well as keep Mosley's ideas current. Seeking to keep British fascism alive, Hamm organized a series of meetings in Hyde Park from November 1944 onwards, later moving them to the traditional BUF areas of east London. Hamm's League rallies eventually began to attract thousands, convincing him that a proper political return was a distinct possibility. He soon began calling on Mosley to return to the leadership of British fascism and incorporated his own British League into the Union Movement immediately upon its foundation in 1948. Hamm became a leading member of the new UM and stood as a candidate for them in the United Kingdom general election, 1966 in the Handsworth constituency (polling 4%). Based in Notting Hill, he organised the UM there, an area that was a significant base of UM operations.
In the later years of the UM, Hamm served as Mosley's personal secretary, and would go on to reluctantly agree to the changing of the UM name to Action Party, following the suggestion of some members, including Keith Thompson. However, soon afterward the name was changed back to Union Movement and Hamm remained the Secretary until his death from Parkinson's disease in 1994. He published his autobiography, Action Replay, in 1983, and then in 1988 - shortly after the birth of his Grandson - his second book, "The Evil Good Men Do".
The Papers of Jeffrey Hamm are housed at the University of Birmingham Special Collections.
Elections contested
| Date of election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 March 1962 | Middlesbrough East | UM | 550 | 1.7 |
| 1966 | Birmingham Handsworth | UM | 1337 | 4.1 |
External links
- 1915 births
- 1994 deaths
- People from Ebbw Vale
- British autobiographers
- British fascists
- British Army personnel of World War II
- British Army soldiers
- Deaths from Parkinson's disease
- Welsh politicians
- People detained under Defence Regulation 18B
- Far-right politics in the United Kingdom
- Immigrants to the Falkland Islands