Mark Anthony Bracegirdle
Encyclopedia
- This article refers to the political activist. For the Rear Admiral see Leighton Seymour BracegirdleLeighton Seymour BracegirdleRear Admiral Sir Leighton Seymour Bracegirdle KCVO, CMG, DSO was an Australian military commander and an Official Secretary to four Australian governors-general: Sir Isaac Isaacs, Lord Gowrie, the Duke of Gloucester, and William McKell.-Early life:He was born in Balmain, Sydney, on 31 May 1881. In...
. For the fictional family of HobbitHobbitHobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
s see Bracegirdle.
Mark Anthony Lyster Bracegirdle (born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 10 September, 1912, died 22 June 1999), was an Anglo
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the terms Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American, Anglo-Celtic, Anglo-African and Anglo-Indian. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and...
-Australian Marxist revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
, who played a key role in Sri Lanka's
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
independence struggle. He was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka
European Radicals in Sri Lanka
The European Radicals in Sri Lanka were Europeans who went against the colonial system prevailing in Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then known. Their contribution was far greater than their numbers would appear to merit, mainly because of their defiance of the white-supremacist attitude that pervaded...
. The Bracegirdle Incident revolved around him.
Early life
Bracegirdle was born in ChelseaChelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
, to Ina Marjorie Lyster and James Seymour Bracegirdle, and was educated in Kennington. He emigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with his mother, a suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
who had been active in the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and a candidate in 1925 for the Holborn borough
Metropolitan Borough of Holborn
The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965, when it was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras and the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead to form the London Borough of Camden....
. He studied art at a Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
art school and trained as a farmer in the outback
Outback
The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
. In about 1935 he joined the Australian Young Communist League
Young Communist League
The Young Communist League was or is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX was generally taken by all sections of the Communist Youth International.Examples of YCLs:...
(YCL).
In Lanka
In 1936 he sailed on the SS Bendigo for Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known). He began 'creeping' (i.e., learning the trade of tea-planting) on Relugas estate in Madulkelle near MataleMatale
Matale is a town in the hill country of Sri Lanka, from Colombo and from Kandy. It is an area steeped in history and village living. The mayor of Matale is Hilmy Careem, as of May, 2006....
. Bracegirdle was working among the Tamil plantation labourers ('coolies'), who were treated inhumanely, receiving very little health care, even less education and living in 'line rooms' which were worse than cattle sheds in England. Militancy among these workers was increasing. He was dismissed for fraternising with the workers and for taking their side in labour disputes. He joined the Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
(LSSP).
On 28 November 1936, at a meeting in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, the president of the party, Dr Colvin R. de Silva
Colvin R. de Silva
Colvin R. de Silva was a former Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs, prominent member of parliament, Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party – the first Marxist party in Sri Lanka.-Personal...
, introduced him, saying: 'This is the first time a white comrade has ever attended a party meeting held at a street corner.' He made his first public speech in Sri Lanka, warning that the capitalists were trying to split the workers of Sri Lanka and put one against the other.
He took an active part in organising a public meeting on Galle Face Green
Galle Face Green
The Galle Face is a promenade which stretches for half kilometre along the coast in the heart of financial and business district of Colombo, Sri Lanka...
in Colombo on 10 January 1937 to celebrate Sir Herbert Dowbiggin
Herbert Dowbiggin
Sir Herbert Layard Dowbiggin, C.M.G. was the British colonial Inspector General of Police of British Ceylon from 1913 to 1937, the longest tenure of office of an Inspector General of Police . He was called the 'Father of Colonial Police'.-Antecedents:Dowbiggin was the sixth child of Rev....
's departure from the island. It was called by the LSSP to protest against the atrocities claimed to have been committed during Dowbiggin's long tenure as Inspector General of Police, particularly during the 1915 riots. In March, he was co-opted to serve on the executive committee.
He was employed by K. Natesa Iyer
K. Natesa Iyer
Kothandarama Natesa Iyer or S. K. Natesa Iyer was a Sri Lankan journalist, trade union leader and politician of Indian Tamil origin, had pioneered the labour movement in the plantations in the early 1930s.-Early life:...
, Member of the State Council
State Council of Ceylon
The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon , established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time...
for the Hatton
Hatton, Sri Lanka
Hatton , is a small town in Nuwara Eliya District of Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is known for its Ceylon tea plantations and industry. Hatton, which is locally administered by Hatton-Dickoya Urban Council, had 14,255 in population according to the census carried out in 2001. The town is...
constituency, to 'organise an Estate Labour Federation in Nawalapitiya
Nawalapitiya
Nawalapitiya is a town in the country of Sri Lanka. It is in the Kandy administrative district, 38 kilometers away from Kandy. The town is near Mahaweli Ganga. Nawalapitiya is a one of the well planned towns of SriLanka.It is well connected to all nearby important places by Bus...
or Hatton, with an idea that he may be a proper candidate to be the future Secretary of the Labour Federation.' (Lerski, Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/srilanka/ch03.htm)
The Bracegirdle Incident
On 3 April 1937, at a meeting at NawalapitiyaNawalapitiya
Nawalapitiya is a town in the country of Sri Lanka. It is in the Kandy administrative district, 38 kilometers away from Kandy. The town is near Mahaweli Ganga. Nawalapitiya is a one of the well planned towns of SriLanka.It is well connected to all nearby important places by Bus...
attended by two thousand estate workers, at which Mrs Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya of the Indian Congress Socialist Party
Congress Socialist Party
The Congress Socialist Party was founded in 1934 as a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. Its members rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Mohandas Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of the Communist Party of India towards the Congress Party...
spoke, Dr N.M. Perera said: 'Comrades, I have an announcement to make. You know we have a white comrade (applause) .... He has generously consented to address you. I call upon Comrade Bracegirdle to address you.' Bracegirdle rose to speak amid tumultuous applause and shouts of Samy, Samy ('Lord, Lord' in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
).
The authorities were on hand to note his speech:
'the most noteworthy feature of this meeting ... was the presence of Bracegirdle and his attack on the planters. He claimed unrivalled knowledge of the misdeeds of the planters and promised scandalous exposures. His delivery, facial appearance, his posture were all very threatening ... Every sentence was punctuated with cries of samy, samy from the labourers. Labourers were heard to remark that Mr Bracegirdle has correctly said that they should not allow planters to break labour laws and they must in future not take things lying down.'http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/otherdox/Whatnext/Bracegir.html
The British planters were angry that their prestige was being harmed by a fellow white man. They prevailed upon the British Colonial Governor Sir Reginald Stubbs to deport him. Bracegirdle was served with the order of deportation on 22 April and given 48 hours to leave on the SS Mooltan, on which a passage had been booked for him by the Government.
The LSSP with Bracegirdle's assent decided that the order should be defied. Bracegirdle went into hiding and the Colonial Government began an unsuccessful man-hunt. The LSSP started a campaign to defend him. At that year's May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
rally at Price Park, placards declaring 'We want Bracegirdle – Deport Stubbs' were displayed, and a resolution was passed condemning Stubbs, demanding his removal and the withdrawal of the deportation order.
On 5 May, in the State Council, NM Perera and Philip Gunawardena
Philip Gunawardena
Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena introduced Trotskyism to Sri Lanka, where he is a national hero, known as 'the Father of Socialism' and as 'the Lion of Boralugoda'.-Early life & education:...
moved a vote of censure on the Governor for having ordered the deportation of Bracegirdle without the advice of the acting Home Minister. Even the Board of Ministers had started feeling the heat of public opinion and the vote was passed by 34 votes to 7.
On the same day there was a 50,000-strong rally at Galle Face Green
Galle Face Green
The Galle Face is a promenade which stretches for half kilometre along the coast in the heart of financial and business district of Colombo, Sri Lanka...
, which was presided over by Colvin R de Silva and addressed by Dr N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena, Leslie Goonewardena, A.E.Goonesinha, George E. de Silva, D.M. Rajapakse, Siripala Samarakkody, Vernon Gunasekera, Handy Perimbanayagam, Mrs Satyawagiswara Iyer and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
. Bracegirdle made a dramatic appearance on the platform at this rally, but the police were powerless to arrest him.
However, the police managed to arrest him a couple of days later at the Hulftsdorp residence of Vernon Gunasekera, the Secretary of the LSSP. However, the necessary legal preparations had been made. A writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
of Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
was served and the case was called before a bench of three Supreme Court judges presided over by Chief Justice Sir Sidney Abrahams
Sidney Abrahams
Sir Sidney Solomon Abrahams , nicknamed Solly, was a British Olympic athlete and Chief Justice of Ceylon . He was the older brother of famed Olympian Harold Abrahams....
. The brilliant H.V. Perera, the county's leading civil lawyer, volunteered his services free on behalf of Bracegirdle; he was made a Queens Counsel (QC) on the day that Bracegirdle appeared in court. On May 18th order was made that he could not be deported for exercising his right to free speech, and Bracegirdle was a free man.
That summer he returned to England. He was seen off at the jetty by Dr N.M. Perera, Mrs Selina Perera, Vernon Gunasekera and Udakandawala Saranankara Thero
Thero
Thero is an honorific term for fully ordained Buddhist monks in the Buddhist monastic order. The term Theri is used fully ordained Buddhist nuns. The terms are derived from Pāli language and translate as 'elder and venerable'. These terms are used at the end of a monk or nun's other names...
.
Later life
In 1939, he married Mary Elizabeth Vinden. He became a conscientious objectorConscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war he qualified as an engineer and settled in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. He joined the Aldermaston marches
Aldermaston Marches
The Aldermaston marches were protest demonstrations organised by the British anti-war Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1950s and 1960s. They took place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of...
organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
. He became a committed member of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
In the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
** he worked as a transport manager for the Flying Doctors
Flying Doctors
Flying Doctors may refer to:* Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia* Los Médicos Voladores, the flying doctors* Flying Doctors of America* Flying Doctors of Malaysia* The Flying Doctors of East Africa, a 1969 film...
service in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. Towards the end of his working life, he lectured in engineering at North London Polytechnic
University of North London
The University of North London was a university in the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2002. On 1 August 2002, it merged with London Guildhall University to form London Metropolitan University. The former University of North London premises now form the new university's north campus, situated on...
.
On retirement, he studied archaeology and worked voluntarily for the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. His interests included the history of Chinese scripts, the theories of Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, Leninism
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
and Marxism, Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
glass, ornithology
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
, farming, art and design.
He left three daughters, a son and five grandchildren.
-
- I met Mark Bracegirdle in 1967, when I rented his house in Cornwall for three years. We became good friends, and it was at that time that he told me about his past work with the Flying Doctor service in Africa. We stayed in touch throughout the next 14 years, and I am certain that he did not return to Africa during that period. Therefore, his service in Africa had to have been in the 1960s, or earlier. • Jack Barker - Princeton, NJ