Edward Jeffrey Hamm, Papers of

Administrative and correspondence files of Edward Jeffrey Hamm, National Secretary of the Union Movement (or Action Party) and secretary within the Oswald Mosley Secretariat in London. The collection contains letters sent to Sir Oswald Mosley and carbon copies of his replies, administered by the Mosley Secretariat in London. The collection also contains correspondence of Jeffrey Hamm in his capacity as National Secretary of the Union Movement. The majority of the correspondence dates from the 1960s and 1970s.

Significant correspondents include: Constantine Fitzgibbon, author; Colin Wilson, author; A. K. Chesterton; Roy Strong; Lord Beaverbrook; Senator Barry Goldwater; Sir Arnold Lunn, editor of the 'Jewish Chronicle'; Cecil King; Marquess of Bath; Robert Boothby MP; Bill Allen, formerly of MI6; Earl of Warwick; Henry Williamson, author; Mervyn Stockwood, Bishop of Southwark; A. J. P. Taylor, historian; Jeremy Thorpe, MP; Hugh Ross Williamson; the editors of several national newspapers; Union Movement members and supporters including Ronald Creasy and John W. Charnley; Robert Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley's biographer.

The correspondence sheds light on the policies and organisation of the Union Movement as a political party, including the Union Movement's attitude to other political organisations such as 'The National Front' and 'The League of St. George', cooperation with political parties in Europe with the aim of advancing Oswald Mosley's policy of 'Europe a Nation' and methods of publicity for the Movement. Jeffrey Hamm's own views are represented, particularly his views on 'The National Front' and on Catholicism and how this could be aligned with Union Movement policies. The collection includes correspondence relating to politics in South Africa and Rhodesia and Oswald Mosley's post-war political ideologies. The collection also includes information concerning Oswald Mosley's relationship with the British national press during this period.

Jeffrey Hamm (1915-c1992) was a life-long supporter of Sir Oswald Mosley and a British Nationalist activist. He joined the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1935 and in 1938 took part in marches in London and attended the Earls Court meeting on 16 July 1939 at which Mosley called for peace. He was briefly detained by the authorities under the Defence Regulations 18B in 1941, but was released and registered for military service. He was discharged in 1944 and, with other ex-BUF members, formed the British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women which, in addition to campaigning for the welfare of former members of the armed services, also sought to support Oswald Mosley. At a meeting in November 1947, held at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, representatives of 51 organisations including the League met to appeal for Mosley to return to politics and to form a new organisation. Jeffrey Hamm spoke at this meeting and offered to merge the League into a new movement under Mosley's leadership. This new party, formed in 1948 was known as 'Union Movement'. In 1949, Jeffrey Hamm became the local Union Movement officer for Manchester. He subsequently returned to London and helped Mosley campaign in the 1959 North Kensington by-election. Hamm assisted Mosley with the production of his memoirs (published in 1968 under the title 'My Life') and stood as Union Movement candidate for Handsworth, Birmingham in the 1966 election. Mosley retired from active leadership of the Union Movement in 1966, but under the direction of Jeffrey Hamm, the party continued, changing its name to 'Action Party' in 1973 and later to 'Action Society'. He published his autobiography 'Action replay' in 1983 (London: Howard Baker) and 'The evil good men do: a study in decline' (London: Sanctuary Press, 1988). The Union Movement finally dissolved in 1994, following the death of Jeffrey Hamm.

Reference: Website produced on behalf of the Friends of Oswald Mosley http://www.oswaldmosley.com/people/hamm.html, accessed January 2003.

The collection is arranged as one sequence of alphabetical correspondence and administrative files.

The majority of this collection is open to all registered researchers. The collection contains personal information of some living individuals. Access and use of this information is covered by our 'Access to Archives and Manuscripts' declaration in order to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. Where records relating to living individuals are of a sensitive nature, further access restrictions have been applied to the records, either in the form of a closure period or by the creation of serving copies of documents with personal data removed. Where a closure period has been applied, small sections of the collection will not be generally available to researchers until the closure period has expired. More details of closure periods applied can be found in file descriptions. Please see the full catalogue for further details.

Please see the full catalogue for further details.

Catalogued by A. Skitt. Catalogue completed February 2012. Prepared in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk ). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Weeded for duplicates.

Dictation and typing of letters was undertaken for Oswald Mosley, while he was living in France, by Jeffrey Hamm of the Mosley Secretariat in London. On Hamm's death [c 1992], these papers passed in to the possession of John Warburton who was responsible for tidying up his affairs. They have been presented by John Warburton, with the permission of Lady Diana Mosley, through the offices of Jeffrey Walder.

No accruals are expected.

Other collections held at Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections include OMN (Oswald Mosley Papers: Nicholas Mosley deposit); OMD (Oswald Mosley Papers: Diana Mosley deposit); MS196 (Publications of post-war British Fascist movements); and MS784 (Newspapers 'Action', 'The Blackshirt' and 'Fascist Week').