Lionel Erskine Nimmo Britton (4 November 1887 – 9 January 1971) was a British working-class author.

Biography

Lionel Britton was born at

Astwood Bank Astwood Bank is a district within Redditch. Astwood Bank is near the Warwickshire - Worcestershire border, near villages such as Studley, Sambourne, Callow Hill, Feckenham, and Cookhill. Astwood Bank is noted for its successful cricket tea ...

, on the borders of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

. His father was a solicitor in the village, although the practice collapsed the year after Lionel's birth. Following the death of his father six years later, Lionel and his siblings went to live with their grandparents in

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

. Britton claimed that the National school he briefly attended in Redditch called him 'too advanced', so he educated himself for a while at his grandfather's house in Hewell Road, before escaping from the family. After existing in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

for a week on just a loaf of bread, he left for London, where his first job was as an errand-boy in a

greengrocer A greengrocer is a person who owns or operates a shop selling primarily fruit and vegetables. The term may also be used to refer to a shop selling primarily produce. It is used predominantly in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United ...

's shop, and later in an educational bookshop connected with the University Tutorial College, where one of his

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

heroes,

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Farringdon Road Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...

and around the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, and that his finishing school was

Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Historically there were a number of other areas desig ...

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is toda ...

in Hyde Park. A conscientious objector during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Britton was imprisoned for a year, and, according to some autobiographical notes by his friend Erik Warman, 'he was a difficult prisoner and refused to do any work or take any exercise'. Britton nevertheless managed to find work after his imprisonment, for about six years with the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, the final two as Assistant General Secretary. At the time, Britton had been working on ''Hunger and Love'', the only novel of his ever published, for some years. It is a huge digressive book about the

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

life and grinding poverty of a

teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

bookshop assistant;

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

was so impressed with the novel that he wrote a five-page Introduction to it. By the time the novel came out in 1931, Britton had already made the headlines with his first published play, ''Brain'', which received such considerable attention because of

Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's generally favourable comments about it. As early as 1917, Britton had started to learn Russian, and even applied a little later for

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

of that country, although his application was disallowed for reasons unknown. He had another play published – ''Spacetime Inn'' (1932) – but waited until his third play, ''Animal Ideas'', was published very shortly before his long projected visit to Russia in 1935. He stayed there at the expense of the International Union of Revolutionary Writers, but the visit was a great disappointment for him: he hated the queues, what he considered to be the ignorance of the Russian people, and the fact that they would not answer his questions or allow him to walk around freely. Above all, perhaps, he thought that his belief in

co-operation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

as opposed to competition was not being carried out in Russia: he believed that the shortages of almost everything were caused by the government funnelling money into

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

. He stayed for three months, and then took the boat back. For several months, Britton remained incommunicado. He had awoken from his

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...

dream of Russia to find an only too real nightmare both abroad and at home. Putnam, having made only a modest profit from ''Hunger and Love'' and losses with ''Brain'' and ''Spacetime Inn'', had already refused to give more than a perfunctory promotion to ''Animal Ideas''. It bombed. He was facing ruin as a writer. Britton escaped to

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, a place with literary working-class associations: the town was the setting of

Robert Tressell Robert Noonan (17 April 1870 – 3 February 1911), born Robert Croker and best known by the pen name Robert Tressell, was an Irish writer best known for his novel ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists''. Tressell spent his entire early adult w ...

's ''

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'' (1914) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death f ...

'' (1914). There, Britton worked at Netherwood, a large, run-down property bought by the actor and playwright E. C. Vernon Symonds to convert into a left-wing haven for meetings, trade union conferences, or simply as a

guest house A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use ...

. Britton received free board and lodging in return for manual work. He hated almost everything about the house. Now demolished, the building is generally only remembered as the last resting place of

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

. He wrote more plays and one novel, philosophical works, and dramatised versions of novels by

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

, Trollope and J. Jefferson Farjeon. But apart from two translations of rather obscure Russian writers in the 1940s, nothing else of Britton's was published. On Britton's writing, his friend

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Uni ...

explains: 'He would not allow a single comma to be altered from his original text, so eventually quarrelled with his publishers who refused to publish the vast, lengthy works without some editing'.Anonymous, 'Forgotten Genius Ends his Days at

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

’,

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in an ...

Gazette, 29 January 1971 Britton spent his last three years as a virtual recluse in

and died in 1971 at the local hospital following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

aged 83. Marshall, then Professor and Director of Soviet and East European Studies (Performing Arts) at

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

, had all Britton's literary effects transported to the university, where they remain.

Bibliography

;Novel *''Hunger and Love'' (1931), with an Introduction by Bertrand Russell ;Plays *''Brain'' (1930) *''Spacetime Inn'' (1932) *''Animal Ideas'' (1935)

Secondary literature

''The Work of Lionel Britton''
(PhD, 2007) by Tony Shaw

References

External links

Lionel Britton Papers, 1885–1971
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Britton 1887 births 1971 deaths British socialists 20th-century British novelists British conscientious objectors Bertrand Russell People from Redditch British male novelists Proletarian literature