Anna Mendelssohn (born Anna Mendleson,
[Her name is frequently given as Anna Mendelson.] 1948 – 15 November 2009), who wrote under the name Grace Lake, was a British writer, poet and political activist. She came from a left-wing political family, was inspired by the Paris
student risings in May 1968, and became a political radical in Britain.
Mendelsohn was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions as part of
The Angry Brigade, a ruling she insisted was unjust. After her release she raised a family, resumed her education and devoted her life to art and to poetry. She grew somewhat isolated from the rest of society, but her friends saw to it that some of her work was published.
School
Mendleson was the daughter of Maurice Mendleson, a market trader from
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
in Cheshire.
[Steve Crowther, "Breaking of Anna the Bomber", ''Daily Mirror'', 15 February 1977, p. 5.] According to Peter Riley, writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', her father was from a "working class
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish" background,
fought on the Republican side in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
,
and was a
Labour councillor in Stockport;
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 36.] the Mendleson family was later described by
Des Wilson as "politically radical". Mendleson was educated at
Stockport High School for Girls, where she became
Head Girl.
She was reported to have been a "brilliant and unruly pupil".
In addition Mendleson fostered her artistic ability through attending the New Era Academy of Drama and Music from 1957 to 1967, and performed at several Northern Music Festivals.
["Vanishing points: new modernist poems" (ed. John Kinsella, Rod Mengham), Salt Publishing, 2004, p. 302.]
Dropping out of university
In September 1967, Mendleson went up to the
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
to read English Literature and American History.
In May 1968, she went to Paris, to join in the
student political rising; what she saw had a great effect on her political thinking.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 30.] In 1969 she dropped out of her university course rather than continue into her final year, but remained living in
Wivenhoe
Wivenhoe ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Colchester, Colchester district, in north-eastern Essex, England, approximately south-east of Colchester. Historically Wivenhoe village, on the banks of the Riv ...
around the university for several months. In early 1970 she was living in York Way in the
King's Cross area of London, and was a close friend of a group including some university friends who were living a semi-communal life in
Stamford Hill; among them was Hilary Creek.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 48.] Mendleson and Creek were supporting a group which had
squatted empty flats in
Arbour Square in Stepney.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 50.] She became a friend of Jim Greenfield after meeting him on leaving a political meeting.
Wanted by police
On 27 February 1971, Mendleson and Greenfield visited Liverpool to discuss founding a new radical libertarian newspaper; after leaving the meeting they and three others drove to Greenfield's nearby home town of Widnes to go to a
pub. The police were called by someone who thought the group looked suspicious and when Greenfield had no documents for their hire car, all five were arrested. Police searches discovered
cannabis and a stolen Essex University
cheque book; the five gave false names and were bailed to report to Colchester Police Station. The newspaper eventually appeared under the name ''Strike''; for it Mendleson wrote an article on "Judges and the Law".
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 93-4.] After the arrests the police linked the case to other stolen cheque books and, on 11 June 1971, Mendleson was one of six people to be charged with conspiracy to defraud. However she had jumped bail and her picture was printed in the ''Police Gazette'' as a wanted person.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 106.] People arrested in a
police raid
A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law enforcement officers, which aims to use the element of surprise to seize Evidence (law), evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to Tampering with evidence, hide evidence, res ...
in Wivenhoe in April 1971 were shown pictures of Mendleson and asked if they recognised her.
["Conspiracy Notes 4", Stoke Newington Eight Defence Group, London, 1972, p. 8.]
Amhurst Road
Needing a base to produce ''Strike'', the group decided to rent a flat in London. On 2 July 1971, John Barker and Hilary Creek posing as a married couple, and Mendleson using the name 'Nancy Pye', rented the top floor flat at 359 Amhurst Road in
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...
.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 108.] One of Mendleson's main concerns was that the group should continue to support the defence of Jake Prescott and Ian Purdie, who were charged with carrying out two bombings for
The Angry Brigade anarchist group.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 110-1.] The duplicating equipment at Amhurst Road was used to produce Angry Brigade Communiqué No. 11 published on 31 July 1971, and Mendleson drafted the Angry Brigade Moonlighter's Cell Communiqué which followed it.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 114-7.]
Police raid
With regular police raids on people known to be supportive of the Angry Brigade and with Mendleson a wanted person (although for cheque fraud only), the police were interested in finding any addresses where she might be found. Mendleson was keeping in regular touch with her family in Stockport and a police informer there passed the Amhurst Road address to police on 18 August 1971.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 121-2.] An observation was set up and when Jim Greenfield was seen leaving the flat, a search warrant was obtained. At 16:15 on 20 August the police entered the flat and arrested Mendleson, Creek, Barker and Greenfield. Mendleson again gave her name as Nancy Pye.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 122-3.] The police reported that their searches of 359 Amhurst Road discovered not only duplicating equipment on which Angry Brigade publications had been produced, but a stick of
gelignite, two
submachine gun
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...
s, a
Browning pistol and 81 rounds of ammunition. Mendleson was remanded in custody at
Holloway Prison and was eventually charged with possession of the armaments and conspiracy to cause explosions. Mendleson's fingerprints were found on a copy of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine used to wrap a bomb planted at the Italian consulate in Manchester, and she was also charged with attempting to cause this explosion.
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 143-5.]
Stoke Newington Eight trial
Mendleson found prison life extremely stressful and at the committal hearing complained that five months in Holloway had caused "isolation and repression, both physical and mental".
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 148.] The resulting trial of eight defendants at the
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
became the longest criminal trial at that point in English legal history,
Mendleson was one of three defendants to represent themselves; the "Stoke Newington Eight Defence Group" argued that this was the right decision as they had challenged prosecution witnesses and exposed several as liars.
["Conspiracy Notes 4", Stoke Newington Eight Defence Group, London, 1972, p. 15.] However her health suffered and she was ill throughout much of the trial; on occasion she was too ill to take part at all and the trial had to be halted.
[On 13 June 1972 a doctor's note said that Mendleson needed to stay in bed for 48 hours; the trial was adjourned until she was better. ] She was granted bail during a four-week summer adjournment of the trial, spending the time in Wales.
Defence speech
The most important part of the trial for Mendleson was her final speech in her own defence, which took a day and a half of court time. She urged the jury to understand her political work and lifestyle, which would help them see why the police should have planted guns and explosives on her. She noted that at the time of the Manchester bombing she had been living in Wivenhoe where doors were left open and people borrowed each other's magazines, and she had been able to produce unchallenged
alibi witnesses to the fact that she was in Wivenhoe when the bomb was planted. Although she knew others in the case, she asserted that there was no evidence of any plots or conspiracies. Mendleson said that she understood the feelings behind those who would make bomb attacks on cabinet ministers but doing so "isn't going to get rid of the capitalist system, because there is always somebody to step into his place unless the situation and conditions are right". In conclusion she stressed that those in dock "are working together for a happier and more peaceful world".
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 193-5.]
Notwithstanding her oratory, Mendleson was convicted by a 10–2 majority of conspiracy to cause explosions. She was also found guilty of the possession charges, but not guilty of attempting to cause an explosion in Manchester. The jury foreman asked for "leniency or clemency" for the defendants, which the Judge took into account by reducing the overall sentence by five years. Mendleson was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. While being taken down to the cells she called out "I would like to say thank you to the two members of the jury who had faith in us".
[Carr, "The Angry Brigade", p. 203-5.] Along with others convicted in the trial, Mendleson appealed against both verdict and sentence, being represented by
Michael Mansfield. The appeals failed.
Parole
Mendleson was quietly released on parole in November 1976, just four years after the end of the trial. The news was not disclosed by the
Home Office
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
until 13 February 1977,
causing a storm of press coverage which one reporter described as "scandalous and distasteful".
The issue was raised in Parliament with
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
,
Merlyn Rees, saying that Mendleson was no longer a danger to society;
William Whitelaw criticised the decision and asserted that protection of the public and police morale came first.
Mendleson moved to Cambridge to live with friends as a condition of her parole, and remained a Cambridge resident for the rest of her life.
Her father gave an interview to BBC Radio explaining that prison had had a terrible effect on her, making it impossible for her to concentrate. He also said that she had taken no part in the bombings and that she and the other defendants were "good young people" who tried to help others.
Poetry
After her release, she adopted the alternative spelling of her surname Mendelssohn. She spent some time in Sheffield, where she started a family and had three children. Mendelssohn moved to Cambridge in about 1985, studying poetry at
St Edmund's College, Cambridge, and devoting her life to poetry and art. She became opposed to technology and disliked judgments based on rationality in favour of those based on an artistic judgment, which led to her life becoming increasingly disconnected from the rest of society.
Such a lifestyle meant she was not greatly interested in seeing her poetry published, but others thought that her work deserved a larger audience. She is said to have had poems published in the Sheffield Free Press. Also, a volume of poetry, due to be published by the Common Ground Printing Co-operative, was reportedly removed prior to publication after the printer sought to censor the content. She was first published in 1986, according to a later reviewer, through "a series of home-made, distributed hand to hand, photographed-manuscript ''feuilles volantes''".
In 1988 two of her poems were published under the title ''La Facciata'' as issue number 5 of ''Poetical Histories'', with a cover design by the author.
Grace Lake
Three volumes of her poetry were published by
Equipage under the literary pseudonym Grace Lake.
''Viola Tricolor'' published in 1993 was followed by ''Bernache nonnette'' in 1995; a review of the latter in ''
Angel Exhaust'' magazine saw it as a critique of
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
since 1970 for seeing the population it hopes to serve as a single group rather than as millions of individual people, a critique which the reviewer Andrew Duncan linked to the poet's own history.
1997 saw the appearance of ''Tondo Aquatique'', which had a theme of the relationship between water and language.
In 2000, a full book of Mendelssohn's poetry was published by
Salt Publishing under its Folio imprint and Equipage, this time not using her pseudonym. As with previous publications, it was due to efforts from others, rather than Mendelssohn herself, that ''Implacable Art'' was taken up by its publishers; it included some of her line drawings, and some poetry appeared in handwritten form.
Illness
Mendelssohn collapsed in February 2009, and was subsequently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour on her
cerebellum. As the tumour developed, she became incapacitated by it and dependent on hospital care, being almost unconscious for the last two weeks before her death in November 2009.
Works
* ''I'm working here : the collected poems of Anna Mendelssohn'', edited by Sara Crangle, Swindon : Shearsman Books, 2020,
References
Sources
*
External links
Anna Mendleson Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelssohn, Anna
1948 births
2009 deaths
Alumni of the University of Essex
Alumni of St Edmund's College, Cambridge
British women poets
English Jews
Writers from Stockport
People educated at Stockport High School for Girls
English criminals
Deaths from cancer in England
20th-century British poets
20th-century British women writers
British female criminals
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales