Reginald Arthur Reynolds (1905 – 16 December 1958) was a British

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of 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 hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...

writer, poet, a Quaker and an anti-colonial activist who collaborated with M.K. Gandhi and

Horace Alexander Horace Gundry Alexander (18 April 1889 – 30 September 1989) was an English Quaker teacher, writer, pacifist and ornithologist. He was the youngest of four sons of Joseph Gundry Alexander (1848–1918), two other sons being the ornithologists W ...

. He was from a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

background, the son of Bryant Reynolds of Clark, Morland & Co. He was General Secretary of the No More War Movement from 1933 to 1937. He was perhaps best known as a critic of

British imperialism The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts establish ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and for his 1937 work ''The White Sahibs in India''. For many years he was also

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

's weekly satirical poet. He married the left wing novelist

Ethel Mannin Ethel Edith Mannin (6 October 1900 – 5 December 1984) was a popular British novelist and travel writer, political activist and socialist. She was born in London. Life and career Mannin's father, Robert Mannin (d. 1948) was a member of the S ...

in 1938."Mannin, Ethel" in Todd, Janet M.(ed.) '' British Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide''.Continuum, 1989 (pg. 441). He was a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when he worked in

Air Raid Precautions Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s a ...

and in a mobile hospital unit.

Works

*''India, Gandhi and World Peace'' (1931) *''Police and Peasantry in India'' (1932) *''Gandhi's Fast: its cause and significance'' (1932) *'' The White Sahibs in India'' (1937) *'' Prison Anthology'' (edited with A. G. Stock) (1938) *''Why India?'' (1942) *''Cleanliness and Godliness: or The Further Metamorphosis. A discussion of the problems of sanitation raised by Sir John Harington, etc.'' (1943) *'' The New Indian Rope Trick: or What became of the debt?'' (1943) *''The Fallow Ground of the Heart'' (1945) *''Og and other Ogres'' (1946) with illustrations by

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of h ...

*''The Wisdom of John Woolman: with a selection from his writings as a guide to the seekers of today'' (1948) *''British Pamphleteers'' (edited with

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

) (1948) *''Beards: Their Social Standing, Religious Involvements, Decorative Possibilities, and Value in Offence and Defence Through the Ages'' (1949) *''Beards: an omnium gatherum'' (1950) *''Beds: with many noteworthy instances of lying on, under, or about them'' (1951) *''To Live in Mankind: A Quest for Gandhi'' (1951) *''A Quest for Gandhi'' (1952) *''Beware of Africans: a pilgrimage from Cairo to the Cape'' (1955) *''My Life and Crimes'' (1956) *''John Somervell Hoyland'' (1958) *''John Woolman and the 20th century'' (1958) *''The True Book about Mahatma Gandhi'' (1959) *''The Loadstone'' (1960)

Notes

Biography

* Robert Huxter, ''Reg and Ethel: Reginald Reynolds his life and work and his marriage to Ethel Mannin'' (1992). Sessions Book Trust. * Autobiography, ''My life and crimes'' (1956)

External links

Swarthmore Archives
1905 births 1958 deaths British political writers British conscientious objectors {{UK-writer-stub Indian independence activists