Robert Archibald Wilton (31 July 1868 – 18 January 1925) was a British

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, and a proponent of

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

thought and

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

in the United Kingdom.

Biography

Wilton, who was born in

Cringleford Cringleford is a civil parish and village in the English county of Norfolk. Cringleford is located north-east of Wymondham and south-west of Norwich city centre. The village sits on the River Yare and forms part of the outskirts of Norwi ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, was the son of a British mining engineer employed in Russia. In 1889 he joined the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an staff of the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

'', remained with that newspaper for 14 years and reported on both Russian and German affairs. He then took up an appointment as ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' correspondent in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and became known as a keen observer of events in Russia during the last years of the

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

regime. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, he moved to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. Following the collapse of the

Kolchak Kolchak, Kolçak or Kolčák is a surname from Turkish ''wikt:kolçak, kolçak''. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Kolchak (1874–1920), Russian naval commander, head of anti-Bolshevik White forces *Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Tu ...

government, Wilton managed to escape from Russia and eventually arrived in Paris, where, in 1920, he rejoined the ''New York Herald''. In 1924 he joined the staff of a newly-founded newspaper, the ''Paris Times'', which published in English. He died from cancer at the Hertford British Hospital in Paris early in 1925. Wilton served with the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was awarded the

Cross of St George In heraldry, Saint George's Cross (or the Cross of Saint George) is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with th ...

. He was the author of two books: ''Russia's Agony'' (published by Edward Arnold, London, 1918) and ''The Last Days of the Romanovs'' (1920).

Аntisemitism

Wilton was a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

antisemite and sympathetic to the toppled

system in Russia. He was a proponent of the theory of Jews involved in ritualistic murder, claiming in his 1920 book ''The Last Days of the Romanovs'' that the execution of the

Romanovs The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Nic ...

was a ritual murder by the Jews. He was criticized by several liberal British journalists for supporting the attempted military coup by

Lavr Kornilov Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (, ; – 13 April 1918) was a Russian military intelligence officer, explorer, and general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. He served as Supreme Commander of the Russian Army and as the military leade ...

. In 1919 he published "Russia's Agony", which claimed (p. ix) that "Bolshevism is not Russian – it is essentially non-national, its leaders being almost entirely in the league ewsthat lost its country and its nationhood long ago". According to Semyon Reznik, Wilton was also assisting Russian antisemites in fabrication of photographic evidence of ritual crimes by Jews.

References

External links

Spartacus

''Russia's Agony''
by Robert Wilton.
''The Last Days of the Romanovs''
by Robert Wilton, George Gustav Telberg and Nikolai Sokolov. Blood libel British anti-communists British male journalists British people of the Russian Civil War 1868 births 1925 deaths People from South Norfolk (district) Military personnel from Norfolk Russian military personnel of World War I Deaths from cancer in France Antisemitism in England {{UK-journalist-stub