Rotha Beryl Lintorn Lintorn-Orman (7 February 1895 – 10 March 1935) was the founder of the British Fascisti, the first avowedly

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

movement to appear in British politics.

Early life

Born as Rotha Beryl Lintorn Orman in Kensington,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, she was the daughter of Charles Edward Orman, a major from the Essex Regiment, and his wife, Blanch Lintorn, née Simmons. Her maternal grandfather was

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered a ...

Sir Lintorn Simmons. The Orman family would adopt the surname of Lintorn-Orman in 1912. Rotha Orman, with her friend Nesta Maude, was among the few girls who showed up at the 1909 Crystal Palace Scout Rally wanting to be Scouts which led to the foundation of the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

. In 1908 they had registered as a Scout troop, using their initials rather than forenames. In 1911 she was awarded one of the first of the Girl Guides'

Silver Fish Award The Silver Fish Award is the highest adult award in Girlguiding. It is awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding. The award has changed greatly since it first appeared in 1911, initially being awarded ...

s. In the First World War, Lintorn-Orman served as a member of the

Women's Volunteer Reserve The Women's Emergency Corps was a service organisation founded in 1914 by Evelina Haverfield, Decima Moore, and the Women's Social and Political Union to contribute to the war effort of the United Kingdom in World War I. The corps was intended to t ...

and with the Scottish Women's Hospital Corps. She was decorated for her contribution at the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 but invalided home with malaria. In 1918 she became head of the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

Motor School to train drivers in the battlefield.

Fascism

Following Lintorn-Orman's war service, she placed an advertisement in the right-wing journal ''The Patriot'' seeking anti-communists. This led to the foundation of the British Fascisti (later the British Fascists) in 1923 as a response to the growing strength of the Labour Party, a source of great anxiety for the virulently anti-Communist Lintorn-Orman.Thurlow, ''Fascism in Britain'', p. 34. She felt Labour was too prone to advocating

class conflict Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

and internationalism, two of her pet hates. Emblem of the British Fascists

Financed by her mother Blanch, Lintorn-Orman's party nonetheless struggled due to her preference for remaining within the law and her continuing ties to the fringes of the Conservative Party. Lintorn-Orman was essentially a Tory by inclination but was driven by a strong anti-communism and attached herself to fascism largely because of her admiration for

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

and what she saw as his action-based style of politics. The party was subject to a number of schisms, such as when the moderates led by R. B. D. Blakeney defected to the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies during the

1926 General Strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governm ...

or when the more radical members resigned to form the National Fascisti, and ultimately lost members to the Imperial Fascist League and the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, ...

when these groups emerged. Lintorn-Orman wanted nothing to do with the BUF as she considered its leader, Oswald Mosley to be a near-communist and was particularly appalled by his former membership in the Labour Party. The feelings were reciprocated, with Nicholas Mosley (whose father,

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

, founded the

in 1932) would claim that she got the idea to save Britain from communism one day while she was weeding her kitchen garden. Nonetheless, the BF lost much of its membership to Mosley’s party after

Neil Francis Hawkins Neil Lanfear Maclean Francis Hawkins (September 1907 – 26 December 1950) was a British writer and politician who was a leading proponent of British fascism in the United Kingdom both before and after the Second World War. He played a leading ro ...

left in favour of the BUF in 1932 after a formal merger was narrowly rejected.

Final years

Lintorn-Orman was dependent on alcohol and drugs, and rumours about her private life began to damage her reputation. Eventually her mother stopped funding her after hearing lurid tales of drink, drugs and orgies. Lintorn-Orman was taken ill in 1933 and was sidelined from the British Fascists, as effective control passed to Mrs D. G. Harnett, who sought to breathe new life into the group by seeking to ally it with

Ulster loyalism Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a ...

. Lintorn-Orman died at the age of 40 on 10 March 1935 at Santa Brígida, Las Palmas, in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Mo ...

. By then her organisation was all but defunct. Her body was buried at the English Cemetery in Las Palmas.Entry for Rotha Lintorn-Orman in the Findagrave website (2019).
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Bibliography

*''"Feminine Fascism": Women in Britain's Fascist Movement'' by Julie V. Gottlieb (I.B. Tauris, 2000) *''"Hurrah for the Blackshirts!": Fascists and Fascism in Britain between the Wars'' by Martin Pugh (Random House, 2005)

References

External links

National Portrait Gallery pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lintorn-Orman, Rotha 1895 births 1935 deaths British monarchists People from Kensington English fascists English women in politics Recipients of the Silver Fish Award Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service volunteers