Thomas Henry Keell (24 September 1866 – 26 June 1938) was an English

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

who edited the anarchist newspaper ''

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

'' from 1907 to 1928.

Biography

In 1881 Keell served a seven-year apprenticeship as a compositor in the trade of

letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

and in 1887 he was admitted to the

London Society of Compositors The London Society of Compositors was a British trade union, representing print workers in London. History The union was founded as the London Union of Compositors in 1834 by the merger of the London Trade Society of Compositors and the Londo ...

. His earliest political interests included

landlordism Concentration of land ownership refers to the ownership of land in a particular area by a small number of people or organizations. It is sometimes defined as additional concentration beyond that which produces optimally efficient land use. Distr ...

and

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

. Soon afterwards he became interested in

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and in the mid-1890s he joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

. Then, in 1896 he came into contact with

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

when he was invited to undertake paid compositing work for the revival in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

of The Alarm, the defunct American anarchist newspaper. Subsequently he regularly attended anarchist meetings and in 1898 he came into contact with the

anarchists. In 1907, Keell attended the

International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam The International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam took place from 24 August to 31 August 1907. It gathered delegates from 14 countries, among which important figures of the anarchist movement, including Errico Malatesta, Luigi Fabbri, Benoît ...

, where he was hailed by

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born Anarchism, anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europ ...

as "one of our most devoted workers on the London ''Freedom''". Keell also contributed to ''

Voice of Labour The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

'' for many years and was an outspoken opponent of 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 ...

. In 1916 Keell and his companion Lilian Wolfe were arrested during a police raid on the ''Freedom'' offices. They were imprisoned and in 1928 retired to live in Whiteway Colony outside

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, from where he irregularly published ''Freedom Bulletin'' for the surviving subscribers of ''Freedom''. In 1936 Keell was approached by

Vernon Richards Vernon Richards (born Vero Benvenuto Costantino Recchioni, 19 July 1915 – 10 December 2001) was an Anglo-Italian anarchist, editor, author, engineer, photographer and the companion of Marie-Louise Berneri. Richards' founding of the paper ' ...

, the son of a London Italian anarchist, for help with the bilingual journal ''Italia Libera/Free Italy'', which he edited with

Camillo Berneri Camillo Berneri (; 1897–1937) was an Italian anarchist and anti-fascist activist. Born in Lodi, Berneri joined the Italian Socialist Party at an early age, but quickly became dissilusioned with its lack of militancy and failure to oppose I ...

, his future father-in-law. In the July Richards and Berneri suspended publication of the journal. Keell then helped Richards with the production of the pamphlet ''The struggle for liberty in Spain'' In the December Keell, Wolfe and Richards launched the anarchist newspaper

Spain and the World ''Spain and the World'' is the name of an anarchist publication initiated in response to the Spanish Civil War and the struggles of the CNT-FAI carrying analysis of events as they unfolded. In Britain, the '' Freedom Paper'' had begun to peter-o ...

, which Keell came to regard as the proper successor to ''Freedom''. Keell died in Whiteways in 1938, of heart failure.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keell, Thomas 1866 births 1938 deaths English anarchists Politicians from the London Borough of Lewisham People from Lewisham

Biography

See also

Footnotes

References