Albert Victor Grayson (born 5 September 1881, disappeared 28 September 1920) was an English

socialist 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 ...

politician of the early 20th century. An

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 ...

Member of Parliament from 1907 to 1910, Grayson is most notable for his sensational by-election victory at

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

, and unexplained disappearance in 1920.

Early years

Albert Victor Grayson was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, the seventh son of William Grayson, a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

carpenter, and Elizabeth Craig, who was Scottish."Mystery of Left's maverick", Nally, Michael. ''The Observer'' ondon (UK)30 August 1981: 4. He became an apprentice engineer in

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

. Grayson joined the

(ILP) and toured the country giving lectures, becoming a well-known orator despite having a stammer. In 1907 he stood as an ILP candidate in the 1907 Colne Valley

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, having been nominated by the Colne Valley Labour League; he won a sensational, albeit narrow, victory. Grayson was paid an allowance by the ILP but refused to sign the Labour Party constitution. Grayson was subject to an assessment by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

in 1908: "The Socialism of the Christian era was based on the idea that, 'All mine is yours,' but the Socialism of Mr Grayson is based on the idea that 'All yours is mine. Writing of Grayson in 1913 in an article on British radical politics in ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

'',

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

noted that Grayson was "a very fiery socialist, but one not strong in principles and given to phrase-mongering." Grayson rarely attended the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

and began to develop a drinking problem. After losing his seat in the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 UK general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. Called amid a constitutional crisis after the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejected the People's Budget, the Liberal government, seeking a mandate, los ...

, and failing even to retain his deposit when standing for

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

in December 1910, he continued his lecture tours but suffered a

mental breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

in 1913 and in August 1914 was declared bankrupt with debts of £496. Grayson later alienated many of his left-wing colleagues by backing Britain's entry into

World War I 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 turning his oratorical skills to recruiting soldiers. He enlisted in 1916 and served briefly in the

New Zealand Army The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...

and was wounded the following year on the Western Front. After the war, Grayson attempted to resurrect his political career.

Personal life

In his early life, Grayson conducted a longterm affair with Harry Dawson, a fellow

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

socialist. In one of a collection of love letters written to Dawson, he wrote: "I love you as ever, with the same devouring passion and intensity and thickness." In 1912, Grayson married Ruth Nightingale, a young actress with boyish looks, with whom he had a daughter. The marriage was unhappy and Ruth died in childbirth in the

1918 influenza epidemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest document ...

Honours scandal

In 1918, Sir Basil Thomson, head of the

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

, asked

Maundy Gregory Arthur John Maundy Gregory, who later used the name Arthur John Peter Michael Maundy Gregory (1 July 1877 – 28 September 1941) was a British theatre producer and political fixer who is best remembered for selling honours for the Prime Minister, ...

to spy on Grayson, suspecting him of working as an agent for the new

communist government A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

in Russia or for the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

. Grayson discovered that Gregory was spying on him and, with the help of some important friends, found out that

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

was using Gregory to sell political honours. At a public meeting in Liverpool, Grayson accused Lloyd George of selling honours for between £10,000 and £40,000. He declared: "This sale of honours is a national scandal. It can be traced right down to

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

, and to a

monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens placed in front of the eye and held in place by the eye socket itself. Often, to avoid losing the monoc ...

d dandy with offices in Whitehall. I know this man, and one day I will name him." Grayson's "monocled dandy" remark let Gregory know that he was in danger of being exposed. Grayson also suspected Gregory of having

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

Roger Casement Roger David Casement (; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during World War I. He worked for the Britis ...

's diaries, which were used as evidence to convict and execute him for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

(although it later turned out that Casement had engaged in the

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

activities described). At the beginning of September 1920, Grayson was beaten up in the

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

. This was probably an attempt to frighten him, but he continued threatening to name the man behind the corrupt system.

Disappearance

By 1920, Grayson was living in an expensive suite of rooms in

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

, although he earned only a modest income from occasional pieces of journalism. Biographer David Clark believes that, having alienated both the socialists and the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, Grayson had entered into

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

in order to fund his lavish lifestyle. On 28 September 1920, Grayson was out drinking with friends when he received a telephone message. He told his friends that he had to go to the Queen's Hotel in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

and would be back shortly. He did not return. Journalist

Donald McCormick George Donald King McCormick (11 December 1911 – 2 January 1998) was a British Journalism, journalist and popular historian, who also wrote under the pseudonym Richard Deacon. After working for Naval Intelligence during the Second World War, ...

claims that artist George Flemwell had been painting a picture of the Thames when he saw Grayson passing him in an electric canoe, along with Maundy Gregory. Flemwell further observed the two men entering a house (Number 6, The Island,

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred south-west of Charing Cross in central London. Thame ...

) on the river bank on 28 September 1920. Flemwell knew Grayson, having painted his portrait before the war, but did not realise the significance at the time because Grayson was not reported missing until several months later. An investigation carried out in the 1960s revealed that the house that Grayson entered was owned by Gregory. Research by Andrew Cook suggests that McCormick may have fabricated the story. It has been speculated that Grayson was murdered to prevent his revealing evidence of corruption. A comprehensive

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

by David G. Clark suggests he possibly survived into the 1950s under a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

. Clark believes Grayson was bribed in order to keep quiet about the honours scandal, and was told to forge a new identity.

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grayson, Victor 1881 births 1920s missing person cases Year of death unknown Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom British Socialist Party members English people of Scottish descent English Unitarians Independent Labour Party MPs English bisexual politicians English bisexual men Bisexual male politicians Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Missing person cases in England New Zealand Army personnel Politicians from Liverpool UK MPs 1906–1910