Herschel Lewis Austin
Encyclopedia
Lewis Austin (22 March 1911 – 8 April 1974) was a British furniture-maker and Labour Party
politician who served as a Member of Parliament
(MP) from 1945 to 1950. Austin was born in Plymouth, England, the son of Austrian immigrants, who later anglicised their surname from the Austrian "Ornstein".
Lew, as he was known, grew up in poverty in the East End of London
. His father Mordechai (Max), a bamboo worker, died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 44, when Lewis was aged just 3, in 1914.
After leaving school at the age of 11, he educated himself as much as he could by attending night classes and visiting libraries when he wasn't working as an apprentice cabinet maker. He owed much of his wide-ranging education to Toynbee Hall
, a benevolent institution still active in the East End. He later went into business with his three of his brothers, producing affordable furniture with what became Austinsuite furnishings, a precursor to the flatpack furniture later adopted by M.F.I. in the U.K.
During World War II, the family business, F Austin Leyton Ltd, manufactured military aircraft including the de Havilland Mosquito
. Lew Austin was production manager. On one occasion Lord Beaverbrook
, the Canadian newspaper entrepreneur who was Minister of Aircraft Production
in Churchill
's war Ministry, visited the factory and was shown round by "Mr. Lew". After the visit one of the men's toilets had two articles graffiti on the wall. The first read "Lord Beaverbrook is a c**t" The second read "No I'm not".
In 1944, after having previously been refused permission to leave his civilian employment, Lew Austin joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he served first on destroyers in the Mediterranean and then in the Fleet Air Arm
, ending up in a staff position at a Naval headquarters at Lee on Solent rising to the rank of Sub Lieutenant (Sub.-Lt). He was also prominent in the Fabian Society
along with his older brother, the late Frank Austin O.B.E., and was effectively headhunted for a direction shift into politics, after being told by a colleague, "You are wasted here, you're needed in the Labour Party
".
He joined the party, and in Labour's landslide victory at the 1945 general election
he was elected as Member of Parliament
(MP) for the Stretford constituency
in Manchester
, defeating the sitting Conservative MP, Ralph Etherton
. He held his seat until the 1950 election
, when he was beaten by the Conservative candidate Samuel Storey
.
Born to an immigrant family originating from a rabbinic dynasty in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the Ukraine, he was an ardent humanist. When campaigning for the seat he eventually won, late in 1945 when the ashes of World War II were still glowing, he was asked by a heckler at a political rally "what is the candidate's religion?". He replied "I have no religion; I am a free thinker. But I am a Jew and a carpenter and the son of a capenter but unlike another son of a capenter two thousand years ago I don't expect to be crucified for my beliefs."
During his time in Parliament Lewis Austin was one of a dozen or so Jewish Members during the period when the British Mandate of Palestine ended and the state of Israel
was born. He and his Jewish colleagues fought many battles in the party room over British policy on the Palestine issue. Austin, who regarded the Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
as an antimsemite, once challenged Bevin to 'come outside' the party room. Austin had been a keen amateur boxer as a young man. He later told family members that Bevin had suggested "we can leave it to the Arabs to kick the bloody Jews into the sea".
At that time Austin published a circular entitled "the importance of being Ernest (Bevin)" which attacked Bevin and his policies roundly, and as result faced discipline from Transport House, headquarters of the Labour Party.
Austin gained something of a reputation as a leftwing firebrand while in Parliament, and some years later was detained on Ellis Island
by US immigration for a number of days on suspicion of being a communist, at the height of the McCarthyist movement in the USA.
After his brief stint in politics, he moved with his wife and young family to Jamaica
for a number of years, living in Montego Bay
. It was there he took time out to reflect on his next career move. He later returned to the U.K., bring his family to the Hove
area, near Brighton
in Sussex. He then worked for a four to six month stint as a door-to-door salesman of the Encyclopædia Britannica
. He was discouraged from carrying this on by his wife, the late Irene Austin, later Dame Irene Murray, of the Knights of Saint John, Malta. He then set up his own business in dealing with Stocks and Shares, acting as a licensed dealer until his untimely death in April 1974, not long after the Black Monday stock market crash of Spring 1974.
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician who served as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) from 1945 to 1950. Austin was born in Plymouth, England, the son of Austrian immigrants, who later anglicised their surname from the Austrian "Ornstein".
Lew, as he was known, grew up in poverty in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
. His father Mordechai (Max), a bamboo worker, died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 44, when Lewis was aged just 3, in 1914.
After leaving school at the age of 11, he educated himself as much as he could by attending night classes and visiting libraries when he wasn't working as an apprentice cabinet maker. He owed much of his wide-ranging education to Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall is a building in Tower Hamlets, East London which is the home of a charity working to bridge the gap between people of all social and financial backgrounds, with a focus on eradicating poverty and promoting social inclusion....
, a benevolent institution still active in the East End. He later went into business with his three of his brothers, producing affordable furniture with what became Austinsuite furnishings, a precursor to the flatpack furniture later adopted by M.F.I. in the U.K.
During World War II, the family business, F Austin Leyton Ltd, manufactured military aircraft including the de Havilland Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
. Lew Austin was production manager. On one occasion Lord Beaverbrook
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Bt, PC, was a Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer.-Early career in Canada:...
, the Canadian newspaper entrepreneur who was Minister of Aircraft Production
Minister of Aircraft Production
The Minister of Aircraft Production was the British government position in charge of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II...
in Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's war Ministry, visited the factory and was shown round by "Mr. Lew". After the visit one of the men's toilets had two articles graffiti on the wall. The first read "Lord Beaverbrook is a c**t" The second read "No I'm not".
In 1944, after having previously been refused permission to leave his civilian employment, Lew Austin joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he served first on destroyers in the Mediterranean and then in the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
, ending up in a staff position at a Naval headquarters at Lee on Solent rising to the rank of Sub Lieutenant (Sub.-Lt). He was also prominent in the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
along with his older brother, the late Frank Austin O.B.E., and was effectively headhunted for a direction shift into politics, after being told by a colleague, "You are wasted here, you're needed in the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
".
He joined the party, and in Labour's landslide victory at the 1945 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
he was elected as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for the Stretford constituency
Stretford (UK Parliament constituency)
Stretford was a parliamentary constituency in North West England, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, defeating the sitting Conservative MP, Ralph Etherton
Ralph Etherton
Ralph Humphrey Etherton was a British barrister and Conservative politician.He was the son of Captain Louis Etherton. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, and was called to the Bar in 1926....
. He held his seat until the 1950 election
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
, when he was beaten by the Conservative candidate Samuel Storey
Samuel Storey, Baron Buckton
Samuel Storey, Baron Buckton , known as Sir Samuel Storey, 1st Baronet, from 1960 to 1966, was a British Conservative politician....
.
Born to an immigrant family originating from a rabbinic dynasty in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, now the Ukraine, he was an ardent humanist. When campaigning for the seat he eventually won, late in 1945 when the ashes of World War II were still glowing, he was asked by a heckler at a political rally "what is the candidate's religion?". He replied "I have no religion; I am a free thinker. But I am a Jew and a carpenter and the son of a capenter but unlike another son of a capenter two thousand years ago I don't expect to be crucified for my beliefs."
During his time in Parliament Lewis Austin was one of a dozen or so Jewish Members during the period when the British Mandate of Palestine ended and the state of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
was born. He and his Jewish colleagues fought many battles in the party room over British policy on the Palestine issue. Austin, who regarded the Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
as an antimsemite, once challenged Bevin to 'come outside' the party room. Austin had been a keen amateur boxer as a young man. He later told family members that Bevin had suggested "we can leave it to the Arabs to kick the bloody Jews into the sea".
At that time Austin published a circular entitled "the importance of being Ernest (Bevin)" which attacked Bevin and his policies roundly, and as result faced discipline from Transport House, headquarters of the Labour Party.
Austin gained something of a reputation as a leftwing firebrand while in Parliament, and some years later was detained on Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
by US immigration for a number of days on suspicion of being a communist, at the height of the McCarthyist movement in the USA.
After his brief stint in politics, he moved with his wife and young family to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
for a number of years, living in Montego Bay
Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of St. James Parish and the second largest city in Jamaica by area and the fourth by population .It is a tourist destination with duty free shopping, cruise line terminal and the beaches...
. It was there he took time out to reflect on his next career move. He later returned to the U.K., bring his family to the Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
area, near Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in Sussex. He then worked for a four to six month stint as a door-to-door salesman of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
. He was discouraged from carrying this on by his wife, the late Irene Austin, later Dame Irene Murray, of the Knights of Saint John, Malta. He then set up his own business in dealing with Stocks and Shares, acting as a licensed dealer until his untimely death in April 1974, not long after the Black Monday stock market crash of Spring 1974.