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Questions about Oliver Locker-Lampson

Short answers, pulled from the story.

Who was Oliver Locker-Lampson?

Oliver Locker-Lampson was a British Conservative politician and naval reserve officer who served as Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1945, representing Ramsey, Huntingdonshire and later Birmingham Handsworth. He commanded armoured cars in Belgium and Russia during the First World War and was active in British political causes ranging from anti-Communism to refugee assistance.

Why did Oliver Locker-Lampson shelter Albert Einstein?

In September 1933, Locker-Lampson provided Einstein with refuge at a camp on Roughton Heath near Cromer in north Norfolk after Einstein received death threats while living in Belgium. Locker-Lampson had, from 1933 onwards, redirected his political efforts against fascism and worked to assist high-profile and ordinary victims of Nazi persecution.

What was Oliver Locker-Lampson's Blue Shirts organisation?

The Blue Shirts, formally called the Sentinels of Empire, were a quasi-paramilitary organisation Locker-Lampson founded in 1931 to combat Bolshevism. The group had its own anthem, "March On", with words written by Locker-Lampson and music taken from the film High Treason, which was sold as sheet music and as a 78-rpm record. Though Locker-Lampson claimed 100,000 members, the organisation was short-lived and appeared to make little practical impact.

What role did Oliver Locker-Lampson play in the First World War?

Locker-Lampson received a commission in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in December 1914 at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, personally funding the establishment of an armoured car squadron for the Royal Naval Air Service. He commanded No. 15 Squadron in Belgium and then led the Armoured Car Expeditionary Force in Russia, operating with the Russian Army in Galicia, Romania, and the Caucasus before the force was withdrawn after the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917.

How did Oliver Locker-Lampson support Winston Churchill?

Throughout the 1930s, Locker-Lampson was one of the very few Conservative MPs who continued to back Churchill publicly during his wilderness years of political isolation. He also supported Churchill from the backbenches during the Second World War, despite his own age and ill-health limiting more active participation.

What other refugees did Oliver Locker-Lampson help besides Einstein?

Locker-Lampson worked to assist Haile Selassie and Sigmund Freud, as well as numerous ordinary Jewish individuals, whom he personally sponsored to help them flee Nazi persecution in Germany and Austria. In July 1933 he introduced a Private Member's Bill in Parliament to extend British citizenship to Jewish refugees, though the bill did not become law.