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25-759: The party was launched under Chairman Edward Martell on 1 January 1962, with full page advertisements in national broadsheets. The advert referred to the organisation as part of a movement spearheaded by The New Daily newspaper. They claimed that they would mostly attract supporters from the Conservative Party , but attacked Iain Macleod as "inclined to a mild sort of socialism ". The initial policies listed included opposition to many trade union activities, anti-communism , cuts to government expenditure and welfare and more restrictions on immigration. The associated advisory committee included former chairman of

50-567: A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom , was updated sporadically until 1847, when the company began publishing new editions every year as Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (often shortened and known as Burke's Peerage ). Other books followed, including Burke's Landed Gentry , Burke's Colonial Gentry , and Burke's General Armory . In addition to its peerage publications,

75-608: A candidate in the 1962 Leicester North East by-election . The Conservative candidate, Robin Marlar , attended a meeting they organised, but left as soon as he was invited to speak, stating that he had "nothing but contempt" for their plans. Despite this, the Fellowship decided not to put up a candidate. In early 1963, Martell joined the Conservative Party, but maintained the Fellowship. The Fellowship's first candidacy

100-449: A candidate in the by-election. Martell attempted to persuade either of two local businessmen to stand for the Fellowship against Benn, but both refused. Instead, Martell stood himself. The Fellowship was Benn's main challenger from the right. Martell took a distant second place, with 19% of the vote, becoming the first independent candidate in 17 years to hold his deposit. The party spent most of its funds supporting favoured Conservatives at

125-611: A prominent role in the Liberal election campaigns of 1950 and 1951 . One historian of the Liberal Party praised Martell's contribution to Liberal politics, his ceaseless flow of ideas, his great enthusiasm and his work with another official of the party, Philip Fothergill , in securing broadly based finance for the party, while at the same time damning him as a man with the makings of a dictator and possessing wild judgment. Roy Douglas and Mark Egan have said that whilst Martell

150-485: Is a British genealogical publisher , considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage , baronetage , knightage and landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland . His first publication,

175-582: The 1964 general election , and Martell wrote to all previous donors, asking for personal loans, repayable on 14 days' notice. He soon proved unable to repay these loans, prompting questions in Parliament. In July 1966, he merged the Fellowship with other campaigns he had run, including the "Freedom Group", into the National Party . The new party announced their intention to contest at least the next five by-elections, but ultimately their only candidate

200-628: The Burke's publishing company produced books on Royal families of Europe and Latin America , ruling families of Africa and the Middle East, distinguished families of the United States and historical families of Ireland . The firm was established in 1826 by John Burke (1786–1848), progenitor of a dynasty of genealogists and heralds . His son Sir John Bernard Burke (1814–1892)

225-746: The Hastings Conservative association. His anti-trade union newspaper, The New Daily , reached a circulation of 100,000. In 1958, during a London bus crew strike, the People's League ran replacement buses and in the "work-to-rule" of postal service workers in January 1962 it ran a letter delivery service which was suppressed by the Postmaster General . However the League delivered parcels for three weeks, using its own stamps, until

250-564: The House of Lords , the Conservatives decided not to fight the by-election. Martell seized the chance to stand against Benn as a National Fellowship or "independent right-wing" candidate, and in the event was the only serious opposition to Benn's re-election. He attacked Benn for his absence from the constituency during the early stages of the campaign and continued to run a high-profile campaign, arranging such publicity stunts as betting

275-743: The Liberal Party Lord Moynihan , Conservative MPs Donald Johnson and Henry Kerby and former Liberal MP Don Bennett . Moynihan's support to the party led to his removal as a vice-president of the Yorkshire Area Liberal Federation. The advert also gave details of an Establishment Committee. This prompted Peter Cook and Nicholas Luard to write to The Guardian noting that this was unconnected with their recently created club, The Establishment , but that they hoped it would provide them with material for their comedy shows. The party planned to stand

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300-533: The "work-to-rule" came to an end. This effort was repeated in July 1964 during the one-day strike and overtime ban for postal workers, again with the League's own stamps. Martell has been described as "an expert self-publicist" who exercised "a volatile influence on public opinion during periods of government unpopularity". At the 1963 Bristol South East by-election , which followed Tony Benn 's successful campaign to be allowed to give up his peerage and membership of

325-636: The Liberals at the 1950 general election. In September 1956 Martell left the Liberal Party. With other dissident Liberals, such as former Liberal Treasurer Lord Moynihan and former Liberal member of parliament Horace Crawfurd , he set up the People's League for the Defence of Freedom , which was later part of the Freedom Group. In 1962 Martell joined the Conservative Party and in 1963 was chairman of

350-440: The accuracy of Burke's and said that it contained pedigrees that were purely mythical – if indeed mythical is not too respectable a name for what must be in many cases the work of deliberate invention [... and] all but invariably false. As a rule, it is not only false, but impossible [...] not merely fictions, but exactly that kind of fiction which is, in its beginning, deliberate and interested falsehood. Oscar Wilde in

375-630: The coal trade from 1926 to 1928 and then entered journalism. He was News Editor of the World's Press News; general manager, The Saturday Review ; Managing Editor, Burke's Peerage and Burke Publishing Co.and sports staff editor of The Star . He served in the Second World War in the Royal Armoured Corps attaining the rank of captain. On demobilisation he established his own bookselling and publishing company. Martell played

400-529: The former member of parliament Sir Percy Harris in the two-member seat of Bethnal Green South West , the first Liberal LCC victories for many years. In November of that year he stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate in the Parliamentary by-election for the safe Labour seat of Rotherhithe , although he beat the Conservative candidate into third place. He also contested Hendon North for

425-479: The local newspaper editor that he would retain his deposit, claiming to have received telephone threats and publicly calling on the Bristol Conservative Party to endorse him, as well as publishing his own 'Election Special' that accused Benn of hawking his peerage to the highest bidder. During the campaign Geoffrey Pearl, who had been nominated as an "anti-socialist" candidate, dropped out of

450-478: The play A Woman of No Importance wrote: "You should study the Peerage, Gerald. It is the one book a young man about town should know thoroughly, and it is the best thing in fiction the English have ever done!" In 1901, the historian J. Horace Round wrote of Burke's "old fables" and "grotesquely impossible tales". More recent editions have been more scrupulously checked and rewritten for accuracy, notably under

475-468: The race and called on his supporters to vote for Martell. Martell's strong anti-trade union line counted against him, as local union activists threw themselves wholeheartedly into Benn's campaign. Ultimately Martell came second with 4,834 votes (19%). Benn later claimed that Martell's post-election speech saw him turn his anger on the crowd after much of what he said was drowned out by Benn supporters. Burke%27s Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited

500-476: Was Ulster King of Arms (1853–1892) and his grandson, Sir Henry Farnham Burke (1859–1930), was Garter Principal King of Arms (1919–1930). After his death, ownership passed through a variety of people. Apart from the Burke family, editors have included Arthur Charles Fox-Davies , Alfred Trego Butler , Leslie Gilbert Pine , Peter Townend , and Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd . From 1974 to 1983, Jeremy Norman

525-492: Was Bennett, who took last place in the 1967 Nuneaton by-election . Martell was declared bankrupt in 1968, after which the party disappeared. Edward Martell (politician) Edward Drewett Martell (2 March 1909 – 3 April 1989) was a British politician and libertarian activist. Martell was the eldest son of E. E. Martell and Ethel Horwood. He was educated at St George's School, Harpenden . In 1932 he married Ethel Maud Beverley. They had one son. Martell worked in

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550-506: Was acquired by Frederik Jan Gustav Floris, Baron van Pallandt, while Burke's Landed Gentry and other titles were sold to other buyers. Last published in 2003 as Burke's Peerage & Baronetage , the Burke's titles (including Burke's Landed Gentry ) have since been reunified and the present ownership plans to next publish an updated book-form bicentenary edition in 2026. In 1877, the Oxford professor Edward Augustus Freeman criticised

575-407: Was at the 1963 Bristol South East by-election . A 1961 by-election in the constituency was won by Labour Party politician Tony Benn , but he was disqualified by reason of his peerage, and the seat was instead awarded to second-placed Conservative Malcolm St Clair . As the law had been changed, permitting Benn to renounce his peerage, St Clair agreed to stand down and the Conservatives did not run

600-499: Was chairman of the company, taking the role while Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd was editor . His fellow directors included Patrick, Lord Lichfield , and John Brooke-Little , Norroy & Ulster King of Arms . Under Norman's chairmanship, new volumes were published on royal families, Irish genealogy, and country houses of the British Isles . In 1984, the Burke's Peerage titles were separated and sold: Burke's Peerage itself

625-561: Was never elected to parliament and was a member of the Liberal Party for less than a decade, "there is much to be said for the view that he played a major part in keeping the party in existence, when it could easily have disappeared as a serious political force". Martell was the secretary of the Liberal Candidates' Association in the mid-1940s, and in 1946 was elected to the London County Council together with

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