Humphrey Moore

Humphrey Sims Moore (17 April 1909 – 15 August 1995)^[1] was a British pacifist and journalist. He founded Peace News, the British pacifist magazine, in 1936.

Life and career

Born on 17 April 1909 in

Quaker.^[1] The family returned to the United Kingdom shortly before the outbreak of World War I and settled in Birmingham.^[1] Motivated by their Quaker faith, both of his parents publicly advocated for peace, and his mother was active with the Independent Labour Party.^[1] Like his parents, Moore became active in pacifist activism and joined the No More War Movement.^[1] In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked as a journalist in Burton and Sunderland during which time he embraced various socialist causes.^[1]

In 1932 Moore took a post as a journalist in Ealing, and a year later he became editor of the

Gandhi, George Lansbury, and cartoonist Arthur Wragg

.

Sales of Peace News peaked at around 40,000 during the so-called Phoney War following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and before major land battles in Europe. In May 1940, in the face of demands in parliament for the banning of the paper, the printer and distributors stopped working with Peace News. However, together with the typographer Eric Gill, Hugh Brock and his brother Ashley, and many others, Moore continued to publish Peace News and arrange for distribution around the UK. At more or less the same time Moore faced a conscientious objector's tribunal at which he was exempted from war service.^[4]

Humphrey Moore’s emphasis on Peace News having a single-minded anti-war policy was increasingly being challenged as the war went on. Others wanted greater emphasis on building a peaceful society once hostilities ended. In 1940 the PPU appointed John Middleton Murry to edit the paper, asking Moore to stay on as assistant editor.^[1] Moore eventually resigned in 1944 to join the News Chronicle.^[1] Later, he worked on newspapers in Birmingham .^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Harry Mister (12 September 1995). "Humphrey Moore: A news-stand for peace". The Guardian. p. 16.
^ "Harry Mister, "Kathleen Moore 1907-1996", Peace News, No 2402". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2010-01-11.
^ Peace News, No 1, 6 June 1936, p 1
^ ^a ^b "Harry Mister, "Humphrey Moore 1909-1995", Peace News, No 2395". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2010-01-10.

Media offices
Preceded by New position	Editor of Peace News 1934 – 1940	Succeeded by John Middleton Murry

[obit-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Harry Mister (12 September 1995). "Humphrey Moore: A news-stand for peace". The Guardian. p. 16.

[2] "Harry Mister, "Kathleen Moore 1907-1996", Peace News, No 2402". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2010-01-11.

[3] Peace News, No 1, 6 June 1936, p 1

[peacenews-4] "Harry Mister, "Humphrey Moore 1909-1995", Peace News, No 2395". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2010-01-10.

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