News, Peace

The origins of Peace News lie in a pacifist study group which met in Wood Green, London, on the initiative of Humphrey Moore. The group financed the publication of the first issue of Peace News as a means of spreading the pacifist cause. It appeared on 6 June 1936 and soon became the official newspaper of the Peace Pledge Union (formed in 1934 by Dick Sheppard). Humphrey Moore took on the role of editor and a limited company was set up in 1937. Peace News reached a peak circulation of 35,000 in 1938.

Wartime restrictions on the distribution and printing of Peace News and divisions within the peace movement about how to respond to the war led to a drop in circulation. The editor during this period, John Middleton Murry, became personally disillusioned with pacifism and resigned both from the newspaper and the PPU. Frank Lea took over as editor in 1946, assisted by Hugh Brock whose printing firm had produced Peace News during the war. Hugh Brock also worked alongside Bernard Boothroyd (1949-1951) and J Allen Skinner (1951-1955), before becoming editor himself in 1955. Peace News acquired its offices at 5 Caledonian Road, London, in 1959; the building also housed Housmans Bookshop.

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