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VICTOR GOLLANCZ - REPTON'S LOSS WAS A PUBLISHING GAIN

A number of entrants in our 'Famous Residents' category were neither born in Derbyshire nor did they live in the county on a long-term basis. But the time they did spend in Derbyshire nevertheless proved significant in their life as a whole. One good example is Victor Gollancz, for after being sacked from his position as a schoolmaster at Repton, he established one of the twentieth century's most influential publishing companies. Here Peter Seddon recounts his story.

The sacked Repton schoolmaster Victor Gollancz (1893-1967)

Sir Victor Gollancz (1893-1967) was the son of Alexander Gollancz, a prosperous wholesale jeweller of Jewish-Polish origin.

He became an influential member of the Labour party and a compassionate humanitarian, but is best-known as a distinguished publisher with overt left-wing tendencies. His company Victor Gollancz Ltd. published many important authors and some of the most seminal works in twentieth century literature.

All of this was achieved after a formative period as a master at Repton School. Gollancz considered that time of his life both happy and highly significant - so much so that in his second volume of autobiography he devoted almost half the space to his Repton period despite it spanning only three years of his life.

Victor Gollancz was born in London on 9 April 1893. After his education at St. Paul's School and New College, Oxford, he was seconded by the War Office during World War One to become a temporary schoolmaster. He was duly 'posted' to Repton circa 1916, and remained there until Easter 1918.

He was essentially a teacher of English, but his biggest influence at the school was in co-founding the Civics Class in 1917. Today this might be termed 'General Studies' - it aimed through open discussion and debate to educate boys in the wider affairs of the world, particularly in matters moral, philosophical and political.

In the Repton School history written by Bernard Thomas in 1957, the 'temporary teacher' was described: 'In Gollancz the school found a brilliant young master, a fascinating talker, provocative, and not one ready to be impressed by the dignity of his elders - indeed the kind of staff enfant terrible who appeals to boys.'

But that same rebellious streak did not altogether appeal to the Repton headmaster Geoffrey Fisher, for at the end of the Easter term in 1918 Gollancz was asked to leave. The catalyst for his sacking - for that it truly was - was that he had established an unofficial school magazine enitled A Public School looks at the World - informally known as The Pubber.

The views contained in The Pubber were considered by Fisher to be inflammatory and excessively 'Left Wing'. Also the progressive nature of much of the Civics lessons had upset Fisher, and he was solidly supported in that view by the more 'conservative' majority of Repton's masters. Quite simply Gollancz the 'troublemaker' had to go.

In the event, Repton's loss proved publishing's gain. Having witnessed at first hand the power of the written word, Gollancz was drawn towards both politics and publishing. In 1921 he joined the publishing company Benn Brothers, where his enthusiasm and flair contributed to a huge increase in turnover and profit.

He displayed a particular flair for marketing, and also recruited well-known novelists such as Edith Nesbit and H. G. Wells. The firm's owner Ernest Benn loudly declared Gollancz to be a "publishing genius", yet he was unwilling to give him full control over the company. As a result, Gollancz left Ernest Benn in 1927 and formed his own publishing company.

Victor Gollancz Ltd. proved an immediate success. Using methods developed at Benn Brothers, he developed the company into a leading and influential publishing house.

Many of the titles he published were influenced by his socialist ideas. In 1936 Gollancz joined with the Labour MP John Strachey to found The Left Book Club. The main aim was to spread socialist ideas and to resist the rise of Fascism in Britain - it proved so popular that by 1939 its membership numbered 50,000.

One of the authors Gollancz commissioned was George Orwell, to whom he gave an open brief to 'write about the urban working class in the North of England'. The result was the huge and important success The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). Other classics published by Gollancz included Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938) and Lucky Jim (1953) by Kingsley Amis.

The success of the Left Book Club encouraged socialists to believe there was a market for a left-wing weekly. Gollancz was approached by a group of Labour MPs that included Stafford Cripps, Aneurin Bevan, George Strauss and Ellen Wilkinson and it was agreed to start publishing Tribune. Gollancz joined the editorial board and George Orwell, by then recognised as Britain's leading left-wing writer, agreed to contribute articles and later became the paper's literary editor.

Victor Gollancz was also influential as a political activist. During the late 1930s and early 1940s he was heavily involved in trying to get Jewish refugees out of Germany. After the war he worked hard to relieve starvation in Germany, and founded the Jewish Society for Human Service.

In the 1950s his vigorous lobbying helped establish several well-known bodies. He was instrumental in founding both the 'National Campaign for the Abolition of Capital Punishment' and 'War on Want' (1951). And in 1951 he joined with Bertrand Russell, Fenner Brockway, J. B. Priestley, Canon John Collins and Michael Foot to form the 'Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament'.

Victor Gollancz was knighted in 1965 and he died on 8 February 1967 at the age of 73.

Books published by Gollancz Ltd. have been read by millions around the world. And the company's founder is considered one of the twentieth century's most important and influential thinkers. Not bad for a 'failed' teacher once considered 'too dangerous' for Repton School.

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