The British Union of Fascists (B.U.F.) was formed in 1932 and not long after were establishing networks right across Britain, including in Aberdeen. In September 1935 the B.U.F. tried to hold a meeting at the Music Hall but protesters stopped their meeting. The protesters were made up of members of the local Communist Party and so in November 1935 a meeting was called addressed by Party stalwarts Bob Stewart and J.R. Campbell, with the protesters now styling themselves the Aberdeen Anti-Fascist League. What followed was another 3 years of vicious confrontation between the fascists and anti-fascists, resulting in street battles, criminal damage and court cases.
Although there were battles across the UK, Aberdeen became a centre for activity because of the prominent roles in the B.U.F. of activists based in the locality: William Keith Abercrombie Jopp Chambers-Hunter, the Laird of Tillery, near Udny, and his sister-in-law, Agnes Botha.
Related entries: Aberdeen Communist Party
References: Aberdeen Daily Journal, Fascism in Aberdeen: Street Politics in the 1930s (Liz Kibblewhite and Andrew Rigby, Aberdeen People’s Press, 1978) and Proud Journey: a Spanish Civil War memoir (Bob Cooney, Marx Memorial Library, 2015).
Sources: unknown.
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