Census: 1881:
184 Eastgate, Louth, Lincolnshire
1891: Arthur H. Sharpley, Boarder, is aged 25, born in Louth,
Lincolnshire
1901: Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire: Arthur H. Sharpley is aged 35,
born in South Linconshire and his occupation is Clergyman England
1911: Keynsham district, Somerset: Arthur Henry Sharpley is aged 45
Sources:
Birth: England Birth Index
(2Q1865 Louth vol 7a p554); exact place from 1881 census
Mother: 1881 census
Father: England Marriage
Index
(3Q1853 Louth vol 7a p891)
Marriage: England Marriage
Index
(2Q1898 Croydon vol 2a p537)
Married: Veronica Theresa Connolly.
Veronica was also a member of the Communist party. The two separated in May 1948, shortly before Cecil left the party.
Addresses:
1949: 516 Gilbert Street, West Preston, Victoria, Australia (Australian Archives A6119-188 p50)
Notes:
Cecil
began training in England for the Anglican ministry but, at Cambridge,
abandoned both University and Church, and went out to
Australia in 1928. He worked the land in Ballarat, Victoria, for two
years, and then settled in Melbourne where he saw out four jobless
years during the depression. During this time he made a few literary
contributions to newspapers. Cecil joined the Communist Party of
Australia in 1935 and rose to be
one of the seven top executives in the party in Victoria. Cecil
resigned from the Communist Party in December 1948, and wrote a series
of six
articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald
in which he exposed the complete workings of the party, named names of
party members and leaders, and
described party activities including vote rigging of union elections.
He
was the the star witness in the 1949-50
Victorian Royal Commission on Communism to which he was deposed for 16
days. Isolated from, and vilified by, his longtime friends in the
party, and separated from his Communist wife, Cecil returned to England
in December 1949. He wrote an autobiography, The Great Delusion,
which was not a financial success and was, for a while, in demand as a
speaker on communism, but this faded, and by 1953 he had settled down
in Finchley, London making a living as an insurance salesman.
In the first article there is some autobiographical material describing
Cecil's path from son of an English clergyman to Australian communist. The Sunday Herald 17 April 1949 p4: I was reared in an atmosphere of
social reform. My father was a Church of England clergyman at
Mangotsfield (a village outside Bristol) and at Islington (North
London).
At 16 I was leading a prayer and Bible study group at my school
(Weymouth College); at 17 I was preaching in North London mission
halls; at 18 I was headed for Cambridge and the Church of England
ministry.
ALTHOUGH it is more than 20 years ago, I can remember
vividly the night I broke away from that course. It was an English
summer night and I was looking out my window at Cambridge.
I had just finished reading Bertrand Russell's "I Believe." It shook my beliefs.
On that tranquil summer eve I decided to change my life before
it really started. I abandoned the University and the Church.
On January 10, 1928, I sailed for Australia in the Largs Bay as
a "Little Brother." My "Big Brother," Archdeacon Hancock, met me in
Melbourne.
For two years I worked on the land, at Ballarat. I read and
absorbed Ramsay MacDonald's "Socialism; Critical and Constructive."
Then came the depression and four jobless years. What I saw in
Australia in those cruel years, combined with my deep studies in
politics and economics, made me more and more a radical.
In 1931 I formed in Melbourne a Socialist propaganda group - the Bernard Shaw Society.
In 1933 I joined the Melbourne branch of the Australian Labour
Party. I found there a coolness toward those folk the A.L.P. deemed
"intellectuals."
I was disgusted by what I saw of the opportunism, incompetence and sheer laziness of some Labour politicians.
IN 1935, still bitter from depression memories, and disillusioned by the A.L.P., I became a Communist.
Jack Blake signed me in at the old party rooms in Little Bourke Street (the Salvation Army is there now).
I saw in Communism the path to true Socialism. And, after the
A.L.P. Socialists, the Communists impressed me with their zeal, energy
and enthusiasm.
In the 14 years to come I was to suffer much disillusionment over Communist theory and practice.
Sharpley's Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) dossier
is now open to the public (and part of it available online) at the Australian Archives.
Married: Stuart Main in 1933,
in Winchcomb
district, Gloucestershire, England
Stuart was born in 1903, in Plymouth
district, Devon, the son of Ernest Augustus Main and Eleanor
Elizabeth Drover.
Census:
1911: Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire: Stuart Main is aged 7
Marriage:
England Marriage
Index
(2Q1933 Winchcomb vol 6a p1001); Stuart birth from England Birth
Index (4Q1903 Plymouth vol 5b p179); Stuart parents from 1911 census
with mother's surname from England Marriage Index (3Q1888 Alverstoke
vol 2b p905)
Esther Muriel (Sharpley) Raworth
Birth: 1900, in Birmingham,
Warwickshire, England
Baptism: 4 June 1900, in Mangotsfield,
Gloucestershire, England
Married: Reginald Raworth in 1934,
in Winchcomb
district, Gloucestershire, England
Reginald was born in 1902, in Bridgwater
district, Somerset, the son of Albert Edward Raworth and Claudia
Maria Hellier.
Census:
1911: Bridgwater, Somerset: Reginald Raworth is aged 9
Census:
1901: Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire: Esther M. Sharpley is aged 1,
born in Birmingham
1911: Bristol, Somerset: Esther Sharple is aged 11
Sources:
Birth: England Birth Index
(2Q1900 West Bromwich vol 6b p841); exact place from 1901 census
Marriage: England Marriage
Index
(2Q1934 Winchcomb vol 6a p1015); Reginald birth from England Birth
Index (1Q1902 Bridgwater vol 5c p307); Reginald parents from 1911
census with mother's surname from England Marriage Index (3Q1897
Cardiff vol 11a p488)
Irene Cecilia (Sharpley) Henry
Birth: 1899, in Birmingham,
Warwickshire, England
Baptism: 5 May 1899, in St George's,
Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
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