On the 25th August 2021 my biography Victor Grayson: In Search of Britain’s Lost Revolutionary was published by Pluto. It was the culmination of approximately 12 years of sporadic reading, research, and writing, with a few strange coincidences along the way.
Reviews were strong (a selection are published at the bottom) and I was invited to write pieces for The Times, The Fabian Review, The Morning Star, and Tribune. However, I was told that my choice of Jeremy Corbyn to write the foreword had put off potential reviewers elsewhere. This seemed rather ironic given that I had asked Jeremy to pen the foreword specifically because he aroused a similar level of adoration and loathing amongst the British public as the subject of my biography had a century earlier. Nevertheless the advance sales were fairly strong.
Covid became something of a double-edged sword to the project. The initial lockdown had given me the headspace – and lack of distraction – to finally edit down over 100,000 words to the required 80,000. It also gave me chance to do one final sweep of some fragments of Grayson’s personal papers I’d received digital copies of from Grayson’s great niece in Canada. It was here that I came across the name Grant Richards, the publisher. It was that scrap of information that led me to the Grant Richards papers at the University of Illinois library, where Claire Berman helpfully sent me across a number of letters Grayson sent to Richards in 1918 which cleared some of the fog surrounding Grayson’s movements after the war. But, while this stroke of good fortune was provided by the lockdown, other consequences were far from helpful.
The original launch of the book was scheduled to be a big event at The People’s History Museum in Manchester. Unfortunately, Covid issues put a stop to that. Then there were problems actually getting copies of the book into shops which was blamed at the time on a mixture of Covid and shortages of HGV drivers. This meant that pre-orders for Waterstones and independent bookshops didn’t arrive until two to three weeks after the launch of the book. I had received 10 author copies myself in the meantime and so was able to loan these to a local independent so she could fulfil her orders. It was all an incredibly frustrating anticlimax to the release of my first book, but I tried to put a brave face on.
Some of those interested in the project did rally round though. Peter Tatchell wrote a kind review and plugged it on social media, as did Andrew Adonis and Paul Mason. Jeremy Corbyn also recorded a video promoting the book. Friends at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford offered to do something of a mini in-person launch which would be broadcast online, which raised my spirits and led to some further positive reviews and media coverage. I also held a signing at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton and friends and colleagues ensured it was one of the best-sellers (sorry Ed Miliband) over the conference.
Over the next two years discussions carried on with two people writing screenplays, another a fictional account of Grayson’s life, as well as those who wanted to debate my demolition of Donald McCormick’s fantastical account of Grayson’s last years. I also recorded a piece on Grayson for Stephen Fry’s Audible series, Edwardian Secrets, though this hit the cutting room floor and only my comments on the (unrelated to Grayson) Zinoviev letter were used.
It’s now three years since publication and I am proud of the book. I didn’t dally with conjecture and where possible relied on contemporary letters, newspaper articles, and diaries, most never used before. The book was also built on new archival discoveries and didn’t get sidetracked by obvious fakery which sets it apart from other Grayson biographies. The most scathing review was from a writer in International Socialism, a sectarian Trotskyist journal of the Socialist Workers Party, in which I was pulled up for not being a “revolutionary” myself and Grayson for not being a sufficient revolutionary theorist. Their “theory” really does sap the joy and nuance from historical research and scholarship.
A more justified criticism of the book was that it read like “the case for the defence”, a phrase I heard more than once. Although I tried to be balanced, and I do believe the book to be just that, I may, somewhat justly, be accused of being too earnest in overturning historical inaccuracies and bringing historically poor research and judgement surrounding Grayson’s life to task.
So what now for Grayson?
There has been little in the way of new discoveries regarding the Grayson story though the election of the Labour government in July 2024 offers the best chance in a generation of a full sweep of Whitehall for Grayson documents. As such a Freedom of Information request has been submitted and I will report back on the response.
One interesting nugget of information is that I did finally track down Harry Dawson, the man with whom Grayson had been exchanging erotic letters with for several years. Dawson had moved to the Colne Valley from Liverpool, shortly after Grayson’s election in 1907, and was still alive in the 1940s. I also saw a note in Reg Grove’s papers that he had been told to interview Dawson when researching his first biography of Grayson, but the transcript cannot be found in his papers. Maybe this formed part of the documents the Metropolitan Police kept after they interviewed Groves during the war.
Links to purchase the book:
The book available from all good booksellers. Second hand copies pop up on Ebay. New copies are usually cheapest at Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/hZIdnYF or Pluto: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745343983/victor-grayson/
Reviews for Victor Grayson: In Search of Britain’s Lost Revolutionary (Pluto, 2021):
‘Stunning … In Harry Taylor Grayson has found an understanding, but not uncritical, champion, who wears his extensive research lightly and has now confirmed his status as one of the party’s most perceptive and sympathetic chroniclers’ –‘Tides of History‘
‘Harry Taylor’s biography of Victor Grayson really is an excellent book. Every bit as good as people told me it was’ — Alwyn Turner
‘Wonderful’ —Jeremy Corbyn
‘A cracking read. If you like your politics and your history, Harry Taylor’s story of Victor Grayson fits the bill’ —Chris Bryant MP
‘Taylor gives us a superb life … the best biography of Grayson’ –‘Bookmunch‘
‘Casts a new light on its fascinating subject’ —Dr Kevin Hickson, Senior Lecturer in British Politics, University of Liverpool
‘A fresh and lively portrait of Victor Grayson built on sound research and archival discoveries’ —David Clark (Lord Clark of Windermere)
‘A thorough, wonderfully-written examination of a hugely intriguing and complex figure who vanished so quickly after a brief yet incendiary political career’ —Maxine Peake
‘Taylor delves into Labour’s most fascinating cold case to produce a lively and compelling story of a working class hero’ —Paul Mason
‘Victor Grayson was a socialist firebrand and trailblazer. The leftist equivalent of a spectacular firework, he blazed gloriously, but briefly, before falling to earth – and from grace. This is a gripping account of his spectacular political rise, challenge to the cosy Labour establishment, bizarre ideological volte-face and sudden, never solved, disappearance’ —Peter Tatchell
‘Remarkable … cuts through the mystery and fabrication that has surrounded Grayson’s tumultuous life and brings us a step closer to the true story of one of the most renowned socialist politicians of his generation’ —Dan Carden MP
‘From his stunning victory in the Colne Valley by-election of 1907 to his stirring oratory and mysterious disappearance, Victor Grayson has continued to be a source of fascination. In this well-written new study, Harry Taylor not only illuminates Grayson’s political career, he also illustrates its significance in the rise of the Labour Party’ —Nick Thomas Symonds MP
‘The Victor Grayson story is one of the great ‘who-dunnit’ sagas of modern politics. It is especially poignant for socialists as he was one of the first of the breed in Parliament, full of promise which soon dissipated. Harry Taylor tells the tale with verve and insight’ —Andrew Adonis
Victor Grayson 