Obituary from the March 1959 issue of the Socialist Standard
We regret to inform members of the death of C. Thurlow, of West Ham Branch. Comrade Thurlow had been a member of the Party for many years. Originally he was in the I.L.P., but soon found his way to the Socialist Party and became an active member. In the nineteen thirties he was on the Executive Committee and also served for some time on the Parliamentary Committee. About six years ago he was disabled by a severe illness, which ended his working life and obliged him to remain inactive. In spite of his poor health he continued to attend Branch meetings and take as much interest as he could in the affairs of the Party. Much of his time during this enforced retirement went into his other great interest, his stamp collection, which was a remarkably fine one and had been arranged in unorthodox fashion to provide a source of historical, geographical and other knowledge. Latterly, however, his health deteriorated and he died shortly before the end of last year.
Our late Comrade’s own words fittingly describe his years of staunch fighting to spread the Party’s case: “I died as I lived, hostile to Capitalism and religious superstition.”
Our sympathies are extended to his wife, Comrade Violet Thurlow. and his daughter.
E. W.
3 comments:
Cecil Geoffrey Thurlow joined the SPGB on three separate occasions.
He first joined the SPGB in February 1920 - joining from the ILP - but was expelled in September of the same year for violating the Party's hostility clause. He rejoined the SPGB in June 1930 and resigned from the SPGB at some point (but there's no date of his resignation given in the membership records.) And he rejoined the SPGB for the final time in April 1944 and remained a member of the SPGB until his death. During all his various times of Party membership, he was a member of the West Ham branch of the SPGB.
His wife, Mrs Violet May Thurlow, was also a member of the SPGB, and a family member, JEL Thurlow, was also listed as a member of West Ham branch of the SPGB in the late 1940s.
"but was expelled in September of the same year for violating the Party's hostility clause.."
What was his transgression...did he not cut all his connections with the ilp?
No idea. I'm just going by the data that Keith entered into the (old) membership database.
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