Our great solicitor

The present work discusses Josiah Wedgwood IV's attempts to serve Britain, Western ideals, industrial know-how, and democracy by supporting in particular the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe and Palestine. Wedgwood was an advocate of the Jews and of persecuted peoples everywhere. Born in 1872, he was part of a long line of English independent thinkers. His ancestors - who made the family name synonymous with quality china - had supported the fight against Charles II in the seventeenth century, the case of the American colonists in the eighteenth century, and of abolitionists in the nineteenth century. Josiah fit the family mold perfectly - ever in the forefront of progressive thought, always advocating protection of the rights of man. It was his contention that wherever in the world Britain had a claim to influence events, it was her right and obligation to make sure that she did so. He felt it was a crime beyond reproach when Britain itself was part and parcel of any persecution. To Wedgwood - who sat in Parliament from 1906 until his elevation to the peerage in 1942 - Britain and liberty, England and opposition to oppression, went hand in hand. Appeasers who gave in to tyrants