Winston Churchill, won his suit against Lord Alfred Douglas, the anti-Semitic publisher and author. Lord Alfred was found guilty of criminal libel and sentenced to six months imprisonment in the second division. Justice Every, in summing up, said there was no doubt that the matter published by Douglas concerning Mr. Churchill was libel ous. The defendant, instead of giving evidence made a diatribe of politics and indulged in vituperous abuse against Mr. Churchill, the Justice declared.
In addition to the imprisonment Lord Alfred has been ordered to deposit a surety of £100 at the end of sentence to keep the peace for six months, particularly toward Mr. Churchill. Failure to find a guarantee will result in Douglas being imprisoned for an additional six months.
The Justice referred to Douglas’ suit for libel against the Morning POST where his accusations also proved untrue. Lord Douglas must be daught like other persons to suffer punishment, the Justice declared.
The libelous statements of which Lord Douglas has been found guilty were contained in a pamphlet entitled “Winston Churchill, The Battle of Jutland and the Jews”. In this pamphlet Douglas libeled that Mr. Churchill issued a false communique regarding the Battle of Jutland to enable the late Sir Ernest Cassel to buy British and German Securities at a low rate. The Earl of Balfour testified during the trial that he had issued the communique in question, with which Mr. Churchill had nothing to do. The Secretary to the late Sir Ernest testified that his employer bought no German securities during the war.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
