H. T. Muggeridge

Who was H. T. Muggeridge?

Henry Thomas Muggeridge was a British politician and father of famous author and journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge.

Muggeridge was born the son of a Penge undertaker on 26 June 1864. When the family was abandoned by his father, HTM left school and began work as an office boy in the City of London. The little money he kept for himself was spent on books, and it was his avid lunchtime reading that led to a keen interest in politics. His second job was again as an office boy for a firm of shirtmakers, where he stayed until he retired. He eventually became Company Secretary, but had turned down a directorship, as he felt it was at odds with his political principles.

In 1893, HTM married Annie Booler, the daughter of a Sheffield factory foreman, and they had five sons, Malcolm being the middle child. Malcolm would describe his father as a small bearded man with a large frame, a twinkling eye and a rather bulbous nose.

One of Malcolm's quoted memories of his father is of his visits to the market in Surrey Street, where he would set up his platform and spout forth his views on the need for socialism: "Now ladies and gentlemen. It's His Majesty's Government, His Majesty's Navy, His Majesty's Stationery Office, His Majesty's this and His Majesty's that. But it's the National Debt. Why isn't that His Majesty's? We'll gladly let His Majesty have that, won't we?"