Edgar Dugdale

Who was Edgar Dugdale?

Edgar Trevelyan Stratford Dugdale was a translator, completing the first English translation of Mein Kampf. He gained the rank of Captain in the Leicestershire Yeomanry and held the office of Justice of the Peace.

The first English translation of Mein Kampf was an abridgment by Edgar Dugdale, who started work on it in 1931, at the prompting of his wife Blanche. When he learned that the London publishing firm of Hurst & Blackett had secured the rights to publish an abridgment in the United Kingdom, he offered it gratis in April 1933. However, a local Nazi party representative insisted that the translation be further abridged before publication, so it was held back from the public until 13 October 1933, although excerpts were allowed to run in The Times in late July.

In America, Houghton Mifflin secured the rights to the Dugdale abridgment on 29 July 1933. The only differences between the American and British versions are that the title was translated as My Struggle in the UK and My Battle in America; and that Dugdale is credited as translator in the U.S. edition, while the British version withheld his name. Both Dugdales were active in the Zionist movement; Blanche was the niece of Lord Balfour, and they wished to avoid publicity.