Edgar Lansbury

Edgar Isaac Lansbury (3 April 1887 – 28 May 1935) was a British Communist politician. His daughter was an English-American actress Angela Lansbury. Life and career Lansbury was the son of Elizabeth (née Brine) and politician George Lansbury, who was leader of the Labour Party during the 1930s. He grew up in Poplar in the East End of London, and joined the Civil Service at a young age. In 1910, he left to set up with his brother as timber merchants. Lansbury was elected to Poplar Council in 1912, serving alongside his father. He represented both the Labour Party and (after its foundation in 1920) the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Later that same year, he worked on his father's campaign for Parliamentary re-election, after resignation over the issue, on a radical platform of women's suffrage at the Bow and Bromley by-election. He also supported Sylvia Pankhurst's East London Federation of Suffragettes, serving as Honorary Treasurer in 1915. In 1917 he became liable to call-up for military service, and an initial application for exemption as a conscientious objector was refused, but the refusal was overturned by the London County Military Service Appeal Tribunal.