Philip Richard Sansom (19 September 1916 – 24 October 1999) was a British anarchist writer and activist.

Early life and education

Sansom was the son John Sansom, lathe operator, and Lillian Sansom (née Underwood), occupation unknown, in Hackney, London. He lived in Wandsworth in south London, the same area from which Colin Ward, a fellow member of the Freedom Press Group and a good friend, came. Later he trained as a commercial artist in West Ham Technical College, during which he came into contact with the published works of Herbert Read, the acclaimed art historian. Sansom (1987) recalled that at the time, in 1936, Read was ‘already established as England’s leading writer on modern art in all its facets’ and that his books: '“The meaning of art”, “Art and industry” and “Art and society” were almost required reading for my generation of art students'. After he left art college, Sansom worked as a commercial artist.

Political affiliation

Westhall (1973) observed that the position of Sansom: Sansom affirmed his commitment to syndicalism with his 1951 pamphlet ‘Syndicalism: The workers’ next step’, excerpts of which have been republished in Graham (2009).

Second World War

During the Second World War Sansom was a registered conscientious objector and worked on the land. From 1943 Sansom contributed articles and cartoons to the newspaper War Commentary (the title of which reverted in 1945 to Freedom). He then became involved with its publisher, Freedom Press. By 1944 he had become, with Vernon Richards, Marie Louise Berneri and John Hewetson, one of the editors of the newspaper. In 1945, he served two prison sentences. Initially he served a two-month sentence in Brixton Prison. Later that year, all four editors of War Commentary were tried at the Old Bailey for the offence of ‘the dissemination of three seditious issues of War Commentary under Defence Regulation 39a’. Sansom was found guilty and sentenced to nine months imprisonment, which he served in Wormwood Scrubs.

Post Second World War

After the war Sansom became a printer, a journalist, an editor (of Sewing Machine Times and the Loading Machine Times), and a comic-strip artist. As a comic-strip artist he embraced surrealism. He was a charismatic orator at Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park, and elsewhere in the 1950s and 1960s.

Publications