George Lansbury, the Leader of the Labour Party from 1932-1935, and his wife Bessie had twelve children – ten surviving into adulthood - many of whom played a significant role in the history of the British Labour movement in the early and mid-twentieth century.This Lansbury generation is the focus of the essay by John Shepherd, whose monumental study of the life and political career of George Lansbury is well known and highly respected. In the early 1920s members of the Lansbury family for a time became members of the Communist Party of Great Britain - a factor that weighed against their father’s inclusion in Ramsay MacDonald’s first Labour Cabinet in 1924. Others became important pioneers in various campaigns in working-class politics, including women’s enfranchisement, birth control and abortion law reform. Altogether, they created something of a memorable Lansbury Labour dynasty in the East End, as well as in national political life. Nevertheless, what emerges from John Shepherd’s detailed and meticulous work is that, although the influence of this Lansbury generation was noteworthy in Labour politics, they never reached the political heights of their popular father. Like Herbert Gladstone, in an earlier essay, they played a very important role but in the shadow of their father’s dominating presence.
