Biggs, Howard (Thomas Howard Ashford), 1917 - 1994
Dates
- Existence: 1917 - 1994
Biography
Thomas Howard Ashford Biggs was born on 28th March 1917. His father was a musician, working with the Central London Choral and Orchestral Society. Biggs spent three years as a pupil at Stone House School, in Kent, and attended two other public schools before going to Oxford University (Lincoln College) in 1936, to study Law. Biggs joined the British Union, and while at Oxford, he became heavily involved in Fascist activities. During his first term, he held the post of Secretary of the Oxford University Fascist Association (OUFA) for Lincoln College, eventually becoming District Leader of the OUFA - a post which he resigned from in March 1939 to become Assistant District Leader of the Combined English Universities District of the British Union.
Biggs made two trips abroad in the late 1930s, and during his trip to Heidelberg in 1936, he attended a Nazi rally held in the Thingstätte (open-air amphitheatre) at midsummer. In 1939, Biggs went on a European tour with his aunt Ethel Bright Ashford; this was organised by the pro-Nazi Anglo-German organisation called The Link.
Biggs left Oxford in 1939, without a degree. In June 1940, he was detained under Defence Regulation 18B (1A); spending time as an internee in various prisons and camps, including on the Isle of Man. His Order of Detention was suspended in January 1942 (though he still had to comply with conditions regarding residence and work); the Order was finally revoked in January 1944. Biggs then worked as a teacher at Kingwell Court School, Wiltshire, eventually obtaining a teaching post in January 1945 at his old school Stone House. There is no finishing date for his employment at Stone House, but it is probable that he worked there for many years.
In 1957 Biggs married Lola Hussey, a former Wren. Howard Biggs died in 1994; Lola Biggs died in 2004.