Noel Pemberton Billing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Noel Pemberton Billing (1881 – 11 November 1948) was an English aviator, inventor, and Member of Parliament. In politics he was known for his extreme right-wing views, especially his campaigning against homosexuals, and his promotion of air power.
Contents |
[edit] Early life and aviation
Born in Hampstead, England, Billing ran away from home at the age of 14 and travelled to South Africa. After trying a number of occupations, he joined the mounted police and became a boxer. He then fought in the Boer War, but was invalided out.
Billing then returned to England and used his savings to open a garage in Kingston upon Thames. This was successful, but he became more interested in aviation. An attempt to open an aerodrome in Essex failed, but started a short-lived career in property, while he studied to become a lawyer. He passed his exams, but instead moved into selling steam yachts. He won a £500 bet that he could gain his pilot's licence within 24 hours of first sitting in a plane, and used the winnings to found a Southampton-based aircraft business, "Pemberton-Billing Ltd", with Hubert Scott-Paine, in 1913. Financial difficulties soon set in, but the onset of World War I revived its fortunes.
In 1914, Billing was called up to the Royal Navy, where he organised an aircraft raid on Zeppelin sheds near Lake Constance. He was able to sell his share in the aviation firm to Scott-Paine in early 1916, who renamed the firm Supermarine. However, Leo McKinstry, in his book Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend[1] suggests that Billing was the founder of Supermarine.
[edit] Politics and journalism
As a man of means, Billing in 1916 contested the Mile End by-election as an independent candidate, and then won another by-election in Hertford. He held the seat at the 1918 general election.
During the war he was notable for his support of air power, constantly accusing the government of neglecting the issue and advocating the creation of a separate air force, unattached to either the army or navy. He also called for air raids against German cities. In 1917 he published Air War and How to Wage it, which emphasised the future role of raids on cities and the need to develop protective measures.
Billing appeared to be obsessed with the notion that homosexuality was infiltrating and tainting English society during WWI.[1] He founded a journal, Imperialist, in which he wrote an article based on information provided by Harold Sherwood Spencer which claimed that the Germans were blackmailing 47,000 Britons to "propagate evils which all decent men thought had perished in Sodom and Lesbia." The names were said to be inscribed in the "Berlin Black Book" of the "Mbret of Albania". The contents of this book revealed that the Germans planned on "exterminating the manhood of Britain" by luring men into homosexual acts. "Even to loiter in the streets was not immune. Meretricious agents of the Kaiser were stationed at such places as Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner. In this black book of sin details were given of the unnatural defloration of children...wives of men in supreme positions were entangled. In Lesbian ecstasy the most sacred secrets of the state were threatened".[2] He publicly attacked Margot Asquith, wife of the prime minister, hinting that she was entangled in this. He also targeted members of the circle around Robbie Ross, the literary executor of Oscar Wilde, who supported and introduced gay poets and writers.
Pemberton Billing's journal was then renamed Vigilante, and published a second article, "The Cult of the Clitoris". This implied that the actress Maud Allan, then appearing in a private production of Salome, was a lesbian associate of the conspirators. This led to a sensational libel case, at which Billing represented himself and won. Lord Alfred Douglas, a former lover of Oscar Wilde, testified in Billing's favour.
After 1921, ill health forced Billing to resign from the House of Commons and retire from politics, but he continued to remain active in many other fields.
In 1941 he attempted to return to politics, seeking to replicate his success during World War I as a critic of the conduct of the war. He advocated the defeat of Germany by bombing alone, and the defense of Britain by a system of spaced light-beams directed upwards, which would confuse enemy bombers. Billing also proposed a post-war reform of the British constitution, arguing that general elections should be abolished in favour of a rolling programme of by-elections and that a new second chamber should be created appointed from representatives of trades and professions. He also argued that there should be a separate "Women's parliament" dedicated to "domestic" matters.[3] He stood in four by-elections, most notably in Hornsey. However, he was unable to take any seats.
[edit] Inventions
In 1922, Billing patented a recording system intended to produce records with ten times the capacity of existing systems, but its complexity prevented popular uptake; it depended on a progressive gearing system which reduced the rotational speed of the record as it played, so that the linear speed at which the recorded groove passed the needle remained constant. A further musical invention, the "unbreakable record", was marketed by Duophone in 1925, but failed to take off, as it rapidly wore out needles.
In 1927, Billing wrote a play, High Treason, inspired by Fritz Lang's film Metropolis. He filmed this the following year in two versions, one silent and the other an early "talkie", but none of these productions proved successful.
In 1936, Billing designed the miniature "Le Coultre Compass" camera. In 1948, he devised the "Phantom" camera to be used by spies. It never entered production, but its rarity led one to sell for £120,000, a record price for any camera, in 2001.
Shortly before World War II, Billing claimed to have invented an uncrewed flying bomb, but the design was not pursued.
[edit] Representations in literature
The Eye in the Door, the award-winning second novel in a World War I trilogy by Pat Barker, deals with the psychiatric treatment of soldiers torn between patriotism and pacificism, and between homosexuality and heterosexuality. This is explicitly set against the backdrop of Pemberton Billing's campaigns.
[edit] References
- ^ a b McKinstry, Leo. Spitfire: Portait of a Legend. London, UK. John Murray Publisher. 435pp. ISBN 9780719568749
- ^ Philip Hoare, Oscar Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy, and the Most Outrageous Trial of the Century., Arcade Publishing, 1999, p.40; see also Kettle, Michael. Salome's Last Veil: The Libel Case of the Century, London: Granada, 1977.; Jodie Medd, "'The Cult of the Clitoris': Anatomy of a National Scandal," Modernism/Modernity 9, no. 1 (2002): 21–49
- ^ Chris Cook, John Ramsden, By-Elections in British Politics, Routledge, 1997, pp135-6
[edit] Further reading
- Barbara Stoney, Twentieth Century Maverick, Bank House Books.
[edit] External links
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir John Fowle Lancelot Rolleston |
Member of Parliament for Hertford 1916–1921 |
Succeeded by Murray Sueter |
