Hitler's Kingdom Come - A Present History Multimedia Project

When you think of Nazis and religious cults, you probably think of an old gothic castle in a dark corner of Germany.

You don’t tend to think of England. Much less, leafy Surrey.

But, in 1943, a group of men came together to worship Hitler as the second coming of Christ. Setting up a church in Petworth, Surrey, they worshiped Hitler at their altar, wrote letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi. They even penned their own version of the Bible, called the 'Holy Book of Adolf Hitler'. 

It all began in 1942, at Peveril Internment Camp on the Isle of Man. To find out more about these dark beginnings, check out the first podcast episode below. 

You can also read the transcript with all the links and references here.

Every member of the League of Christian Reformers found their start in one of the many Fascist organisations that were active and influential during the 1930s and 40s. Check out the video below, two find out more about just two of these groups. 

During their time in these groups, all of the League's Members became, in some way linked to, or friends with Oswald Mosley. Recently, Oswald Mosley found a new lease on life, as he became one of the leading characters in Season Five of the phenomenon that was Peaky Blinders. Check out the TikTok below to find out just how accurate this portrayal was.

Oswald Mosley was later arrested and interned for his fascist ideology. As were Thomas St Barbe Baker, James Larratt Battersby, Arthur Schneider and WG Barlow. What made this all possible was a piece of legislation introduced in 1939. Watch the TikTok below to find out more about the infamous Regulation 18b.

The years between the end of the First World War in 1918, and the outbreak of the Second in 1939, had been pivotal in the transforming of the state of Christianity in Britain. With the outbreak of the Second World War, people began to contemplate the ‘ultimate issues’ of life, death, good, evil, suffering and the nature of reality, once more. Many came to belief in God as a means by which to try and understand, or deal with the reality of war. As, put simply by the old adage, there are no atheists in a foxhole. 

The post-war years were a time of transition in Britain. Church attendance declined, society began to become more liberal, secular and materialistic. Other religions, such as Islam, began to gain more of a following as immigration increased, and many people even began to reject religion as a whole, viewing it as mostly unnecessary in their daily lives, preferring to use their Sundays to play golf or go to the cinema. 

Into this setting, Baker and Battersby brought forward their new form of Christianity that they saw as the answer to the turmoil of war and questions of salvation and hope. This was an amalgam of views, combining the eschatological themes of Revelation and Biblical Scripture with their political views of Fascism and Nazism, that they had formed during their time in Peveril.

Check out the next episode of the podcast below, to learn about Pastor J. Walker, a man who stood up against the League, and called them out for their 'heretical and blasphemous' version of Christianity.

You can read the transcript here! 

To truly understand all that Pastor Walker was standing against, it is crucial to understand what the League truly believed. What motivated them? What guided them? What did Christianity, theology and religion mean to them? Check out the next podcast episode below, where we dig in to the wacky, crazy and fascinating theology of the League of Christian Reformers. 

You can read the transcript with all the references and citations here!

To outwork this theology and practice their beliefs, the League needed a church; a citadel of their ideology; a headquarters for their cult. This they found in Kingdom House. This became their home for the duration of their existence. I had the exciting opportunity to visit and film the house, something I never really imagined could be possible.

Check out the video below to find out more about Kingdom House, the citadel of the British Cult that Worshiped Hitler, and the base of operations for making Hitler’s Kingdom Come.

Pastor Walker was not the only one to oppose the League, nor was he the only one to come to Kingdom House itself to make their feelings known. In December 1945, fourteen masked men and women took it upon themselves to bring down this cult.

Check out the podcast episode below to find out more about the violent vigilantes that attacked the League. 

You can find the transcript with all the references and citations here!

To know the names, dates, facts and figures of this group and their actions is one thing, to understand their personalities and characters is another. There is only so much that we can glean from their writings, the news reports and the MI5 files. To speak to someone who personally knew at least some of them, is invaluable and, to be honest, incredibly exciting. That is why, one of the main things that I wanted to do at the start of this project, was to speak to Amanda Hale.

While writing my undergraduate dissertation about this topic, her book, Mad Hatter, had provided interesting insights into the character and personality of many of the members of the League of Christian Reformers. In particular, James Larratt Battersby, the so-called Mad Hatter, and Amanda’s father.

And so, I shot her an email, intrigued as to what her response would be to me doing a whole multimedia project on the League of Christian Reformers, and especially wanting to do an episode specifically about her father. She responded quickly, and seemed interested in the project, and excited to talk about her book. I was elated.

We soon organised a meeting, and, as we sat down to record, the sun was glaring through the blinds in my office, and snow was falling outside the windows of her's. She was in Canada, I was in England. And yet, what should have been an obstacle that made an interview like this impossible, is now hardly a barrier at all. We pressed record, and for the next hour or so, we discussed James Battersby, his life, career, beliefs and eventual end. We also discussed Amanda, her process in writing, balancing fact and fiction, her research into her father, and how this journey of discovery became more than just research for a book to her, but something that challenged and impacted her to the core. It was a fascinating conversation, and I can’t wait to you to hear it.

So, here is my conversation with Amanda Hale, bestselling author and the daughter of James Larratt Battersby, the Mad Hatter.

The process of writing, mixing fact with fiction and making the past come to life is something that I have discussed with Joanna Grochowicz and Annie Whitehead in previous episodes of the podcast, but for Amanda Hale, things were different. She was writing about her father, her family, and, ultimately, herself. Striking this fragile balance between truth and imagination, love and hate, family and fiction, is what we discussed in the second part of the interview. 

The League of Christian Reformers seems to have petered out after the raid in December 1945. There is a distinct lack in media reports from that point on, suggesting that the members of the League had dispersed, with some, like Baker and Battersby headed to South Africa to try and start a new life on a fruit farm. Some months later, they returned to Britain, where Baker spent the rest of his life living in Jersey, where he was visited by a number of prominent Fascists.

Battersby was deported as an ‘undesirable immigrant’ and denied return to South Africa. He had lost his money, family and property, living in lodgings where he continued writing and publishing leaflets about his beliefs. He supposedly went insane, believing that he could communicate with fellow ‘Hitlerites’ using telepathy. Three years later, in 1952, he charged out in front of the Cenotaph during a two-minute silence for Remembrance Day, shouting ‘Heil Hitler’, before being arrested and charged with ‘insulting behaviour’. Less than three years later, he committed suicide in 1955, by jumping head-first into the paddle wheels of the Merseyside ferry.

Schneider headed to Northern Rhodesia with his family, and there is no further information about him.

The first report that Kingdom House was abandoned was made on 12th February 1949, by the Chief Constable of West Sussex.

Check out the Original Soundtrack, composed by Kieren Peatling!

Check out the Dark Britain episode:

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