James Anthony Lemkin (21 December 1926 - 12 May 2008) was a solicitor and politician who took an interest in the decolonisation of Africa. The son of William Lemkin, CBE, and Rachel Irene née Faith, his father was a leading member of the Jewish business community in Manchester.
Educated at Charterhouse and the University of Oxford, Lemkin undertook National Service in the Royal Navy in 1945-1947, much of it in Africa. Returning to civilian life, he qualified as a solicitor in 1953. Whikle a student he had been a founding member of the Bow Group, a Conservative think tank, in 1951. He was treasurer of the group in 1951 and chairman in 1953, 1956 and 1957.
He edited two Bow Group pamphlets Race and Power (1956) and The New Africa (1962) and was a founder of the Africa Confidential newsletter in 1960.[1]
Unhappy with the pace at which the Conservative Party government were proceeding with decolonisation, he left and joined the Liberal Party in April 1962. He became an advisor to the finance minister of the Zambian government-elect as the country headed for independence, and was instrumental in the nationalisation of the country's copper industry.
At the 1964 general election he was Liberal candidate at Cheltenham but was unsuccessful.
In 1970 he rejoined the Conservatives and was a member of the Greater London Council representing Uxbridge from 1973 until the GLC's abolition in 1986. He was awarded the CBE in the 1986 New Year's Honours for 'political and public service'.
He was appointed High Sheriff of Greater London for 1992.[2]
- ↑ History. Africa Confidential.
- ↑ London Gazette: no. 52868. p. 5026. 20 March 1992.
"Obituary: James Lemkin". The Times: p. 67.