Literary Association of the Friends of Poland

Literary Association of the Friends of Poland is a British organization of solidarity with Poles, founded February 25, 1832 in United Kingdom by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell and German lawyer Adolphus Bach.[1] Although the creation of the LAFP was the result of deep pro-Polish sympathies of Campbell and the whole contemporary British public opinion, there is no evidence that Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski had any direct impact on its foundation.

History

Thomas Campbell was the Society's first President, and the first secretary was a young Anglo-Irishman, Richard Graves Meredith. The main goal of the society was to sustain the interest of British public opinion in the Polish question after the failure of the November Uprising. Its members included many influential British political figures, e.g. Sir Francis Burdett, Dudley Ryder, Robert Cutlar Fergusson, Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont, Daniel O'Connell, Thomas Attwood and Patrick Stuart.

There were also a number of regional associations created in 1832 which supported the main association in London: these were: Hull Literary Polish Society (founded in July 1832),[2] Glasgow Polish Association (founded in October 1832),[3] and the Birmingham Polish Association (founded in October 1832).[4]

Notes

  1. The Literary Association of the Friends of Poland was also known as the Polish Association (Campbell 1849, p. 101 and Tyler 1851, pp. 283,284)
  2. Literary association of the friends of Poland 1832, p. 35.
  3. Literary association of the friends of Poland 1832, p. 320.
  4. Literary association of the friends of Poland 1832, p. 323,413.

References

Further reading