John Amery (1912–1945) was born into a prominent political family. His father, Leo Amery, was a Conservative MP, Cabinet minister and long‑connected to Lustleigh. His mother, Elizabeth Leitner, came from a noted Hungarian Jewish scholarly family, a fact Leo concealed throughout his career. John’s younger brother, Julian, followed his father into Parliament and government. John, however, developed a reputation from childhood as difficult, unstable and academically unreliable. He attended multiple schools, exhausted private tutors, and failed in every business venture he attempted, each ending in bankruptcy.
Despite his failures, Amery lived a playboy life and spent heavily on prostitutes. At twenty‑one he married Una Wing, a former prostitute. She returned to prostitution because Amery could not support them financially, and he repeatedly begged his father for money. His personal instability, financial irresponsibility and ideological extremism formed the background to his later treason.
Amery was a committed fascist, virulently antisemitic and staunchly anti‑Communist. He believed Hitler and fascism were the only forces capable of resisting Bolshevism. After bankruptcy in 1936 he moved to France. When Germany occupied France in June 1940, Amery remained in Paris and became a follower of Jacques Doriot, leader of the French collaborationist movement and co‑founder of the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (LVF). Doriot wore a Waffen‑SS uniform and broadcast propaganda from Radio Paris. Amery joined him in these broadcasts until his behaviour caused Vichy authorities to expel him. In 1942 he travelled to Germany, where Hitler permitted him to remain.
In Berlin Amery began Nazi propaganda broadcasts aimed at British listeners, urging them to support Germany against Communism. His father, deeply embarrassed, offered to resign from Parliament, but Churchill refused to accept the resignation. Around 1942–43 Amery proposed forming a British volunteer unit to fight alongside the Wehrmacht, modelled on Doriot’s LVF. He aimed to recruit about one hundred British prisoners of war and use the unit for propaganda purposes.
Amery issued a proclamation calling his unit the “Legion of St George”. He appealed to British and Commonwealth POWs, warning that their families were threatened by the “Hordes of Bolshevik Barbarity” and the “Dragon of Asiatic and Jewish Bestiality”. He falsely claimed that hundreds of British volunteers had already joined. His recruiting drive failed almost entirely, though a handful of POWs showed interest, including Kenneth Berry and William Charles Brittain. Recruits were housed at Genshagen, Berlin, in August 1943, then moved to a requisitioned café in Pankow.
Amery’s involvement ended in October 1943 when the Waffen‑SS dismissed him. On 1 January 1944 the unit was formally absorbed into the Waffen‑SS and renamed the British Free Corps. It remained small and militarily insignificant. Amery continued broadcasting propaganda in Germany. After Mussolini was rescued by German forces and installed as head of the Salò Republic, Amery moved to Italy in late 1944 to broadcast from Radio Rome.
On 25 April 1945 Amery and his mistress, Michelle Thomas, were captured near Como by Italian partisans while attempting to flee to Switzerland. They were initially marked for execution but were instead sent to Milan and handed over to Allied authorities. Captain Alan Whicker took them into custody. Amery was wearing an Italian fascist uniform. He was transported to London to stand trial for treason.
Amery’s trial at the Old Bailey on 28 November 1945 lasted eight minutes. He pleaded guilty to eight counts of high treason, likely to spare his family further humiliation. Julian Amery attempted to argue that his brother was a Spanish citizen and therefore not subject to British treason law, but the plea failed. A guilty plea left only one possible sentence: death by hanging.
Amery was executed at Wandsworth Prison on 19 December 1945. Before the noose was placed around his neck, he said to the executioner, Albert Pierrepoint: “Mr. Pierrepoint, I’ve always wanted to meet you, but not, of course, under these circumstances.” Pierrepoint later wrote that Amery was “the bravest person I’d ever hanged.” Amery was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison cemetery. After Julian’s death in 1996, the family had the remains exhumed, cremated and scattered over France.
John Amery’s treason stands in stark contrast to the public service of his father and brother. His ideological extremism, personal instability and antisemitism led him into collaboration with Nazi Germany, propaganda work, attempted recruitment of POWs and service with the Waffen‑SS. His actions brought lasting disgrace to his family, whose name otherwise forms part of Lustleigh’s long political history.
