Papers of David Markham Relating to Tax Refusal

Archive reference: Cwl DM

David Markham

David Markham was an actor, performing on stage, television and film for over 40 years. He married the novelist, poet and BBC radio dramatist Olive Dehn in 1937. During the Second World War, David refused to serve in the armed forces and received a 12 month sentence as a conscientious objector. He was imprisoned in Winson Green and Wormwood Scrubs, but was released early on appeal, following the intervention of Queen Mary.

In the early 1960s David became involved in the Committee of 100 and the Committee Against Tax for Nuclear Arms, a body set up under the auspices of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War. David personally refused to pay a portion of his tax assessment in protest at government spending on nuclear weapons. After the DAC disbanded in 1961, he continued the tax refusal campaign, gathering support through publicity in Peace News. In 1964, in co-operation with George Clark and Howard Cheney of the Campaign Caravan Workshops, the Campaign Against Taxation for Nuclear Armaments was formed, with David as chair.

The Markhams were also the driving force behind the Campaign Against Psychiatric Abuse. This was formed in 1975 to highlight the misuse of psychiatry for political ends, particularly in the Soviet Union. After a campaign which saw the couple arrested in Moscow, David and Olive were successful in gaining the release of the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky in 1976.

The Archive

The Archive consists of two files found with the Archives of the Committee Against Tax for Nuclear Arms, one of the Commonweal Archives, donated to the Commonweal Collection in July 1995. The files cover David Markham's tax refusal and his attempts to continue the tax refusal campaign after the Direct Action Committee disbanded.

The Archive was catalogued as part of the PaxCat Project, with support from the National Cataloguing Grants Programme for Archives.