David Maurice Graham
David Maurice Graham was a British broadcaster and BBC executive. As an undergraduate at the University of Oxford in 1933, he gained prominence for his role in the famous “King and Country” debate.
Early life
Graham was born in Bombay, the son of Sir Lancelot Graham, a senior civil servant who became the first Governor of Sind Province. He was educated at Rugby School and went on to Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied Greats and became an active member of the Oxford Union Society. Before the Second World War, he also spent time in Germany, becoming fluent in the language.The "King and Country" debate
In 1933, while serving as the Union’s librarian and secretary, Graham drafted and seconded a motion introduced by fellow undergraduate Kenelm Hubert Digby stating that "this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country". The motion, carried by 275 votes to 173, was interpreted by some as a sign of pacifism and national decline amid the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. The British press reacted strongly, with newspapers such as The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, and The Times denouncing the resolution and its supporters.The debate’s records were torn from the Union’s minute book by protesting students, but Graham later restored them from memory. Although critics linked the motion to appeasement, later historians and journalists noted that there was no evidence Hitler was influenced by it, and that many who voted in favor later served in the armed forces during the war.