My husband, David Graham, who has died aged 91, lived a life committed to peace and social justice. In 1956, having read about Mahatma Gandhi, he decided to go to India and join Gandhi’s spiritual successor Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Land Reform Movement. He walked from village to village asking landowners to give a portion of their land to the landless. The following year, he joined Howard Steele, who as a protest planned to sail a boat into the British atomic test area near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. David then worked on a leprosy colony called Anandavan.
On his return to Britain in 1958 he and I met at Marsham Farm hotel, in Fairlight, Sussex, where I was the cook. We married six weeks later, and soon moved to Bromley, Kent, where David worked as the south London organiser for Oxfam.
In 1968 he joined the Centre for Group Studies, set up by the sociologist Richard Hauser, in Manchester, working in the poorest areas of the city to raise consciousness among tenants and students. By now we had five children and lived in a large Victorian house in Chorlton. In his 40s David became a mature student at Manchester University, and gained a degree in politics and economics. Afterwards, in the late 70s, he lectured in sociology at the university and was a tutor with the Open University.
Many people who needed help and support would come to stay at our family home and found their lives changed: often they became vegan and participated with David in his local actions, which included protecting Gypsies from eviction; setting up a free school and a school students’ union; organising free speech demonstrations; supporting refugees; and organising tenants. He also campaigned internationally, in 1971 participating in Operation Omega, which took humanitarian aid into East Pakistan during the war that saw Bangladesh emerge as an independent country. In 1996 he founded the Vegan Organic Network, to advocate growing organic food without the use of manure, herbicides, artificial fertilisers and slaughterhouse by-products.
He was born Louis Abrahams in the East End of London. His parents, Harry, a tailor, and Milly (nee Izaaks), were immigrants from Poland and Russia, and changed the family name to Graham because of antisemitism. During the second world war, Louis was evacuated to East Anglia, and went to Aldreth village school until he was 12, after which he worked on local farms. When he was 16, a local farmer arranged for him to go to Writtle Institute of Agriculture, near Chelmsford, where he studied for two years. He returned to London and changed his name to David. At 20 he was called up for national service. As a member of the Peace Pledge Union he registered as a conscientious objector and was sentenced to a year in prison, which is where he read about Gandhi.
He is survived by me and our children, Simon, Suzanne, Naomi, Daniel and Benjamin, eight grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and his sister, Gloria.
