Arthur Desmond (c. 1859 – 23 January 1929), also known as Arthur Uing, Richard Thurland, Desmond Dilg and Gavin Gowrie, was a political activist, poet and author. He lived for periods in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and England.
Desmond was born in either England or New Zealand. He entered the public record in 1884 as a parliamentary candidate in New Zealand, where he became known for his radical views and advocacy for the Māori leader Te Kooti. He moved to Sydney in 1894 and get involved with the Australian labour movement, as a contemporary and associate of Billy Hughes, Jack Lang and Henry Lawson. He later moved to the United States.
Desmond is also believed to be the author of the political treatise Might Is Right, written under the pen name Ragnar Redbeard and printed 1896 in Chicago. The book is a defence of Social Darwinism, and espouses the beliefs that power, strength, and dominance are the mark of a superior human being and that inherent human rights are nonexistent.
Early years
As with most aspects of Arthur Desmond's life, his birth statistics are problematic. Arthur Desmond spent his adult life concealing his origins as well as his identity.
George G. Reeve, Desmond's first biographer, wrote that "To many another person seeking his acquaintance Desmond held aloof, and to a great extent surrounded himself – 'behind the veil' as it were – by a 'mystery halo' and a sacrosanctness hard to penetrate." Desmond’s second biographer, Darrell W. Conder, concurs and indeed, after presenting what is known of Desmond’s life in New Zealand, Australia and America, questions not only Desmond's origins, but even his birth name. George G. Reeve continues: "Arthur Desmond, for that was the real name of 'Ragnar Redbeard', was a native of Hawkes Bay , New Zealand, where he was born about the year 1842 of Irish ancestry." The International Communist in 1921 carried a short article on Desmond in which it was claimed that he was "a native of Napier, Hawkes Bay , Maoriland." New Zealand National Dictionary biographer Rachel Barrowman adds: "Arthur Desmond was unknown to the electors of Hawke's Bay when he stood for Parliament in . 'We only know that Mr. Desmond is a cattle-drover, and that he is of radical tendencies', the editor of the Hawke's Bay Herald wrote. He was said to be 25 years old [placing his birth in 1859], born in New Zealand of Irish descent. He had been in Hawke's Bay since the late 1870s, and had worked as a musterer in south Taranaki. Of his background and personal life nothing more is known."
However, the most detailed information about Arthur Desmond's origins come from records after his immigration to the United States in 1895–96. On the occasion of his first appearance in a US census record in 1900, Desmond declared that he was born in England in the year 1859 of parents who were also born in England. This declaration was backed by Desmond's Illinois death certificate on which his son stated that Desmond and his father were both natives of Northumberland, England. This information is corroborated by Desmond's 1904 Chicago marriage record. In that instance Desmond declared that he was born in place called Claud, Northumberland, England in 1859 to Samuel Desmond and Sarah Ewing. Nevertheless, to compound matters, in the 1910 US census record Arthur Desmond claimed his birthplace as California, but changed that to England in his last census appearance in 1920.
Whatever his real origins, the first concrete evidence of Arthur Desmond’s life comes when he stood for parliament in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand in 1884. His two addresses to the Electors of Hawke’s Bay survive. In one of the addresses, Desmond said: "You, yourselves, are principally to blame for allowing this in the past. You have allowed great squatters of the worst type to rule you to their own advantage; they have themselves grabbed the good land, and they attempt to pose as your friends by offering you the crumbs that fall from their table. You have the power in your own hands now, and if you do not wish to be for ever serfs of territorial gods almighty; if you have got any of the energy of your progenitors, you will not stand this kind of injustice any longer. You will say to them with me — Wealth that we make for you, money we earn; give us our share of them, give us a turn. If you have the pluck to say this, then return me as your representative, and I will lead you."