Lou Kenton - Acton Labour Party Activist Dies at 104

Veteran of Spanish Civil War

Local man Lou Kenton has died at the remarkable age of 104. He lived in The Tiltwood in Acton with his wife Rafa until they moved to Boileau Road and finally to Gordon Road.

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He was a retired printer and a talented amateur potter. Lou had a life-long interest in politics and was a member of the Communist Party until he joined the Labour Party, where many of his friends met him.

He was a founder member of West London Trades' Union Club, where many of his plates and cups are on display. He was the oldest known of the surviving veterans of the Spanish Civil War, having served as an ambulance driver with the Attlee Battalion of the International Brigade. He and the remaining seven British veterans were granted honorary Spanish citizenship in 2009. He had also been engaged in resisting fascist activity in Cable Street.

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During the Second World War he served on the whaling ships. He was secretary of the British Czech Friendship League and very involved with Progressive Tours in the fifties and sixties and also a member of the management committee of Age Concern Acton in the nineties.

He celebrated his hundredth birthday in the trades' union club and it was the last public engagement attended by his old brigade comrade, Jack Jones, former general-secretary of the Transport & General Workers' Union.

He leaves his widow, children and grandchildren.

He also leaves a great many friends to whom he was mentor, exemplar and encourager.