Victor Gollancz - Early Life

Early Life

Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking a degree in classics at New College, Oxford, he became a schoolteacher. Gollancz was commissioned into the Northumberland Fusiliers in October 1915, although he did not see active service. In March 1916 he transferred to Repton School Junior Officers' Training Corps. Gollancz proved to be an innovative and inspirational teacher, he introduced the first civics class to be taught at an English public school and many of his students went on to become teachers themselves, including James Harford and James Darling. In 1917 he became involved in the Reconstruction Committee, an organisation that was making plans for post-war Britain. There he met Ernest Benn, who hired him to work in the publishing business. Starting with magazines, Gollancz then brought out a series of art books, after which he started signing novelists.