60 Faces: Eric Austen

During the Second World War, Austen, who was a pacifist, worked in the Forestry Service. After the war he worked in education, specialising in art education. Austen’s daughter, Gea, recollects that her father at some point ‘started to talk a lot of about the bomb…he started talking about Hiroshima and Nagasaki’. He made friends with CND figures such as the Rev. Canon Collins, Pat Arrowsmith, Peggy Duff and Hugh Brock.

Austen was involved with the organisation of the first Easter march to Aldermaston, and made the first CND badges for that demonstration. The early badges were made in ceramic, meaning they would be among the very few man-made objects to survive a nuclear inferno.

What is 60 faces of CND?
2018 is the 60th anniversary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Founded in 1958 at the height of the Cold War, CND has been a powerful collective voice against the dangers of nuclear weapons.

CND’s greatest strength has always been its members.
Incredible people have shaped our history,
our present and will continue to inspire in the future.

Here we take a look at 60 Faces of CND,
60 people who represent all the millions of people
who have campaigned for nuclear disarmament over the decades
and have made our organisation so remarkable.