Henry Hyndman, the son of a rich businessman, was born in London on 7th March, 1842. After being educated at home, Hyndman entered Trinity College, Cambridge. After achieving his degree in 1861 he studied for the Bar for two years before deciding to become a journalist.
In 1866 Hyndman reported on the Italian war with Austria for the Pall Mall Gazette. Hyndman was horrified by the reality of war and became violently ill after visiting the front-line. Hyndman met the leaders of the Italian nationalist movement and was generally sympathetic to their cause.
In 1869 Hyndman toured the world visiting the United States, Australia and several European countries. He continued to write for the Pall Mall Gazette, where he praised the merits of British imperialism and criticised those advocating Home Rule for Ireland, Hyndman was also very hostile to the experiments in democracy that were taking place in America.
Hyndman decided on a career in politics but unable to find a party that he could fully support, decided to stand as an Independent for the constituency of Marylebone in the 1880 General Election. Denounced as a Tory by William Gladstone, Hyndman got very little support from the electorate and facing certain defeat, withdrew from the contest.
Soon after the election Hyndman read a novel based on the life of Ferdinand Lassalle. Hyndman became fascinated with Lassalle and decided to research this romantic hero who had been killed in a duel in 1864. Hyndman discovered that Lassalle had been a wealthy socialist who had financially supported the work of Karl Marx. Hyndman decided to read The Communist Manifesto and although he had doubts about some of Marx's ideas, for example, the inevitability of a socialist revolution, he was greatly impressed by his analysis of capitalism.
Hyndman now decided to form Britain's first socialist political party. The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) had its first meeting on 7th June, 1881. Many socialists refused to join the SDF because they were highly suspicious of a wealthy man funding a radical political party. They were also aware that in the past Hyndman had been opposed to socialist ideas such as universal suffrage. Hyndman persuaded some socialists that he had genuinely changed his views, and those who eventually joined the SDF included William Morris, Ernest Bax, Henry Hyde Champion, John Burns, Ben Tillett,