[citation needed] Oswald Mosley, then leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), visited Oxford numerous times for political meetings throughout the early 1930s.

On the night of 25 May 1936, Oswald Mosley who was then serving as the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) held a public event in a hall called the Carfax Assembly Rooms.

[13] While Mosley spoke inside the Carfax Assembly Rooms, a crowd of local workers held an anti-fascist demonstration outside the meeting.

[12] A large number of these workers were bus drivers who had gone on strike earlier that month and had made Communist Party activist Abraham Lazarus their spokesperson.

[13] The meeting appeared to have become less tense the longer it went on, until one of the Blackshirts attempted to violently eject one of the hecklers, the journalist and Liberal Party politician Basil Murray.

[16] Despite the violence being instigated by the Blackshirts and the presence of a large number of organised fascist paramilitary-style members, the physical fight appeared to have been an overwhelming anti-fascist victory.

[17] The events of the Battle of Carfax and the involvement of one of the attendees, Frank Pakenham, was then raised in the Houses of Parliament by Labour Party politician Hugh Dalton.

[18] Following the Battle of Carfax, many local Oxford residents and students published their eyewitness accounts and reactions to the events and their opinions on Mosley and the BUF.

In a testament to how deeply the Battle of Carfax damaged the reputation of fascism among Oxford's residents, almost all of the available published reactions have been negative, condemning Oswald Mosley and the Blackshirts for their violent behaviour.

[11]Olive Gibbs, the future chair of Oxford City Council and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, described the battle of Carfax:‘…anyone in the audience daring to venture a contradictory viewpoint was summarily and with unbelievable brutality ejected.’[11] Patrick Gordon Walker, the future chair of the British Film Institute and a member of parliament for almost 30 years, wrote articles for a local publication denouncing Mosley's behaviour and blaming the violence on the Blackshirts:"It is very difficult for the outsider who has not been to a Mosley meeting to realise the menace to democracy and free speech represented by his movement.

"[19]Frank Pakenham, who took part in the Battle of Carfax and fought against the fascists, also gave a published account of the Battle of Carfax:"Whether or no Mosley and his agents are guilty of having committed criminal offences on Monday is for the courts to decide; but in any case, no decent person who was present is likely to attend any more meetings addressed by this grotesque clown.

Thank God, Oxford is not likely to be impressed by the mechanical bleating of this gimcrack fencing master, so facetious about working-class accents, so deaf to the sound of his own.

The long-term result of the Battle of Carfax was a sharp decline in support for fascism throughout Oxford, many of whom opposed the violent tactics of the British Union of Fascists.