| Biography | Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench, CMG, LL.D (18821966), was born on 29 October 1882, in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland, the son of Rt. Hon. Frederick Stringer Wrench (1849-1926), an Irish Land Commissioner, Deputy Lieutenant and Privy Councillor, by his wife Charlotte Mary Bellingham (1848-1935), sister of Sir Henry Bellingham, 4th Baronet.
The future Lord Northcliffe had observed Wrench's qualities and invited him to join his staff, which he did in 1904. He was editor of The Overseas Daily Mail and in addition manager of the export department of the Amalgamated Press from 1907 and sales manager from 1909. Wrench, however, was less interested in success in journalism than in his visions of Commonwealth development awakened by his visits to Canada and the United States. He told in his book "Uphill", the first volume of his autobiography, how in 1910 a turning point came in his life, crystallizing itself in his memory as a "vision" that came to him at the memorial service to King Edward VII in Westminster Abbey, where he said, "the scales fell from my eyes, I vowed I would devote my life to great causes -- to the Empire, to my fellows."
Passionately longing to make a more personal contribution to the unity of the British Empire, he formed in 1910 The Royal Over-Seas League as The Overseas Club in order to encourage international understanding. The Royal Over-Seas League is a self-funded Commonwealth organization that offers clubhouse, conference, and private-dining facilities in London and Edinburgh; organizes Commonwealth art and music competitions; and develops joint welfare projects with specific countries. In 1918, the League was amalgamated with the Patriotic League of Britons Overseas, with which group it had been working in conjunction on several projects. In 1922, the League was granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation. The clubhouses have not-for-profit status and the art music and welfare projects charitable status. The governing body is the Central Council. There are reciprocal clubs, branches, or chapters in over seventy countries. The aim of the League is "To support the ideals of the Commonwealth; to encourage young Commonwealth artists and musicians; and encourage Commonwealth friendship and support welfare work." The League is pledged under its Royal Charter "to give service to the Commonwealth." He put his full enthusiasm and energies into this organization, resigned his newspaper appointments in 1912, and embarked upon a visit to the dominions in 1912-1913.
He ended up travelling 64,000 miles to all parts of the British Empire. In 1911, while in New Zealand, he gave Captain Robert Falcon Scott, R.N., the British Antarctic explorer, a clean handkerchief immediately before the latter's departure for the South Pole. His club made rapid progress and during the war of 1914-1918 its contribution included the Empire Fund to provide tobacco for the forces. It worked in conjunction with the Patriotic League of Britons Overseas, with which it amalgamated in 1918. In 1923, the society was granted a royal charter and became the Overseas League. |