Britain
declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3rd
1939. By September 13th, the President of RIBI
had written to every club urging them to “carry on”. W.W.
Blair-Fish, former Secretary of RIBI and current editor of
The Rotary Wheel wrote in the publication: “Let us
resolve consciously to serve in this war as much for the
sake of all that we know to be decent in Germany as in
ourselves. Let us maintain and spread through war our Rotary
principle of world fellowship and world law as the only
means to peace. Let us stand for a peace of un-revengeful
justice and of fellowship re-established. Rotarians and the
spirit of Rotary are, and will be, needed more than ever.”
Rotary
International, in contrast, was unwilling to condemn Nazi
Germany and issued a hopeful call for international peace.
Indeed, RI secretary, Chesley R. Perry would later on, refuse
to publish an appeal to American Rotarians from the Rotary
Club of Preston for more help for Britain. Despite this
snub, funds poured into Britain from both the USA and
Canada.
Nine members of
the RIBI Secretariat were called up to war service with
their positions guaranteed by the RIBI General Council. One
of the RIBI staff, Harold Hunt, lost his life in 1943.
Another Rotary
casualty was Captain E. C. Kennedy (the father of the famous
broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy), commander a former P & O
liner that was requisitioned in August 1939 by the War
Office, the
‘Rawalpindi’ which was sunk near Iceland on the 23rd
of November 1940. Kennedy, a member of the High Wycombe Club
had rejoined the Royal Navy at the initiation of
hostilities. This club had been visited four years previous
by Rotary’s founder and it was a personal friend of Paul
Harris – Rev. Wilfred Float – who conducted Kennedy’s
memorial service.
RIBI’s patron
of 10 years, the Duke of Kent, was also killed in a flying
accident - a man who attended (more than his position
obliged him to) many RIBI conferences and club meetings.
The war-time
blitz of Britain proved costly to Rotary as it did to the
nation as a whole. London, unsurprisingly suffered the most.
On one night, for example, the President, Vice-President and
Secretary of the Rotary Club of Chelsea lost their lives.
The Rotary Club
of Plymouth found that, in June 1941, it had no place to
meet due to the bombing. The Club would settle in the old
sports pavilion of Plymouth College. The London Rotary Club
of West Norwood would find itself bombed out of no fewer
than 8 places in just two years. This club may appear to be
jinxed but it proudly topped the District’s attendance
records!
Thus, the
Rotary Clubs of Britain met in exceptional circumstances and
created a special fellowship despite the uncertain and
uncomfortable environment of War. The ‘lazier’ Clubs (those
who met less frequently –usually fortnightly), adopted the
more orthodox weekly meeting schedule. This request had been
made on numerous occasions by the General Council and been
previously ignored.
Many clubs had initially stopped recruiting
new members though this was quickly criticised by the
General Council of RIBI and though 7 clubs disbanded during
the war (including the Jersey and Guernsey Rotary Clubs), 88
clubs increased their membership. Due to war service,
approximately 750 Rotarians were transferred to honorary
membership and their classifications kept open for the
duration of the hostilities. By the end of the war, RIBI
had, miraculously, extended the movement. 19 new clubs were
formed during the long, dark days between 1939 and 1943, 13
new clubs had appeared in 1944 with another 24 club charters
issued in 1945.
Early fears as
to the future of club meetings were quashed. The Government
had let it be known that it disapproved of ‘public
banquets’. Rotary fellowship could provide a great public
benefit and the Government was more than happy to see the
continuance of the club meeting with ‘modest meals’. Alas,
the modest meal continues to this day to be served at most
of RIBI’s clubs! Food was, of course, scarce. To highlight
this point, a merchant navy crew brought back from the
Rotary Club of Halifax, Nova Scotia two cases of grapefruit
which were auctioned for the Red Cross raising a whopping
£727.
Elections to
the various offices of RIBI were suspended until 1942 – to
celebrate Ches Perry’s retirement- David Shelley Nicholl
flippantly suggests. Other early decisions issued in a
statement entitled “administration in the emergency”
included the waiving of Club attendance records.
As C.R. Hewitt,
points out, the clubs would address the economic and social
problems of wartime. Clubs were quick to react positively to
the conflict; clothing for evacuated children supplied,
clubs for the Forces set up, Citizens Advice Bureaux
established and hospitals given as much help as Rotarians
could muster. By June 1941, British Clubs had supplied 8
military ambulances and 3 mobile x-ray units and a year
later would play a pivotal role in both War Weapons Week and
Warships Week a year later.
As we know, the
Rotary movement would play a key role in post-war
reconstruction. RIBI played their part- most visibly in
sowing the seeds for UNESCO at that famous London meeting.
From an early stage, RIBI officials would meet with Arthur
Greenwood, Chairman of the Reconstruction Committee of the
War Cabinet to discuss post-war reconstruction. Greenwood
would also write the preface for the RIBI pamphlet entitled
‘Reconstruction’.
Perry’s
successor as RI secretary, Philip Lovejoy, paid a visit to
Britain in 1943 and recorded the following observations
which sum up British Rotary during the Second World War:
“Every Rotarian, every person in Britain, lives and works
under tension…overworked, blitzed, rationed, how does the
British Rotarian let down? Quite right. He goes to Rotary…He
finds refreshment in the good fellowship, the conversation,
the discussion of Rotary’s enduring and universal
principles, the talks by beekeepers, ornithologists,
statesmen and world travellers. Never has he appreciated
Rotary more.”
Sources
Roger Levy, Rotary in Great
Britain and Ireland
David Shelley Nicholl, The
Golden Wheel
Photos- Levy’s
book.
