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Histories of Clubs Hosting RI Conventions

Rotary Club of Birmingham, England (also see Birmingham #56 US)

Rotary International District 1060

Host of the RI Convention of 1984 and 2009
After Ireland in 1911, Stuart Morrow (QV) turned his attention first to Scotland in 1912 and finally to England. There, following a brief sojourn in Liverpool in the spring and summer of 1913, just long enough to start a Rotary Club there, he went to Birmingham in the autumn (fall). On November 10, 1913 the Inaugural Meeting of the new club was held at the White Horse Hotel in Congreve Street with 25 potential members present and a second meeting a week later. Within a fortnight the number had grown to 56 and at a formal dinner meeting on November 25, the new club was organised with Stuart Morrow as Secretary. Those present immediately applied for recognition by the International Association (RIBI records) although the Birmingham Club history suggests that this happened on March 1, 1914. The Club charter was granted as from April 1, 1914, making this the 8th club in Great Britain and Ireland. Some after the very first meetings,

Stuart Morrow's name disappears from the records in Birmingham and the club was in the hands of President John Weatherhead and a local committee.

Weekly notices issued by the club show the membership rising from 65 in December 1913 to over 200 at the outbreak of the World War. In October 1914 the club launched its own journal 'Rotaria' edited by Unite Jones. During the war, the Birmingham Club became involved in a considerable amount of welfare work which gained it an enviable reputation in the local community. In 1916, the annual conference of the B.A.R.C. was held in Birmingham and the conference delegates were welcomed by the then Lord Mayor, Neville Chamberlain, who became the first of several Lord Mayors to be made Honorary Members. Neville Chamberlain subsequently became the British Prime Minister.

 After the war, Rotary began to spread its wings and the Birmingham Club was instrumental in the opening of several clubs including Wolverhampton (QV). Today the club continues to play an important and respected part in the city's life, although with the opening of several clubs in the suburbs, starting with Erdington in 1953, membership is no longer in the hundreds.


EXTRACT FROM THE DAILY MAIL JANUARY 3, 1914


BIRMINGHAM'S QUEEREST CLUB

A curious addition has been made to clubland in the Rotary Club, the principle of which is essentially American. Business and nothing but business is the concern of the fortunate members. I say fortunate because the club is likely to be extremely exclusive, and of much advantage to those who obtain the coveted Membership. The idea is that every profession and trade shall be represented by one man eminent in his particular line. The members meet once a week at one of the principal hotels. They lunch together and after the meal discuss business. Every member resolves to further the interests of every other member. They have a sort of Masonic badge by which all Rotarians, as they are called, may know a confrere. There are similar Clubs in a few of the chief towns, such as Edinburgh and Liverpool. In America these Clubs of businessmen- Lunch clubs they are sometimes called- have been enormously successful and in Birmingham great hopes are centred on the scheme.

Even the club's own journal 'Rotaria' observed in October 1914:-Birmingham Rotary Club, a business organisation conducted on business lines for business purposes. Objects: the promotion of the business interests of its members and their advancement in new, progressive and successful business methods; the civic, commercial and industrial development of Birmingham.

World War One to a great extent ended this attitude as the club like others in Britain, engaged in a multitude of programmes caring particularly for disabled and wounded soldiers.
 

Basil Lewis
 

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