History
 

Rotary spread like wildfire across the Atlantic to Ireland, Great Britain, continental Europe, and the Middle East. Six years after Chicago lawyer Paul Harris formed the first Rotary club in 1905, Rotary admitted the Rotary Club of Dublin, Ireland, followed in 1912 by clubs in Belfast and London and Manchester, England.

Harry Lauder was one among many Europeans who embraced Rotary in those early days. As one of the world's most popular entertainers through the first half of the century, Lauder joined the Rotary Club of Glasgow in 1914. A year later he wrote, "Rotary is going to be the greatest and grandest cooperative institution ever founded."