Lancaster Town Hall, where the 1929 Lancaster LNU AGM took place
From the beginning of the Lancaster Branch of the League of Nations Union Branches of the League of Nations (LNU), a number of Vice-Presidents were elected each year at the AGM. Numbers varied ranging from 14 in 1921 to five in 1929. In 1921 and 1922, Lancaster LNU clearly wished to attract people who would add respectability to the cause and to show its broadmindedness. They included the two leading manufacturers, H. L. Storey and Sir Norval Helme (both Liberals), the serving Conservative MP, the serving Mayor and the ex-Mayor, Alderman Wright, a Liberal, two members of local landowning families, Archdeacon Hornby, and four clergymen from C. of E., Congregational and Roman Catholic churches. Arthur Knowles, the local Labour Party President was included, as was the Girls’ Grammar School Headmistress, Miss Phillimore. Some of the Vice-Presidents actively supported the LNU.
Of the eight Vice-Presidents in 1924, most were new, and still ‘prestigious’, faces. A Conservative and a Liberal MP were elected and Dean Blundell (R. C.) replaced Archdeacon Hornby. Of the three clergymen in 1921, two had died and one had moved. A third woman was elected. Only the Vicar of Lancaster and Sir Norval Helme remained, with Miss Dawson and Miss Phillimore, from 1921. More fresh blood came in 1925, when the new Catholic Bishop joined and Arthur Knowles was reinstated, However, by 1929, only five were elected, being Sir Norval Helme, George French, a former Lancaster LNU Secretary, and three women.
References/Further Reading:
Lancaster Guardian, 19 Mar 1921, 22 Apr 1922, 27 Mar 1924, 21 Mar 1925, 3 Apr 1926, 9 Apr 1927, 21 Apr 1928 & 23 Mar 1929 (No transcriptions were made from 1932.)
H. McCarthy, 2011. The British People and the League of Nations. Manchester: Manchester University Press, ch.6.