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Henry Simpson Lunn
Photographic portrait of Henry Lunn (about 1922).
Photographic portrait of Henry Lunn (about 1922).
Born(1859-07-30)30 July 1859
Horncastle, Lincolnshire
Died18 March 1939(1939-03-18) (aged 79)
Occupationhumanitarian, businessman, writer
SpouseMary Ethel Moore

Sir Henry Simpson Lunn (30 July 1859 – 18 March 1939) was an English humanitarian and religious figure, and also founder of Lunn Poly, one of the UK's largest travel companies. An opponent of war and a fervent internationalist.

Biography

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Early life

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Henry Simpson Lunn was born on 30 July 1859 at Horncastle in Lincolnshire, the eldest child of Henry Lunn and Susanna (née Green). Young Henry was raised in a large family in a devout Wesleyan Methodist household. His father was described as a grocer and a "local tradesman", who was also a Methodist lay preacher.[1][2][3]

Lunn was educated at Horncastle Grammar School.[4][2] While still at school Lunn began his business career by breeding mice to sell as pets, sold by advertising their availability in the Exchange and Mart newspaper.[2] Lunn kept two breeds of poultry, the heavy Brahma and the game bantam. After leaving school he worked in his father's business as well as augmenting his income by selling the produce of his "poultry farm".[5]

Tennis equipment

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An advertisement for Lunn & Co. lawn tennis supplies, published in The Graphic, 24 July 1882.

In 1877, aged seventeen and having left school, Lunn started his own business selling tennis equipment. The new game of lawn tennis was becoming popular and Lunn provided a service by obtaining racquets, posts, nets and balls from wholesale suppliers and selling sets of tennis supplies at a profit to prospective players. The inaugural Wimbleton tournament was held in July 1877. As the public enthusiasm for tennis grew, his business flourished.[6][7]

In 1877 Lunn joined the local Mutual Improvement Society. With a membership made up of about equal numbers of Anglicans and Methodists, the society had an ecumenical outlook with an emphasis on discussion and debate on a range of topics.[2][8]

Lunn invented a tennis scoring device, consisting of a pair of dials able to be fixed on a racquet, which he patented in 1878.[6] With the co-operation of the All England Lawn Tennis Club Lunn published a booklet on lawn tennis containing the rules of the game.[7] During 1879 his business was undergoing rapid expansion, with Lunn was working long hours under extreme pressure. By the end of the year he was "on the verge of a breakdown". He sought medical advice and was "sent away to the Mediterranean for ten weeks". Lunn left England for Constantinople in January 1880, after which he travelled by an Egyptian mail steamer, calling at Greek ports and Alexandria and Cairo. He then travelled to Naples and Genoa aboard a French mail steamer.[9]

After his return to England, having decided to study for the Methodist ministry, Lunn approached his father "and sounded him out as to whether he would like to diversify his activities in grocery with an interest in lawn tennis".[10] His father agreed and entered into a formal partnership called Lunn & Co. with his son. Lunn (senior) paid one thousand pounds for a share of the business, which enabled Lunn to fund his studies at college and university for the following six years.[11][9]

A medical missionary

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In July 1881 Lunn entered the Methodist Theological College at Headingley, near Leeds, for instruction to become a minister.[12] By the middle of 1883 Lunn had resolved to become a medical missionary in India, and transferred his studies to Trinity College at the University of Dublin, arriving there in October 1883. At Dublin University, after having completed two years of an Arts course at Headingley College, Lunn studied the third year alongside his first year of medicine. After completing the Arts degree he joined the Divinity School and studied medicine and divinity concurrently.[13] During his time in Dublin, Lunn served as secretary of the Historical Society. He assisted in founding the Irish Protestant Home Rule Association. Lunn's support for Home Rule brought him into conflict with Unionist undergraduates.[4] Lunn was ordained as a Methodist minister in July 1886 and graduated in medicine and surgery, awarded an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine), in June 1887.[14]

On 12 July 1887 Lunn married Ethel Moore, the eldest daughter of a Canon Thomas Moore, the Anglican rector of Midleton in county Cork.[14] In October 1887 the couple travelled to India where Lunn was to engage in work as a medical missionary. They arrived at Madras and initially resided at the Wesleyan Mission House in Royapettah. Lunn was then stationed at Tiruvallur, near Madras. In late January 1888 Lunn was struck by his first serious illness. By the middle of the year both he and the couple's new-born son Arnold were ill, with Arnold's condition becoming serious. After consulting doctors in Madras the couple decided to return to England, departing from Madras on 19 November 1888.[15][2]

His criticism of the conditions for Methodist missionaries in India led him to conflict with his fellow ministers, and he sought to explore wider horizons.

Henry and Ethel Lunn produced four children: alpine skiing pioneer Arnold Lunn, writers Hugh Kingsmill Lunn and Brian Lunn, and a daughter who predeceased him.

Lunn concentrated on his religious belief of Christian unity and co-operation, which was a forerunner of the Ecumenical Movement. As such, he was the founder of the Co-operative Educational Tours in 1893 and organized meetings of predominantly English church leaders at the annual Grindelwald Reunion Conferences, between 1892 and 1896. Lunn founded the Grindelwaid Conference (1892-1896).[16]

Travel

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Lunn arranged international municipal visits between England and Germany, America, Switzerland and Scaninavia.[16] In 1902, he organised his first inclusive tours at Adelboden and Wengen, Switzerland, which started the trend for British visitors to combine a religious/health retreat with winter sports. Many Anglican churches were established at fashionable winter resorts.

Lunn served as chairman of the New Reform Club in the period 1902 to 1905.[16]

In 1905 he formed the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club which secured the use of major hotels and the sanatorium at Le Beauregard. With Lord Bryce, he founded the Hellenic Travellers Club in 1906 and this success led his second company, Alpine Sports Limited, founded two years later, to open up many winter sports resorts by organising tours. In 1908 he convened a meeting at the Devonshire Club to found the Alpine Ski Club, a gentleman's club for ski-mountaineers.

Lunn was a vocal opponent of the Boer War but remained in the confidences of leading politicians.

 
'The King of Clubs', Lunn as caricatured by ELF (Luke Fildes) in Vanity Fair, October 1909.
 
Portrait of Lunn (published in Chapters From My Life, 1918).

He became a Knight Bachelor in 1910 and was active in Liberal politics, forming a strong friendship with Asquith. He stood twice for Parliament in 1910 for Boston and 1923 for Brighton, but was unsuccessful. In 1910 Lunn contested the Boston Division in Lincolnshire.[16]

In 1912 Lunn convened the Welsh Disestablishment Conciliation Committee.[16]

Lunn was the founder of the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club and the Hellenic Travellers' Club.[16]

Lunn was the chairman of the board of directors of Alpine Sports Ltd.[16]

In 1924 he was the first editor of The Review of The English Churches. The first edition was published in January of that year and included an article on birth control, and one on prohibition in the United States. He helped form the Irish Protestant Home Rule Association. Although he continued to travel and promote his vision of the union of churches with the League of Nations, his company (renamed as Sir Henry Lunn Travel) grew to become one of the largest travel agents in Britain. During the 1960s the company was merged with the Polytechnic Touring Association to form Lunn Poly.

In November 1925 Lunn was invited by the Sulgrave Manor Institute of New York to give the annual address to the body on the anniversary of George Washington's birthday on 22 February 1926. He accepted the invitation and decided to make the occasion the starting point for a lecture tour through Canada, Australia and South Africa.[17] Lunn was vice-president of the League of Nations Union in an effort to "harness the Churches" to the League of Nations in the countries he visited.[18]

He wrote two autobiographical works: Chapters from My Life (1918) and Nearing Harbour (1934).

Death

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Henry Lunn died on 18 March 1939 at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood.

Legacy

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Publications

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  • Henry S. Lunn (1885), John Wesley: Prize Essay.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1890), A Friend of Missions in India, London: J. Clarke & Co.
  • Henry S. Lunn (general editor), The Review of the Churches (journal), Vol. 1 No. 1 (October 1891) to Vol. 8 No. 2 (April 1896).
  • Henry S. Lunn (c. 1892), The Reunion Hymnal, London.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1896), How to Visit Italy: A Guide-book to the Chief Towns of Italy, London: H. Marshall & Son.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1896), How to Visit the Mediterranean: A Guide-book to Jerusalem, Cairo, Constantinople, Athens, London: H. Marshall & Son.
  • Henry S. Lunn (c. 1897), Cycling Along the Great North Road – London to Peterborough (Dr. Lunn's Cycling Handbook series), London: H. Marshall & Son.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1898), Dr. Lunn's Cycling Hand Books, London: H. Marshall & Sons.
  • Henry S. Lunn & Connor F. S. Perowne, Cycling Tours, 1898-9, London.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1903), Municipal Tour to Geneva, Lausanne, and Evian-les-Bains, London.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1906), Municipal Studies and International Friendship, London: H. Marshall & Son.
  • Henry S. Lunn (1908), Municipal Lessons From Southern Germany, London: T. Fisher Unwin.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1911), The Love of Jesus, London: Hodder and Stoughton.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1913), Retreats for the Soul, London: Hodder and Stoughton.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), Chapters from My Life: With Special Reference to Reunion, London: Cassell and Company Ltd.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1927), Round the World with a Dictaphone: A Record of Men and Movements in 1926, London: Ernest Benn.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (editor) (1925), Ægean Civilizations, London: Ernest Benn.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn & Sidney Dark (1930), The Lambeth Conferences: Their History and Their Significance, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1931), A Free Church Impression, London: J. Nisbet & Co.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1933), The Secret of the Saints: Studies in Prayer, Meditation and Self-Discipline, Cambridge: W. Heffer.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1934), Nearing Harbour: The Log of Sir Henry S. Lunn, Ivor Nicholson & Watson.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (1937), Democrats and Dictators: A Discussion on the Hellenic Travellers' Club Cruise, March, 1937, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons.
  • Sir Henry S. Lunn (editor) (1938), United Christian Front: a discussion on the Hellenic Travellers' Club Cruise, February-March, 1938, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons.

Notes

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A.^ text

References

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  1. ^ Wood, Stella (2004). "Lunn, Sir Henry Simpson (1859–1939), worker for ecclesiastical reunion and travel agent". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34633. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c d e John R. Ketteringham (compiler), Lincolnshire Natives and Others (Volume III in the Lincolnshire People series), Grantham, Lincolnshire: John R. Ketteringham, pages 101-103.
  3. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), page 4.
  4. ^ a b 'Obituary: Sir Henry Lunn', The Times (London), 20 March 1939, page 16.
  5. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1934), page 6.
  6. ^ a b Michael Holroyd (1964), pages 22-23.
  7. ^ a b Sir Henry S. Lunn (1934), pages 7-9.
  8. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), pages 19-20.
  9. ^ a b Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), pages 21-22, 24-25.
  10. ^ Michael Holroyd (1964), page 23.
  11. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1934), page 9.
  12. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), page 27.
  13. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), pages 33, 35.
  14. ^ a b Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), page 56.
  15. ^ Sir Henry S. Lunn (1918), pages 60-77.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Henry Lunn, Notable Londoners, an Illustrated Who's Who of Professional and Business Men (1922), London: London Publishing Agency, page 181; accessed 6 November 2024.
  17. ^ Sir Henry lunn's World Tour, Observer (Adelaide), 29 May 1926, page 18.
  18. ^ 'Sir Henry Lunn, M.A., M.D.', The British Medical Journal, Vol. 1 No. 4082, 1 April 1939, page 699.
Sources
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