MR. HAROLD WRIGHT
[To the Editor of TIIE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The interesting paragraph in last week's " Spectator's Notebook " concerning the tragically premature death of Mr. Harold Wright, brings home to those of us who knew him, the great range of the activities he must have packed into a seemingly quiet, as it was certainly an unobtrusive life. Janus speaks of his activities in the societies for the encouragement of rural industries, for supplying libraries for the crews of merchant ships, of his editorship of the Cambridge University Studies. But these were mere by- products of activities of infinitely wider range, including much time devoted to the various phases of the Adult Education movement ; to the improvement of marketing methods in the fishing industry, and the betterment of the fisherman's lot generally ; to assisting the late Stephen Reynolds, who was interested in that problem (and whose memoirs Wright edited). All these were, however, in their turn hardly more than side-shows to his main interest, which was that of international peace. This main interest of his life dates from his undergraduate days, when in Cambridge he helped to form " The Cambridge War and Peace Society," and to interest his fellow undergraduates in the ideas put forward in Sir Norman Angell's book, The Great Illusion. Later on, Wright helped in all the activities of " The Garton Foundation," in the editorship of War and Peace, and in the various study circles and societies that grew therefrom. I have heard Sir Norman Angell say, publicly, that much of the work which he, Angell, had managed to do during a quarter of a century could never have been done except for Harold Wright's unpaid help ; that many a mistake had been avoided by " Harold's " sagacious counsel. Once, when someone had described Wright as having taken a " prominent Part " in the activities described above, Angell corrected by. saying, " not prominent, only indispensable and effective."
Have many men received higher tributes than this ? -
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