Milestones

Round Table's Place in History

1898 - Erminio Gugliemo Luigi (Louis) Marchesi born in Norwich (19 January).

1905 - Paul Harris forms a new kind of civic club Rotary of Chicago.

1910 - National Association of Rotary Clubs of America formed.

1911 - Rotary spreads to Britain.

1914 - Outbreak of World War I; British Association of Rotary Clubs formed; Sixteen year old Louis Marchesi enrols in British Red Cross.

1915 - Louis Marchesi joins Middlesex Regiment as boy soldier.

1917 - Mervyn Jones forms International Association of Lions Clubs in Chicago.

1925 - Louis Marchesi acquires Langford’s restaurant in Norwich, whose Smoke Room regulars discuss idea of Round Table in the course of morning coffee sessions with their host.

1926 - General Strike in Britain (May); Rotarian Marchesi talks to Norwich Rotary Club on ‘Youth and Business’ (September) and is encouraged to form a Young Business and Professional Mens Club.

1927 - British Industries Fair opens in London and Birmingham (21 February); Prince of Wales speaks at British Industries Fair banquet in London and recommends industry to adopt, adapt and improve (21 February); Inaugural meeting of Norwich Round Table (14 March).

1928 - 1st annual general meeting of Norwich Round Table club (20 February); Charlie Smith forms Table no. 2 in Portsmouth; The Central Council of Round Tables of Great Britain and Ireland formed (25 May); Tables formed in Guildford (no.3), Southampton (no.4) and Bournemouth (no.5).

1929 - 1st annual conference of National Association of Round Tables at Norwich (3 & 4 April).

1930 - Round Table wives form first ‘Ladies Circle’.

1931 - With 33 Tables an Area structure is considered.

1932 - Louis Marchesi relinquishes title of Honorary Secretary after five years.

1933 - 66 Tables now operating. Cyril Marsh joins as General Secretary.

1935 - Marchesi becomes National President, number of Tables passes l00 mark.

1920 - Harold Rogers forms Kinsmen Club in Ontario, Canada.

1936 - First '41Club’ for ex-Tablers formed in Liverpool; First Table formed outside Britain, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1937 - First headquarters office established in Ludgate Hill, London; Louis Marchesi reaches disqualifying age of 40 and is made Founder Honorary Life Member.

1938 - ‘Munich Crisis’; Portsmouth Table contact Anthony Eden, 41-year-old Foreign Secretary.

1939 - National headquarters move to 38 Buckingham Palace Road (May); Clifford Attwell becomes Secretary. - 4,600 members in 125 Tables; On outbreak of World War 2, Cyril Marsh ‘runs’ Round Table from his home in Merton; Council standing orders suspended.

1940 - Age limit of 40 suspended.

1941 - Five new Tables formed in Denmark during war.

1943 - The first Table in Sweden is chartered in the city of Helsingborg.

1944 - Liverpool Table produce Reconstruction Report.

1945 - End of World War 2; 1,334 members in 90 Tables.

1946 - First Dutch Table formed in Utrecht.

1947 - Round Table International (RTI) formed; 133 RTBI Tables; 7 Dutch; 5 Swedish; First Table chartered in Norway in the city of Bergen.

1948 - WoCo and the first conference of RTI. Norwich Table no. 1 celebrates its 21st birthday; Louis Marchesi is 50; First South African Table formed in East London; Reg Bates from RTBI becomes the first president of RTI; First Table formed in Finland.

1949 - Number of Areas in RTBI increased from 18 to 29; First Belgian Table formed in Brussels.

1950 - First Table formed in France; RTI has now 250 RTBI Tables, 31 in Denmark, 27 in Holland, 15 in Sweden, 4 in Finland, 3 in Norway, 1 in France, 1 in Belgium; Children’s Holiday Exchange Scheme started.

1951 - Vic Collins appointed General Secretary; Round Table has 330 Tables; 8,600 members.

1952 - First German Table formed in Hamburg; Table formed in Nairobi, nucleus of Round Tables of East Africa (ARTEA); others in Rhodesia and Malaya.

1953 - Silver Jubilee: banquet in London; John Creasey publicises the book "Round Table, the First 25 Years"

1954 - Louis Marchesi sells Langford’s and goes on a tour.

1956 - RTBI grows to 13,700 members in 512 Tables? RTBI Headquarters move to 15 Park Road in London near to St John's Wood; First Table chartered in Suriname.

1958 - The Duke of Edinburgh becomes Patron; The first Swiss table is chartered in Lausanne.

1959 - Round Table International has 25,280 members and 1,040 Tables in 21 countries.

1960 - WoCo get new constitution; RTI wound up.

1961 - Timaru Round Table, chartered in New Zealand, is the most distant Round Table from the UK and Ireland.

1962 - Capitation fee of RTBI raised to £1; First Indian RT Chartered in Madras on 14th November 1962 with 100 members.

1963 - First Table chartered in Luxembourg.

1965 - The Duke of Edinburgh receives RTBI President and party; Mrs Louis (Dolly) Marchesi dies.

1967 - 40th anniversary luncheon in London; Duke of Edinburgh guest of honour; 27,500 members in 923 Tables.

1968 - Founder, Louis Marchesi dies on 10 December.

1969 - Founder's memorial service in London; Retirement of Vic Collins, General Secretary; Denis Tizard succeeds; 1,000th RTBI Table formed at Sandy in Bedfordshire; The first Round table was created in Morocco in the city of Rabat.

1970 - British Rotary start ‘Rotaract'.

1972 - Press attend annual conference for first time.

1973 - Prime Minister, Edward Heath, speaks at Area 26 Dinner; RTBI approves purchase of car registration RTB1 for £156.

1974 - Duke of Edinburgh attends Pre-Conference Lunch in London; RTBI raises £200,000 for Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Appeal.

1975 - 5,000 attend annual conference at Torbay and consider restructuring National Association; RTBI has members in 1,174 Tables; First Table chartered on the island of Malta.

1977 - Golden Jubilee Year; Conference held at Great Yarmouth and RTBI presented the "Louis Marchesi of Round Table" lifeboat; Table strength reaches 33,737 members in 1,174 Tables; European and Mediterranean Presidents Meeting at Bath; Hugh Barty-King publicises the book "Round Table, The Search for Fellowship - 1927-1977".

1978 - A public house in Norwich is renamed the “Louis Marchesi” and an upstairs room houses a collection of banners and memorabilia; First Table formed on the island of Cyprus and in the city of Nicosia; First Table formed in Gibraltar.

1980 - RTBI sends support, supplies and funds to Italy in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster; The first table in the Arabian Gulf and in Dubai is opened.

1981 - RTBI Magazine “News & Views” renamed “Tabler”; First Table formed in the island of Bermuda.

1983 - Belgium charters the first table in Tunisia.

1984 - Denis Tizard retires and is made Life Honorary Member in RTBI; First table chartered in Portugal in the city of Porto.

1985 - Denis Tizard dies on July 6th; The first Round table was created on the island of Mauritius.

1986 - RTBI collects 100,000 blood samples for Anthony Nolan Clinic in six weeks, and raises £1 million in a day for for BBC Children in Need.

1987 - Diamond Jubilee Year commences. British Rail name a train “The Round Tabler”.

1988 - Celebratory Luncheon held at Grosvenor House attended by 26 Past Presidents.

1989 - Round Table Children's Wish founded by Martin Giles of Bournemouth North RT 1066; Round table Estonia was formed; The first Table in Nepal was formed with the help of Sq. Leg Lalit Shah from RT Madras, India. For a decade Nepal was a part of the Area IV of Round Table India.

1990 - New Marchesi House opens in Birmingham; Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Clinic opens after RTBl raise almost £1.25M; First tables chartered in Hungary, in the city of Budapest, and in Romania, in the city of Brasov.

1991 - Round Table International is re-established; Waldo Thöle from South Africa (ARTSA) becomes the first RTI president for 30 years.

1992 - Membership stands at nearly 19,000; First table chartered in Poland.

1993 - Round Table Day launched by RTBI to create publicity through fundraising and community service throughout the country; First table chartered in San Marino.

1994 - 60th National Presidents' Lunch held with Jack Charlton as guest speaker; Round Table Toddle launched by RTBI.

1995 - Norwich RT 1 unveil a permanent tribute to Louis Marchesi at Suckling House, Norwich.

1996 - Special General Meeting held in Birmingham which followed a full review of the association and was called to consider Resolutions regarding the use of the Rondel, the Age Limit, the branding of the literature, the introduction of the JDi initiative which saw RT advertising appear in National newspapers, the use of mail shots, cold telephone calling etc; National Civic Awards launched by RTBI.

1997 - Marketing Initiative launched with national press advertisements and Database Marketing campaigns? RT Cyprus buys the first Mobile Unit of Education of Life "MENTOR"; First Table chartered in Slovakia and in the city of Bratislava.

1998 - Retirement Age Rule amended to 45 years for RTBI; First Table formed in the Czech Republic in the capital Prague.

1999 - Round Table Childrens Wish Millennium Trust Appeal launched which raised over £400,000; RT Nepal becomes a separate Association.

2000 - Launch of Volunteers in Action; First Table chartered in Lithuania and in the city of Vilnius.

2001 - RTBI again becomes a full member of Round Table International.

2002 - 75th Anniversary Lunch held at the ICC Birmingham with 33 Past Presidents and 620 Tablers; New Tables were chartered in Moscow and Istanbul, (both closed 3 years later).

2003 - RT1 Athens was re-chartered.

2004 - Boxing Day Tsunami results in Tablers around the world raising money to help send to Tables in Sri Lanka and India to enable them to help local people; Many Tablers from Europe travelled to the region to provide specialist medical and other relevant expertise; RTI help continued and helped rebuild a number of schools; First Table Chartered in the Philippines.

2005 - At the Costa Rica AGM, the World Council of Service Clubs (WoCo) established in 1945, adopts a new constitution and is re-engineered into a voluntary Service Foundation open to past WoCo stakeholder clubs, dropping its original Umbrella organisation role. RTI votes at the same venue, to be free to hold its AGM away from future WoCo AGM Meeting venues.

2006 - RTI Electronic Newsletter (FAST TRACK) is launched; RTBI raised over £6m which was distributed to charities and good causes in the UK and raised funds to build several schools in India; RT Israel charters a Table in the Arab city of Taibe; ARTIO split to create RT Mauritius and RT Seychelles; First Round Table Chartered in the Bahamas. RT Suriname celebrates their 50th Anniversary and returns to RTI.

2007 - 80th Anniversary Lunch held in the presence of Patron, HRH Duke of Edinburgh, held at The National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull; Past RTI Presidents charter their own Club (during the RTI AGM in Pafos) and plan to meet at forthcoming RTI AGM's; The first Table in Algeria is chartered.

2008 - The first Table in Thailand is chartered.

2009 - Round Table Associations worldwide celebrate Round Table Day on the 14th March. Round Table International initiate an international appeal for those affected by the earthquake in L'aquila, Italy.