Founded at London | Headquarters Surrey, | |
Formation 30 March 1899; 117 years ago (1899-03-30) Founder Edward, Prince of Wales Purpose To recruit volunteers for hospitals (initial)To reward distinguished voluntary service (today) President Robert Balchin, Baron Lingfield | ||
The League of Mercy is a British foundation established in 1899 by Royal Charter of Queen Victoria. The goal of the organisation was to recruit a large number of volunteers to aid the sick and suffering at charity hospitals, in the days prior to the establishment of the National Health Service.
Contents
The organisation today exists to recognize and reward volunteers.
History
The League was founded by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), who served as its first president.
In 1888, Sir Everard Hambro chaired a committee established to consider several submitted plans and proposals on devising a badly needed organisation.
On 1 March 1899, the Prince of Wales chaired a meeting at Marlborough House to establish the charity and announce directives. A league president would be appointed for each Parliamentary division, and many were in attendance at the meeting, including the Duke of Westminster, the Marquess of Lorne, the Marquess of Camden, Earl Carrington, Earl of Clarendon, Earl of Dartmouth, Sir W. Hart Dyke, Sir Whittaker Ellis, Sir Arthur Hayter, Sir Fitzroy D. Maclean, Weetman Pearson and Edmund Boulnois.
The prince stated:
Today
The League of Mercy was re-established as a charity on 30 March 1999 , exactly 100 years after its founding.
Order of Mercy
The League established an annual award ceremony in which approximately 50 people were awarded the Order of Mercy, "as a reward for personal services gratuitously rendered in connection with the purposes for which the League was established." The Medal of the Order of the League of Mercy (OLM) and Companion's Badge of the Order of the League of Mercy are still awarded each year at the Mansion House in London and gazetted.
Recipients tend to be drawn from the ranks of long-serving community volunteers in the UK, but have also included representatives of former ruling houses, including those of Georgia and the Two Sicilies, who have received the higher grade of Companion of the Order of Mercy and, in return, have bestowed dynastic orders upon the League's President.
Professor Alan Roberts, OBE, TD, a former pro-chancellor of Leeds University and cadet-commandant of Yorkshire Army Cadet Force, was appointed a Companion of the Order of Mercy in 2002, having previously received an honorary doctorate from Brunel University, whose pro-chancellor is Lord Lingfield. Professor Roberts also serves as gentleman usher of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor, whose Knight Principal is Lord Lingfield.
Other recipients include Thomas Balchin, Lord Lingfield's son, who also serves as secretary to the council of the League of Mercy, and Anthony Bailey, OBE, who is closely involved in the Constantinian Order of St George, a Catholic order headed by the head of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.