Evelyn Wrench

Who was Evelyn Wrench?

Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench, CMG, LL.D, was born on 29 October 1882, in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland, the son of Rt. Hon. Frederick Stringer Wrench, an Irish Land Commissioner, Deputy Lieutenant and Privy Councillor, by his wife Charlotte Mary Bellingham, sister of Sir Henry Bellingham, 4th Baronet.

At the age of five years, his favorite literature was Army and Navy Stores catalogues, which his parents gave him to keep him quiet during railway journeys. He attended Summer Fields Preparatory School, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, and Eton College, where he was remembered for his kindness towards new boys, and as the best looking boy in the school.

Upon leaving Eton, he travelled on the Continent to learn languages with the idea of entering the Diplomatic Service. He noticed the lead that the Continent had over Great Britain in the production of picture postcards, and upon his return instituted a firm that soon became the largest of its kind in the country. This occupied him from 1900 until 1904, when the firm failed, mainly through too rapid an expansion and lack of capital. This venture indicated the enterprising spirit that Wrench possessed, and its failure in no way lowered his reputation.