The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organistation. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages and cultures, by building skills and confidence in communication, such that individuals realise their potential. With 35 branches in the United Kingdom and over 50 international ESUs in countries around the world, the ESU carries out a variety of activities such as debating, public speaking and student exchange programmes, runs conferences and seminars, and offers scholarships, to encourage the effective use of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

around the globe. The aims of the English-Speaking Union (as stated on its website) are: # The mutual advancement of education of the

English-speaking world Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

, respecting the traditions and heritage of those with whom we work whilst acknowledging the current events and issues that affect them. # The use of English as a shared language and means of international communication of knowledge and understanding, provided always that these are at all times pursued in a non-political and non-sectarian manner. These aims are taken from the ESU's Royal Charter.

Governance

The ESU was established in 1918 through the efforts of Sir Evelyn Wrench. In 1957 it received a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

, with Queen Elizabeth II as the royal patron. Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, has been president since 2013, having taken over from her father

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

who served from 1952 to 2012. Headquartered at

Dartmouth House Dartmouth House is a Georgian house in Mayfair, central London, England. It now serves as the headquarters of the English-Speaking Union (ESU), an educational charity. It is located at 37 Charles Street, southwest of Berkeley Square. Over 40,0 ...

, Mayfair, London, its many activities are coordinated by the director-general. The sixteen-member board of governors meets four times a year, and is presided over by the chair. Directors-general * Sir Frederick Whyte (1938) * Air Chief Marshal Sir Douglas Evill (1947–1949) * Frank Darvall (1949–1957) * Air Chief Marshal Sir

Francis Fogarty Air Chief Marshal Sir Francis Joseph Fogarty, (16 January 1899 – 12 January 1973) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War and also in the post-war years. During the First World War he served as a pilot in ...

(1957–1964) * Morris Barr (1964–?) * Wynn Hugh-Jones (1973–1977) * Major-General David Crichton Alexander (1977–1979) *

Alan Lee Williams Alan Lee Williams OBE (born 29 November 1930) is a former president of the Atlantic Treaty Association, a British Labour Party politician, writer and visiting professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. Early life Williams was ...

(1979–1986) * Richard Heaslip (1987–1989) * David Hicks (1989–1991) * David Thorp (1991–1994) * Valerie Mitchell (1994–2009) * Mike Lake (2009–2011) * Peter Kyle (2011–2014 ) * Jane Easton (2014-) Chairs *

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. He dropped o ...

(2014–2015) * Paul Boateng, Baron Boateng (2015–2019) * Professor James Raven (2020-2021) *

Miles Young Peter Miles Young (born June 1954) is a British former businessman and the incumbent Warden of New College, Oxford. Until September 2016, he was worldwide chairman and CEO of the international advertising, marketing, communications, consultin ...

(2021-2022) * Philip Maunder (2022-present)

Oracy

The ESU believes oracy – speaking and listening skills – should be at the centre of the school curriculum, and actively encourages the development of these skills through education and competition. The ESU's education department runs The

ESU Schools Mace The English-Speaking Union Schools' Mace is an annual debating tournament for secondary schools in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The competition was founded in 1957 by the journalist Kenneth Harris of ''The Observer'' newspaper, and was ...

, the oldest and largest debating competition for schools in England. Several alumni have gone on to be part of Team England or Team Wales (both funded and managed by the ESU) at the annual World Schools Debating Championships – a two-week tournament whose recent venues include Peru, Cape Town, Turkey and Thailand. Speech-led competitions include Performing Shakespeare (a national contest for secondary school students), the ESU-Churchill National Public Speaking Competition for Schools and the International Public Speaking Competition, which reaches over one million young people in more than 50 countries every year. National winners meet in London for the final, part of a five-day programme of events including public speaking, debating and performance workshops, and cultural excursions. Alongside these competitions, the ESU also runs games-led debate and public speaking workshops in schools, guides schools on setting up and maintaining their own debate clubs, and provides a range of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for teachers in the fields of speech and debate.

Secondary School Exchange Programme

British students, having completed their A-Levels, can spend two or three terms at a private prep school in the United States or Canada during their

gap year A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is typically a year-long break before or after college/university during which students engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type of regular work. Gap yea ...

. In return American students come to British schools. Originally known as the ''British and American Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Exchange'', the programme was created in 1928. Former British ESU student exchange scholars include: *

Sir Ian Blair Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, (born 19 March 1953) is a British retired policeman who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest-ranking officer within the Metropolitan Pol ...

(

Harvard-Westlake School Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California, with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades seven through twelve. Its two predec ...

) – commissioner of the Metropolitan Police * Sir John Bond (

Cate School Cate School is a highly selective, coeducational university-preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12 located in Carpinteria, California, eleven miles from Santa Barbara. The school has a current enrollment of 270 students ...

1959) – chairman of HSBC * Sir Richard Dearlove (

Kent School Kent School is a private, co-educational, college preparatory boarding school in Kent, Connecticut, United States. Frederick Herbert Sill established the school in 1906. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church of the United States. Acade ...

) – director of

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

* Dawn French (

Spence School , motto_translation = Not for school, but for life we learn , founder = Clara B. Spence , tuition = $60,880 (2022-2023) , chair = , head_label = , head ...

) – actress and comedian * Michael Davies ( Mercersburg Academy) - television producer/personality * Chris Hawkins ( Tabor Academy) – radio presenter * KT Tunstall (

) – popular musician *

Quentin Letts Quentin Richard Stephen Letts (born 6 February 1963) is an English journalist and theatre critic. He has written for ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Daily Mail'', ''Mail on Sunday'', and '' The Oldie''. On 26 February 2019, it was announced that Let ...

( Bellarmine College) - writer * Tim Footman (

Appleby College Appleby College, a leading Canadian day and boarding school, is an international independent school (grades 7–12) located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1911 by John Guest, a former Headmaster of the Preparatory School at Upper Cana ...

) – writer. American ESU student exchange scholars include: *

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...

– former

Governor of Vermont The governor of Vermont is the head of government of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of 2 years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every ...

and U.S. presidential candidate * Heather J. Sharkey – historian in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

The US–UK Debate Tour Exchange

Two outstanding British student debaters are chosen each year to tour approximately 30 states over three months. The ESU USA Tour is one of the most prestigious awards in University debating. In return two American debaters visit universities and institutions in the UK. The programme was established in 1922. Alumni of the British team include: *

Rab Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician. ''The Times'' obituary c ...

(1924) – Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary *

Michael Ramsey Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, (14 November 1904 – 23 April 1988) was an English Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and held the office until 1 ...

(1925) -Archbishop of Canterbury * Hans-Jürgen von Blumenthal (1930) – member of the

July 20 Plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...

to assassinate Hitler *

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...

(1934) – leader of the Labour Party *

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

(1939) – Prime Minister *

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

(1947) – Labour cabinet minister *

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

(1949) – broadcaster *

William Rees-Mogg William Rees-Mogg, Baron Rees-Mogg (14 July 192829 December 2012) was a British newspaper journalist who was Editor of ''The Times'' from 1967 to 1981. In the late 1970s, he served as High Sheriff of Somerset, and in the 1980s was Chairman of t ...

(1951) – editor of ''The Times'' *

Patrick Mayhew Patrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew, Baron Mayhew of Twysden, (11 September 1929 – 25 June 2016) was a British barrister and politician. Early life atrick’s father, George Mayhew, was a decorated army officer turned oil executive; his mother, S ...

(1953) – Northern Ireland Secretary *

Brian Walden Alastair Brian Walden (8 July 1932 – 9 May 2019) was a British journalist and broadcaster who spent over a decade as a Labour politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He was considered one of the finest political interviewers in the history ...

(1958) – broadcaster *

Leon Brittan Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...

(1961) – Vice-president of the European Commission * Michael Howard (1963) – leader of the Conservative Party *

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving un ...

(1964) – Conservative politician and former journalist *

Norman Lamont Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, (born 8 May 1942) is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990 until 1993. He was created a life peer in ...

(1965) – Chancellor of the Exchequer *

Peter Bazalgette Sir Peter Lytton Bazalgette (; born 22 May 1953) is a British television executive and producer, best known for producing over 3000 episodes of BBC's Food and Drink and Ready, Steady, Cook. He was elected President of the Royal Television Soci ...

(1976) – businessman with interests in the media * Nicholas Mostyn (1981) – High Court judge * Ian Duncan (1995) – MEP and UK Government minister * Lewis Iwu (2010) – Director, Fair Education Alliance as well as a significant number of MPs, QCs and other notable figures.

International ESUs

The ESU's International Headquarters is located in London, and there are over 50 national ESUs around the world.

Australia

Charles Duguid use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kent Town, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

, Scottish medical practitioner and Aboriginal rights activist, helped to found the Australian branch of the ESU in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia, and was chairman from 1932 to 1935.

Music scholarships

The ESU offers funding for places at top conservatoires for music students. Alumni include

Tasmin Little Tasmin Little (born 13 May 1965) is an English classical violinist. She is a concerto soloist and also performs as a recitalist and chamber musician. She has released numerous albums, winning the Critics Award at the Classic Brit Awards in 2011 ...

and

Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and background Kenn ...

, both violinists.

Lindemann Trust Fellowship

The Lindemann Trust Fellowships are a prestigious research grant awarded to postdoctoral scientists of "exceptional promise" in the pure and applied physical sciences, designed to enable British and Commonwealth citizens resident in the UK to perform research in the USA. They have been administered by the ESU since 1972 and were established as a result of a bequest from Brigadier Charles Lindemann. Brigadier Lindemann trained as a physicist with his brother, Lord Cherwell, at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

, after which he served as scientific advisor of the British Army and subsequently at the British Embassy in Washington during the Second World War. The Lindemann Fellowships were created as a result of his will, where Brigadier Lindemann directed that his residual estate "be used to assist men and women with outstanding potential to become distinguished scholars or teachers in their chosen field".http://www.esu.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/37662/Lindemann-Notes-for-Applicants-2016.pdf Fellowships are awarded following a rigorous application process, undertaken by a committee, chaired by Professor James Raven, Deputy Chairman of the ESU, which represents the full range of scientific fields eligible for a fellowship. In 2017 the panel comprised: Professor Dirk Aarts – Christ Church; Professor Paul Beer – Wadham College; Professor Ben Berks – Wadham College; Professor Roger Davies – Christ Church; Dr Martin Grossel – Southampton; Dr Karen Mooney-McAuley – Queens University Belfast; Professor Sir David Read – Royal Society and Professor Mary Rees – Liverpool University.

Notes

External links

*
ESU Centre for Speech and Debate website
* {{Authority control 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom Commonwealth Family Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Educational organisations based in London English language English nationalism Organizations established in 1918 Public speaking organizations