A Lost Common Wealth

For generations of scholars and visitors from the English-speaking world and all the territories that were once part of the British Empire and are now part of the Commonwealth, 18 Northumberland Avenue has been a welcoming sight – Commonwealth House, which opened in the 1930s, has acted as a focus for activities, social and scholarly.

But the 12,000 members of Commonwealth House and numerous well-wishers have not proved an adequate counterbalance to changing fashions and recession, and at the time of writing, Commonwealth House has closed, in the hope that a redevelopment plan to be approved by Westminster City Council will yet give it a second life. Below, JOHN MACKENZIE – who wrote in January on the Third World for our End of History series – offers a personal reflection on the fate of the Royal Commonwealth Society Library, and laments its projected sale and dispersal.