Alexander Thomas Glenny, 1882-1965

Abstract

Alexander Thomas Glenny was born at Dulwich on 18 September 1882, the youngest of six children. His father, Thomas Armstrong Glenny, was an Irishman of distant Scottish descent who was born in County Sligo and studied at Dublin with a view to becoming a Protestant minister, but before he completed the course turned nonconformist and joined the Plymouth Brethren. Though young Glenny never joined this strict sect, he was brought up with all the restraint imposed by it. Smoking, theatre- or concert-going and card-playing were all strictly forbidden; there were no pictures in the house and only framed texts on the walls. This life of restraint left a permanent mark on him, and he never lost the diffidence and shyness he attributed to it. Moreover, his next elder brother was six years older, so Glenny was brought up with his two sisters, and in addition he was always overshadowed by his eldest brother William Thomas Glenny, C.B.E., a man of exceptional ability, who held successive posts as Official Translator to the Board of Trade, Inspector General of Overseas Trade, and Trade Counsellor to Sweden. So long as Glenny lived with his parents he attended the meetings of the Plymouth Brethren; when he was married he was confirmed in the Church of England, and some years later took an active part as sidesman and member of the Church Council.