Guy Theodore Wrench (3 February 1877 – 8 January 1954) was a British

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many c ...

, and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. He was a pioneer of the

organic movement The organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic food and other organic products. It started during the first half of the 20th century, when modern large-scale agricultural pr ...

Biography

Wrench was educated at Repton School. He graduated M.B., B.S. in 1903 and M.D. in 1904 from

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. He had several years experience of agrobiology in India. Wrench was Assistant Master of

Rotunda Hospital The Rotunda Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal an Rotunda; legally the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women, Dublin) is a maternity hospital on Parnell Street in Dublin, Ireland, now managed by RCSI Hospitals. The eponymous Rotunda in Parnell Squ ...

. Wrench's best known work was ''The Wheel of Health'', a study of the nutritional research of Sir

Robert McCarrison Major-General Sir Robert McCarrison, CIE, FRCP (15 March 1878 – 18 May 1960) was a Northern Ireland physician and nutritionist in the Indian Medical Service, who was made a Companion of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1923, (See p.3946 for list ...

and of the Hunza people. The book has been described as a "classic of the early organic movement." It was dedicated to

Lord Northbourne Baron Northbourne, of Betteshanger in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1884 for Sir Walter James, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Kingston upon Hull in the House of Commons as a Con ...

. In 1939, Wrench published an article in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'' on

soil health Soil health is a state of a soil meeting its range of ecosystem functions as appropriate to its environment. In more colloquial terms, the health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong ...

and how it relates to human health. Wrench communicated with other early organic pioneers in Britain including

Albert Howard Sir Albert Howard (8 December 187320 October 1947) was an English botanist. His academic background might have been botany. While working in India he was generally considered a Pathologist; this more than likely being the reason for his consist ...

and Gerard Wallop. He died at his home in Karachi, Pakistan.

Selected publications

''Rotunda Midwifery for Nurses and Midwives''
(1908)
''The Grammar of Life''
(1908) *''The Mastery of Life'' (1911) *''Practical Obstetrics'' (with E. Hastings Tweedy, 1912)
''Lord Lister: His Life and Work''
(1913)
''The Healthy Marriage''
(1916) *''Healthy Wedded Life'' (1923) *''A Textbook Of Domestic Medicine And Surgery'' (1926) *''The Causes of War and Peace'' (1926) *''The Wheel of Health'' (1938) *''The Restoration of the Peasantries'' (1939) *''Reconstruction by Way of the Soil'' (1946)

References

External links

Guy Theodore Wrench
(Online Books)
The Wheel of Health
(New edition by A Distant Mirror; paperback, ebook)
Reconstruction by Way of the Soil
(New edition by A Distant Mirror; paperback, ebook) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrench, Guy 1877 births 1954 deaths 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century English medical doctors Alumni of the University of London British nutritionists English agronomists English health and wellness writers Non-fiction environmental writers Organic farmers