Gladstone's Library

Last updated
Gladstone's Library
Llyfrgell Sant Deiniol and Gladstone's Library Hawarden Penarlag 10.JPG
Gladstone's Library
53°11′09″N3°01′38″W / 53.1859°N 3.0272°W / 53.1859; -3.0272
Location Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales
Established1895;129 years ago (1895)
Architect(s) John Douglas   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Collection
Size250,000  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Access and use
Access requirementsOpen to anyone with a need to use the collections and services
Other information
DirectorAndrea Russell (2023)
Employees18
Website http://www.gladstoneslibrary.org
Gladstone's Library Gladstones Library.jpg
Gladstone's Library
Gladstone's statue in the library. Gladstone Library Statue.jpg
Gladstone's statue in the library.
Gladstone's Library staff at the School of Advanced Study History Day 2017. Gladstone's Library staff at the School of Advanced Study History Day Oct. 2017 01.jpg
Gladstone's Library staff at the School of Advanced Study History Day 2017.

Gladstone's Library, known until 2010 as St Deiniol's Library (Welsh : Llyfrgell Deiniol Sant), is a residential library in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales, UK. [1]

Contents

Gladstone's Library is Britain's only Prime Ministerial Library and serves as the national memorial to William Ewart Gladstone. [2] It is home to a large collection of printed items and archives that reflects Gladstone's main interests in history, literature, theology, and politics.

History

The library was founded by William Gladstone in 1894. He was eager to share his personal library with others, especially those who faced financial constraint. [3] He would allow bright children and young adults of the village of Hawarden to use his collection. His daughter Mary Gladstone said that his desire was to "bring together books who had no readers with readers who had no books". [4] [5]

In 1895, at the age of 85, William Gladstone gave £40,000 to the library as well as much of his own book collection. With the help of his daughter and his valet, he wheeled a selection of his books three quarters of a mile (1.2km) between his home at Hawarden Castle and the library. He unpacked them and put them onto shelves using his own classification system.

In a diary entry dated 23 December 1895, he described the library's founding: "I have this day constituted my trust at St Deiniol's. The cost of the work has been I think £41 to £42000, including some charges of maintenance to Dec. 31. 95. May God of His mercy prosper it." [6]

Following his death in 1898, a public appeal was launched for funds to provide a permanent building to house the collection and replace the temporary structure. The £9,000 raised provided an imposing building, designed by John Douglas, which was officially opened by Earl Spencer on 14 October 1902 as the National Memorial to W.E. Gladstone. [7] The Gladstone family fulfilled the founder's vision by funding the residential wing, which welcomed its first resident on 29 June 1906.

Facilities

The library is a Grade I listed building [8] and a registered charity. [9]

The building includes historical reading rooms, 26 bedrooms for overnight guests, a guest lounge, cafe and restaurant. [10]

The library runs regular tours, talks, workshops, masterclasses and residential courses. [11]

Collections

The library holds 20,000 volumes belonging to William Ewart Gladstone in its Foundation Collection, many of which contain Gladstone's own annotations, as well as over 150,000 books, pamphlets, and journals in its circulating collection. [12]

It also holds the Glynne-Gladstone Archive, containing the personal, family, business, and estate correspondence and papers of the Glynne and Gladstone families.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Ewart Gladstone</span> British Liberal prime minister (1809–1898)

William Ewart Gladstone was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-consecutive terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times, for over 12 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawarden</span> Village in Flintshire, Wales

Hawarden is a village and community in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had a population of 1,887, whereas the community of the same name, which also includes Ewloe Mancot and Aston had a population of 13,920. The scenic wooded Hawarden Park abuts the clustered settlement in the south. Hawarden Bridge consists of distribution and industrial business premises beyond Shotton/Queensferry and the Dee. The west of the main street is called The Highway, its start marked by the crossroads with a fountain in the middle, near which are public houses, some with restaurants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deiniol</span> Welsh saint, first bishop of Bangor

Saint Deiniol was traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. The present Bangor Cathedral, dedicated to Deiniol, is said to be on the site where his monastery stood. He is venerated in Brittany as Saint Denoual. In English and Latin his name is sometimes rendered as Daniel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawarden High School</span> Secondary school in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales

Hawarden High School is an English language medium secondary school in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Flintshire LEA. The school traces its history back to 1606 when a single-classroom grammar school was established with £300 left by a local resident named George Ledsham. The current building occupying this place was first built in 1898 by local architects Grayson & Ould and W&T Bailey, and was extended throughout its history. Located on the same site is a Grade II listed building, the School Library, the former Headmaster's House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr Williams's Library</span> English research library in London, England

Dr Williams's Library is a small English research library in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as University Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Henry Gladstone</span> British politician (1840–1891)

William Henry Gladstone was a British Liberal Party Member of Parliament, and the eldest son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine née Glynne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladstone baronets</span> Baronetcy in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom

The Gladstone Baronetcy, of Fasque and Balfour in the County of Kincardine, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 18 July 1846 for the Scottish businessman slave-owner and politician John Gladstone, father of four-time prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Born John Gladstones, the son of the merchant Thomas Gladstones, John assumed by royal licence the surname of Gladstone in 1835. The name Gladstone is geographical, deriving from a farmstead near Biggar in Lanarkshire; it comes from the Old English for "kestrel stone".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawarden Castle (18th century)</span> 18th-century house in Hawarden, Wales

(New) Hawarden Castle is a house in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It was the estate of the former British prime minister William Gladstone, having previously belonged to the family of his wife, Catherine Glynne. Built in the mid-18th century, it was later enlarged and externally remodelled in the Gothic taste.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1915 to Wales and its people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Gladstone</span> Wife of William Gladstone (1812–1900)

Catherine Gladstone was the wife of British statesman William Ewart Gladstone for 59 years, from 1839 until his death in 1898.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Gladstone</span> British politician (1885-1915)

William Glynne Charles Gladstone was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, and the last of four generations of Gladstones to sit in the House of Commons, the first being his great-grandfather Sir John Gladstone (1764–1851). His body was the last to be officially repatriated to the United Kingdom during the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glynne baronets</span> Extinct baronetcy in the Baronetage of England

The Glynne Baronetcy, of Bicester in the County of Oxford, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 20 May 1661 for William Glynne, the former Member of Parliament for Carnarvon. He was the son of Sir John Glynne, Lord Chief Justice during the Commonwealth. The second Baronet sat as Member of Parliament for Oxford University and Woodstock. The sixth Baronet was Member of Parliament for Flintshire and Flint. The title became extinct on the death in 1874 of Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet. The family estates, including Hawarden Castle in Flintshire, had been rescued from bankruptcy by the wealth of Sir John Gladstone, whose son William Ewart Gladstone had married the ninth Baronet's sister Catherine; on his death, they passed to Catherine and William's eldest son William Henry Gladstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet</span> British politician & antiquary (1807-1874)

Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 9th Baronet was a Welsh landowner and Conservative Party politician. He is principally remembered as an assiduous antiquary and student of British church architecture. He was a brother-in-law of the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden</span> British businessman and politician (1852–1935)

Henry Neville Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden was a British businessman and politician. He was the third son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden</span> Church in Flintshire, Wales

St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, is in the village of Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It is the parish church of the rectorial benefice of Hawarden in the deanery of Hawarden, the archdeaconry of Wrexham, and the diocese of St Asaph. The church has associations with W. E. Gladstone and his family, and is designated by Cadw as a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Matthew's Church, Buckley</span> Church in Flintshire, Wales

St Matthew's Church, is in the town of Buckley, Flintshire, Wales. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Borderlands Mission Area, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph. The church is a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone</span> British politician (1854–1930)

Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone, was a British Liberal politician. The youngest son of William Ewart Gladstone, he was Home Secretary from 1905 to 1910 and Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1914.

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1730 to Wales and its people.

William Glynne-Jones (1907–1977) was a Welsh fiction and children's writer, broadcaster and journalist. His stories were broadcast weekly on BBC Children's Hour.

References

  1. McClarence, Stephen (8 September 2018). "Read, walk and relax in a Welsh literary hideaway". The Times. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  2. Pritchard, T.W. (1999). A History of St. Deiniol's Library. Hawarden, Wales: Monad Press. ISBN   9780907450283.
  3. "Gladstone's Library, Hawarden". Independent Libraries Association. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  4. "The joy of rummaging through Gladstone's annotated books". The Spectator . Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  5. Librarian Resources website
  6. H.C.G. Matthew [ed.], The Gladstone Diaries, Volume XIII: 1892-1896 (1994) Oxford: Clarendon Press, p 432.
  7. "The Hawarden Memorial to Mr. Gladstone". The Times. No. 36898. London. 14 October 1902. p. 7.
  8. St Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, Cadw , retrieved 20 December 2016
  9. "Gladstone's Library, registered charity no. 701399". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  10. Monaco, Emily. "Gladstone's: The UK's only residential library". BBC. Travel. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  11. Gladstone Library official website
  12. Visit Wales website

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Gladstone's Library at Wikimedia Commons