The heartbreaking story behind Manchester’s iconic John Rylands Library

Quietly tucked away among an abundance of office spaces, swanky restaurants and old boozers down Deansgate stands one of the city’s most historic buildings, the John Ryland Library.

The library, which was recently voted the as one of the most beautiful in the whole of Europe, has stood the test of time (and gentrification) down the bustling city centre street, where it has remained since its opening on New Year’s Day 1900. 

Despite its beauty, however, the story behind the building is tinged with love, heartbreak and death, with it being built by a mourning widower wanting to commemorate her late husband’s memory.

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Enriqueta Ryland, born in Havana, Cuba, moved to Manchester to pursue a higher education and, during this time, befriended Martha Rylands, who was married to John Rylands.

Martha sadly died in 1875 and, in a move some will see as either romantic or down right problematic, Enriqueta went onto marry the much older John just eight months later, who she stayed married to until his death in 1888.

Widowed and grieving, it was then that Enriqueta decided to throw her inheritance money into creating a beautiful library in his memory, enlisting the help of acclaimed architect Basil Champneys, who had impressed her with his neo-gothic style.

She ordered that no expense be spared and commissioned the finest craftsmen, using only high quality materials and buying books and manuscripts to fill the library’s shelves, including the Spencer collection of rare books and the Crawford collection of manuscripts, which made the library renowned internationally.

hiddenarchitecture.net

hiddenarchitecture.net

Enriqueta had a lifelong love for books, which she collected for decades, many of which had  surprising tales of their own. For example, rumour had it that she secretly negotiated buying the 2nd Earl Spencer’s library, buying it for the record price of £210,000 in 1892. 

This love of books showed in her tribute to John, with there been an estimated 40,000 books in the core of the library collection by the time it was inaugurated in 1899. 

And as was the case with a number of Enriqueta’s gestures, the inauguration date had a hidden meaning, with it being on the same date of her wedding anniversary to John. The library then went onto open to the readers and visitors right at the start of the 20^th century, on January 1st 1900.

On that same day, Enriqueta was also admitted to the Freedom of the City of Manchester, showing the significance of her contribution and the first woman to take this role. The library also became one of the first public buildings to be electrically lit in Manchester.

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Enriqueta herself passed away in 1908 and, in her will, left the remaining private collections to the library along with £200,000 so it could continue to expand – something it has done beautifully until this very day.

Since then, over 180,000 books, 3,000 manuscripts and many more artefacts have been added to the already vast collection, and it merged with the University of Manchester in July 1972, with it housing the majority of Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library, the third largest academic library in the country.

The John Rylands Research Institute was created in 2013 and, in March last year, the John Rylands Research Institute and the University’s iconic John Rylands Library forged a new partnership as the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

Today, the John Rylands Library boasts a catalogue of 1.4 million items and an extensive selection of books, which also includes many special collections.

But above all, the breath-taking beauty of the building itself and it’s romantic legacy remains as one of its most pivotal features.