THE PLYMOUTH PROPRIETARY LIBRARY

Founded 1810

What is the Plymouth Proprietary Library?

The PPL is one of the oldest surviving  subscription libraries in the UK. It still operates under similar rules as its inception over two hundred years ago. It is currently situated in St Barnabas Terrace and welcomes members who can browse and borrow from over 17,000 books and attend the many talks and activities that take place.

Origins in the early 19th Century.

The Plymouth Public Library (as it was originally known) was founded in 1810. The shipbuilding industry and expertise in naval affairs had made the city a vibrant and thriving environment: "largely because of its strategic importance in the Napoleonic era, Plymouth had grown in wealth and population to become the fifth largest provincial town in England by 1810" (Bautz). 

The first decade of the 19th century saw a resultant surge in civic pride. One of the first schemes to be proposed was a new building that would comprise a hotel, theatre and ballroom plus a small subscription library. However, at a public meeting held at the Guildhall on 20th November 1810, it was agreed that a completely separate institution would be created known as the Plymouth Public Library.

The ethos of the library was "for the general diffusion of science and literature ... connected to a newsroom", and the long-term aim was for "the gradual formation of a library, comprising the most useful and approved works in ancient and modern literature."

Who were the founders?

There were four key founders of the library.

The first was George Eastlake, Judge Advocate of the Fleet and Solicitor to the Admiralty. He was President of this new Library in Cornwall Street and declared it finished and ready for use on 12th August 1813.

Henry Woollcombe was an influential lawyer and the mayor of Plymouth in 1813. He played an important role in the cultural life of Plymouth and was a founder of the Athenaeum. He was involved in the Plymouth committee for the abolition of slavery.

John Hawker was the mayor of Plymouth in 1805. He was also a prosperous merchant that specialised in importing hemp, timber and wine from the Baltic ports and Norway.

Finally, Edmund Lockyer was mayor of Plymouth four times, and is credited with transforming the 'Three Towns' of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport. He was also an influential supporter of the architect John Foulston. 

John Foulston designs a new library

The library in Cornwall Street was designed by John Foulston (pictured here). Foulston began his career as a pupil of the London-based architect Thomas Hardwick. He established his practice in 1796 and exhibited in the Royal Academy between 1794 and 1813. He relocated to Plymouth after winning a competition to design the Royal Hotel and Theatre in 1810. 

Following his success, he found fame as the leading architect of the area during the early 19th century. Most, but not all of his work was rooted in the Greek revival style. Shaping the three towns of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse through his building, Foulston influenced future local architects throughout the period.

This image illustrates the magnificence of the purpose-built library designed by Foulston. It was the region’s foremost public library during the nineteenth century. It was comparable to other major institutions like the Birmingham Library and the Manchester Portico. The design was based on an Athenian temple; there were no windows but the rooms were lit by glass cupolas in the roof. A good example of these now is at the Devon and Exeter Institution, another independent library situated very close to Exeter Cathedral on the Green.

When the Plymouth library was built, a ‘public’ library was one open to members of the public for a fee, and not in the private ownership of an individual or single family. The 1850 Public Libraries Act began the trend for public libraries to be free to users.

The library and reading room were both spacious and handsome. It was, quote, ‘furnished with a double range of bookshelves; the upper level accessed by a flight of stairs concealed behind decorative columns’; the roof was supported by four segmented arches ‘richly ornamented’. The building included a separate News-Room where the daily and weekly papers both local and general were situated. There was an apartment where the Librarian resided and also a committee-room.

The focus of meetings in this committee room in the early years would have been dominated by discussions about the building itself. A large debt had been incurred in its erection and the finished building greatly exceeded the estimate of £2,700. Thirty guineas each had been invested by the original Proprietors. This proved not to be enough to complete the building and a loan was taken out so a figure of almost £5000 was reached to pay the costs. The debt would not be fully paid until 1833. 

The library relied on money received from library users. There were two classes of members, Proprietors and Subscribers. Proprietors paid two guineas annually (provided they had fully paid-up shares; otherwise they paid three guineas until the debt was received). Subscribers paid three guineas annually for the use of the library and four guineas to include the use of the newsroom. The fees charged by the library for both Proprietors and Subscribers was above the means of the working class. The library’s acquisitions and holdings reflect the reading habits and values of fee-paying middle-class readers such as doctors, the clergy and other professionals. 

The Library had generous opening hours. In the 1830s it was open from seven in the morning until ten at night for six days of the week. Even on Sunday, whilst the library was closed, the newsroom was open from seven until ten in the morning, and from eight until ten in the evening.

The newsroom was evidently popular and certain members were spending far too long reading the papers and denying them to others. So much so it was raised at a committee meeting in 1843. It was resolved that there would be a time limit for each newspaper of half an hour or “two sand-glasses of 15 minutes each”  

The committee of proprietors would also discuss library stock and acquisition; determining what books, newspapers, maps, and periodical publications could be allowed into the library. We are fortunate here at the PPL to have a collection of library catalogue publications from the nineteenth century that detail the range of material held.

What books were in the library?

There are seven nineteenth-century catalogue books that are still in existence, dating from 1824 to 1886. These are all held at the PPL. The catalogues for 1812 and 1814 were unfortunately lost a long time ago.

The 1824 catalogue (pictured) is the earliest we hold. The full title suggests that books play a secondary role to the laws and regulations of the library, and that they were of equal importance to maps and newspapers.

Unlike later catalogues, the 1824 one is simply arranged alphabetically either by title of the work, or by the surname of the author, rather than by classification. A few works however are grouped together by category. It must have been very challenging to use this catalogue successfully. For example, many novels are listed anonymously. Whilst publishing novels anonymously was common in the period, the catalogue often does not give the author even in cases where it appears on the title page.

The 1824 catalogue comprises around 1,500 titles, and covers a broad range of fields to include history, biography, politics, theology, poetry and drama. The largest number of titles however are connected with travel literature, perhaps not surprising due to the naval location, and the interest in commercial and colonial expansion.

Also popular, though not to the extent of travel literature, is fiction. Novels in particular were purchased despite the library’s intention to differentiate itself from circulating libraries that focused primarily on this area. According to minutes from the PPL archive from 1810, only “the most useful and approved works” were to be included. The library acquired all of Walter Scott’s novels as soon as they were published, plus novels by Frances Burney, Daniel Defoe, Maria Edgeworth, Ann Radcliffe and William Godwin. A healthy number of authors were women reflecting their prevalence as novelists from the eighteenth-century onwards. In fact, the proportion of male and female authored novels is roughly equal in the 1824 catalogue.

Whilst Jane Austen may seem a notable exclusion, it was only later in the century that her works became more respected and appreciated. Other notable absentees were Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding, probably due to themes of rape and sexual conquest that feature in their works. The novels selected comprised those that were well established and respected, with plots that contained clear moral lessons. The library was not always so conservative. It subscribed to The Examiner which championed political reform, and also books on slavery by leading abolitionists Thomas Clarkson and James Stephen.

Overall, the holdings in 1824 sees the library striving to fulfill their remit of facilitating the acquisition of knowledge in a wide sense. This included various points of view on a broad range of topics. Once the debt on the library had been cleared in 1833 more attention could be devoted to cataloguing and acquisition.

In the mid-nineteenth century, acquisitions would become the centre of attention as the library receives two substantial donations.

The Cottonian Collection

The Cottonian Collection, now in The Box, was named after William Cotton the third. He was born in London in 1794, the eldest of six siblings to William Cotton and Catherine Savery. The father dies in 1816. And, as a result of a substantial inheritance, William Cotton the third was able to live a life of leisure. He embarked on a Grand Tour taking in Florence, Rome and Naples and acquiring a passion for art. He fell in love with rural Devon and in 1839 he moved to Ivybridge.

The Cottonian collection consists of a library of roughly two thousand volumes collected in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and about one hundred Old Master drawings from several European countries. It also includes fine prints, oil paintings, sculpture, and family portraits by the Plympton born artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds.

In 1848, William Cotton expressed his wish “to see my Library Collection established in some Institution or County Town, where I know that it will remain intact and taken care of after my death”. This, despite the opposition of his three younger brothers who wished the collection sold and the proceeds distributed between them. The conditions surrounding the display and maintenance of the collection and the lack of any private endowment meant that there were significant challenges in finding a good home.

After rejections elsewhere, the PPL accepted the gift in 1850. It required that they “funded the maintenance; that a suitable room be built for the exclusive use of the Collection; that this room be invested in the name of the Trustees, three from the Cotton family and three from the proprietors of the Plymouth Proprietary Library: and that the appointed room and its contents be known as the Cottonian Collection.”

The PPL built an elegant annexe onto the first floor of the Library (as can be seen by the image on the screen). Alterations and additions cost around £1300. £300 came from funds and the rest raised by loans from Proprietors and friends of the institution. In June 1853, the new room was opened to the public with a lavish ceremony, and displayed the initial part of the gift. The completion of the gift was made after William’s death in 1863. It was on view to the public from 10 till 4 each day, and remained in the care of the PPL for the next half a century.

In 1915 the Trusteeship was transferred to the care of the Plymouth Corporation and the collection displayed in the Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery. 

Women and the library

Along with the lack of book space, the library faced other challenges in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Elaine Henderson, a long-standing member of the PPL has conducted research on women and the PPL in the nineteenth-century. In 1834, the list of proprietors revealed only one female proprietor, as women tended to use the library as nominees of proprietors or subscribers. 

In 1871, however, the committee passed a new rule prohibiting any member of a subscriber’s family from using the library free of charge – the cost was an extra ½ guinea. This would affect mainly women readers who subsequently made protests to the papers. Unwelcome publicity ensued. A verse entitled “Lines dedicated to the Committee of the Plymouth Public Library” was published in the Western Daily Mercury. It draws to a conclusion with the following lament:  

And so the room that once was bright

Ah me! those vacant places

Will never never see the light

Of those fair women’s faces

The committee were described as ‘the Herods of our age!’. They soon rescinded the new rule, probably influenced by the opening of Plymouth’s first free library in 1876.  Towards the end of the 19th century more women become proprietors, and frequent requests were made to obtain ‘a much better supply of the best current literature’ (e.g. novels). These requests faced serious challenges as novels did not align with the PPL’s self-identification as a major and serious library. 

Towards the very end of the nineteenth century, there is evidence of change at the PPL, although not everyone is happy. In 1894, the Librarian, Mr J Whitmarsh complains that his time is taken up with the issuing of magazines and novels, where 'the work is too monotonous to be cheerful and the literature too flimsy for retention.' Indeed his behaviour seems to only deteriorate further as time passes.

The lull before the storm

By the turn of the century, the PPL holds roughly 30,000 volumes. Many of them are rare works and scarce editions. The Library was much less exclusive and welcomed a greater variety of proprietors and subscribers. The PPL now “comprises a large Central Hall, comfortably furnished, where the leading daily and weekly newspapers, illustrated papers, reviews, magazines and new books are to be found, plus a Smoking Room, and other rooms, including a large Annex, well stocked with books of reference and general literature. Electric lights have also been installed”

During the first world war there is a lot of activity in the library. The circulation of books was over 23,000 in 1915. 228 works were purchased in 1915, of which two thirds were novels. A further 122 books were obtained from a circulating library. By this period, the circulating library was in decline as modern public libraries become more prominent.

Whilst the library seems to run smoothly throughout the period 1914-1918, the same cannot be said during the second world war, although things start off well with over 11,000 books issued in 1940.

The Library is destroyed

On 21/22 March 1941, the library was hit by an incendiary bomb. It went straight through Foulston’s lantern (the glass dome in the ceiling) and immediately set light to the library. Fortunately no-one was killed or injured, but by the time the fire engine arrived there was no water pressure and the building was in flames in addition to nearly all of the 35,000 books.

The PPL’s annual general meeting from February 1942 reports on the events surrounding the loss of the library.

“Incendiary bombs were causing fire and destruction to local shops and buildings close to the library on the evening of March 21st, 1941. The PPL looked outwardly alright, but on entry the new silence room was blazing furiously, and flames were coming through the glass door into the Foulston room. On arriving at the scene, the fire service reported that the conditions at the library were hopeless without a fire engine capable of throwing strong streams of water. But it was impossible to get an engine then. All were on duty elsewhere.”

The report written by the Honorary Secretary, the Paymaster Captain F.H. Gerty continues:

“Suddenly a young naval Sub-Lieutenant appeared and asked if he could help. It was known that there were five tin boxes containing old manuscripts and some of the more valuable books all ready packed for such an emergency and that they were upstairs under the table in the Committee Room. He volunteered to try and get them. But, alas!, though he made more than one attempt, he was frustrated by the blinding smoke and intense heat. Just about this time a fire engine arrived but they could do nothing as by then there was no pressure of water and the library was an inferno of flames. Thus was destroyed in a few hours the result of 132 years of work.”

In the display cabinet you can see one book that was pulled out of the ruins in a very sorry state which we believe to be ‘A History of Venice’ from 1903.

In the autumn of 1941, a chartered architect, J. Leighton Fouracre accessed the building with regards to salvage, and writes:

“I have been all through this building and we cannot hold out any hope. … The inside of the building must have been a veritable furnace, in which all the roof timbers, structured timbers, fittings, furniture etc. were burned out; and when the contents of a thick steel box are entirely destroyed so as to be no longer recognisable, there would seem to be very little hope for things in the open.”

The only books from the collection to survive intact were those that were on loan at the time. The PPL still has a dozen or so books including works by P.G. Wodehouse, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and J.M. Barrie plus a book on British Foreign Policy that was understandably popular at the time. 

Soon after the bombing, the PPL launched a campaign to replenish the book stock by asking for donations from members and supporters. Much of our current stock is from this period, including this generous donation of a third edition of Jane Eyre (pictured), still under Charlotte Bronte’s pseudonym of Currer Bell that was received by the library in 1944, three years after it was bombed. Below this date it reads “As a temporary war measure, members can only borrow 1 new book and 2 old books”, as they try to replenish their stock. The library did however receive many kind book donations, many of which are housed on these shelves.

Following the destruction of the library, correspondence held at the PPL reveal that ready money was needed urgently to secure a reading room for members as, quote, “until we have done this and get something to show to people, I think there cannot be much hope of our being able to collect subscriptions for 1942. But if we have something to show and can indicate that we are starting again, then there must surely be some hope for the future.” Buildings in Evelyn Place, Bedford Terrace, Torrington Place, Addison Road, and Sutherland Road were considered, though this last one was deemed to be "much too near the Railway for complete comfort or safety.”

The PPL at North Hill

A location was finally agreed upon and The Box holds a Conditions of Membership leaflet for the PPL dated March 1943. It is addressed 1 Alton Terrace, North Hill, Plymouth, where the library was now situated.

The Honorary Secretary writes here that despite the war, “in January 1942 the Proprietors decided to re-open in temporary premises (i.e. North Hill) ... After the war it is intended to build a new library of the latest design to which the present stock will be transferred and in which the traditions of the old library will be followed, namely, the gradual building of a collection fit for scholars and students whilst also providing for those who read chiefly for relaxation.”

This vision of a newly built library was never realised and the PPL remained at North Hill for the next 75 years. It had the issue room by the entrance that contained modern fiction plus new acquisitions. The reading room contained newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. The committee room had classic fiction plus plays and poetry. The history room had both general history and the local history of Devon and Cornwall including maps, letters and diaries.

It was this local history section that was particularly affected when another fire swept through the library on the night of 8th and 9th August 1969. All rooms on the ground and first floor were seriously damaged and well over 1,000 books damaged or destroyed including many of the said collection. The cause was revealed to be a lightning strike on the chimney stacks. The feeling one senses from reading the annual report from 1969/70 is that the PPL is indeed cursed. Quote: “your committee is not conscious of any act it had committed, so heinous as thus to warrant the wrath of the gods, but, whether of not guilty of such a crime, six months hard labour was subsequently served by the officers and committee members following the disaster.”

In recent times, the PPL sold the building as funds dried up and then had the building leased back to them. It was time to move.

The move to St. Barnabas Terrace

In 2018, the PPL relocated from North Hill to the former doctor’s surgery here in St. Barnabas Terrace. In the spring of 2019, the building was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Sam Davey at a special ceremony here in the library. However, the building had not long been open when it had to close as Covid restrictions swept the country.

The PPL today

Since 2022 the library has continued to establish itself in these new premises and we put on a series of talks and regular activities to appeal to existing members and also to attract new members to join. 

All events are detailed on the website, and you can also sign up for our monthly newsletter. We are also active on social media. If you would like to know more, please feel free to pop in during our opening hours for a chat. 

"Without libraries what have we?

We have no past and no future"

Ray Bradbury

Text: Dr Darren Bevin, Library Manager

May 2024

Credits

Annika Bautz – 'Reading in the Provinces. Plymouth Public Library’s Nineteenth-Century Catalogues' in Libraries, Books, and Collectors of Texts, 1600-1900.

Elaine Henderson’s introduction to the history of the PPL.

Margaret Ivy Lattimore – The History of Libraries on Plymouth to 1914. PhD thesis: 1982.

Florence A. Stanbury – The Story of the Cottonian Collection.

Archive material from the Plymouth Proprietary Library archives and from The Box.

Anecdotal material from trustees and members of the Plymouth Proprietary Library.