History is messy and it sometimes defies attempts to fix it into simple explanations. I was reminded of this after I had posted a series of stories about private lending libraries.
Now these have a long and proud record and some like the Portico Library in Manchester are a wonderful resource.
But as readers to the blog know I had become interested in the small ones operated from the backroom of the local newsagent or bookseller.
I have yet to come across any hard evidence to fill in the details. The membership and subscription lists have not survived, nor have business records for individual shops and the trade directories are little help.
Trade or street directories document the local business’s but I suppose because the lending library was a secondary enterprise shop keepers preferred to be listed as newsagents or bookshops.
So I fell back on personal memories, anecdotal evidence and a few assumptions and perhaps distorted the reality in past stories.
So I am indebted to Philip and Oliver who grew up in Chorlton for sharing some of their knowledge and broadening the picture.
Philip’s family ran a library from their post office on Upper Chorlton Road from the 1890s through to the 1950’s and their clientele was broader based than I had come to think.
As he says
“In the first half of the 20th century Whalley Range was a very prosperous area, and some of our customers were very 'well heeled'. I
remember one lady from 8, Upper Chorlton Road, then a very well-to-do area at Brookes Bar, was a loyal customer for many years. Darley Park, like its sister estate, Chorltonville, although originally designed as better housing for the people of Hulme, never fulfilled that purpose and were taken up by 'the middling sort', and we had people like Miss Peacock from 1, Darley Road, whose father had been a librarian at John Rylands Library.”
Likewise Oliver has reminded me that
“the political make up of the area is also a guide as Moss Side returned conservative MPs for most years in the 50s and early sixties Dame Florence Horsbrugh then Frank Taylor that I remember, as well Alexandra Park Ward and Chorlton were solidly blue at the same time.
That is not to say they were all of the same social or political stripe but a reasonable indicator. People at every level had far less disposable income so in socio-economic terms people would probably only buy serious tomes to keep and for relaxed reading borrow from Boots or wherever instead of investing in westerns or detective stories that might get read only once, more bangs for their buck in a way.”
And I think that is the point. Private lending libraries by their very nature catered for a local reader and until the arrival of the cheap paperback, most people settled on borrowing from either the local shop or the public library or following a novel serialised in a weekly magazine.
And I might add that the larger private libraries were themselves attractive places to visit. I referred to the library run by Boots the Chemist yesterday and in particular the one in Inverness which had “tables, chairs and even flowers and notepaper”.
A similar memory comes from Ida who told me “my aunt lived in Buxton from the late 40's to late 50's and there was one at Boots on High Street - they had a restaurant up stairs and the library was there as well. As far as I recall it was very well used - especially on Market Day.”
So the story goes on. ........... And with a correction from Bill Sumner, "Nice story but your informant seems not to know that the area where he lived and even had a Post Office was in Stretford, the West Point shops and Darley Ave, Chatham etc. were all in the Old Trafford district of Stretford. Whalley Range/Chorlton faces them and the boundary is the centre of Upper Chorlton Road".
Picture; Upper Chorlton Road, circa early 20th century, the Philip Lloyd’s family post office and lending library is in this parade of shops, from the collection of Tony Walker
Now these have a long and proud record and some like the Portico Library in Manchester are a wonderful resource.
But as readers to the blog know I had become interested in the small ones operated from the backroom of the local newsagent or bookseller.
I have yet to come across any hard evidence to fill in the details. The membership and subscription lists have not survived, nor have business records for individual shops and the trade directories are little help.
Trade or street directories document the local business’s but I suppose because the lending library was a secondary enterprise shop keepers preferred to be listed as newsagents or bookshops.
So I fell back on personal memories, anecdotal evidence and a few assumptions and perhaps distorted the reality in past stories.
So I am indebted to Philip and Oliver who grew up in Chorlton for sharing some of their knowledge and broadening the picture.
Philip’s family ran a library from their post office on Upper Chorlton Road from the 1890s through to the 1950’s and their clientele was broader based than I had come to think.
As he says
“In the first half of the 20th century Whalley Range was a very prosperous area, and some of our customers were very 'well heeled'. I
remember one lady from 8, Upper Chorlton Road, then a very well-to-do area at Brookes Bar, was a loyal customer for many years. Darley Park, like its sister estate, Chorltonville, although originally designed as better housing for the people of Hulme, never fulfilled that purpose and were taken up by 'the middling sort', and we had people like Miss Peacock from 1, Darley Road, whose father had been a librarian at John Rylands Library.”
Likewise Oliver has reminded me that
“the political make up of the area is also a guide as Moss Side returned conservative MPs for most years in the 50s and early sixties Dame Florence Horsbrugh then Frank Taylor that I remember, as well Alexandra Park Ward and Chorlton were solidly blue at the same time.
That is not to say they were all of the same social or political stripe but a reasonable indicator. People at every level had far less disposable income so in socio-economic terms people would probably only buy serious tomes to keep and for relaxed reading borrow from Boots or wherever instead of investing in westerns or detective stories that might get read only once, more bangs for their buck in a way.”
And I think that is the point. Private lending libraries by their very nature catered for a local reader and until the arrival of the cheap paperback, most people settled on borrowing from either the local shop or the public library or following a novel serialised in a weekly magazine.
And I might add that the larger private libraries were themselves attractive places to visit. I referred to the library run by Boots the Chemist yesterday and in particular the one in Inverness which had “tables, chairs and even flowers and notepaper”.
A similar memory comes from Ida who told me “my aunt lived in Buxton from the late 40's to late 50's and there was one at Boots on High Street - they had a restaurant up stairs and the library was there as well. As far as I recall it was very well used - especially on Market Day.”
So the story goes on. ........... And with a correction from Bill Sumner, "Nice story but your informant seems not to know that the area where he lived and even had a Post Office was in Stretford, the West Point shops and Darley Ave, Chatham etc. were all in the Old Trafford district of Stretford. Whalley Range/Chorlton faces them and the boundary is the centre of Upper Chorlton Road".
Picture; Upper Chorlton Road, circa early 20th century, the Philip Lloyd’s family post office and lending library is in this parade of shops, from the collection of Tony Walker
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