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Library History
The Library was established by the will of Dr Daniel Williams, the
leading London nonconformist minister of his day, who died in January
1715/6. He left instructions for his trustees to
house his library and to make
it available to his fellow nonconformist ministers in London, but his
provisions were inadequate, and the opening of the Library in Red Cross
Street, Cripplegate, in 1729 was largely due to the efforts of his
trustees who raised the
necessary funds for a library building. The
collections were
greatly enlarged over the years with many important gifts, and
Williams’s
original benefaction of about 7600 books forms only a small part of the
modern library. The Library remained in Red Cross
Street until
1865, when the Metropolitan Railway Company bought the library
premises.
The Library removed temporarily to No.8, Queen Square, and in 1873 to
a new building in Grafton Street. The Trustees
acquired University
Hall in Gordon Square, London, where the Library opened in
1890.
The Library is still administered by an independent Trust, and receives
no government or outside funding.
Dr Williams's Library, Gordon Square
The present library building was designed by Thomas Leverton Donaldson,
and built in 1848-49 as University Hall to mark the passing of the
Dissenters' Chapels Act in 1844. The premises were
shared by Manchester New College from 1853, which acquired the lease in
1882. Upon the removal of the College (now Harris
Manchester College) to Oxford in 1889, the building was acquired from
its trustees by Dr. Williams's Trust.
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