The Roots of the Service
On the 30th of January, 1979 the Isle of Wight County Library Service was seventy five years old, for on Saturday 30th of January, 1904 during one of the worst snow storms ever experienced on the Isle of Wight, the County Technical Institute and Free Library was opened to the public. It was not the first Free Library on the Isle of Wight but it was the first public administered library service. The Isle of Wight can rightly claim to have operated the first County Library Service in the United Kingdom, which was controlled from its inauguration by various committees of the County Council. However the concept of a Free Library Service did not emerge entirely from the generosity of the Isle of Wight County Council. The service grew through the benevolence of one family, and the changing social structure of the Island that made such a service desirable.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the population of the Isle of Wight was 22,0972 and the Island had hardly changed during the previous two centuries. The Solent protected the Island from many of the changes that affected the mainland of the United Kingdom. Few ferries existed and only the determined made the effort to reach the Island. The Isle of Wight had no industry, except infant shipbuilding at Cowes. It was predominantly rural with only a little income from the troops who were garrisoned on the Island. During the nineteenth century, the situation changed radically. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, the garrisons on the Isle of Wight were swelled considerably by the vast numbers of wounded troops who convalesced on the Island. This huge increase in troops to guard against possible French invasion brought the first major changes to a social structure that had hardly changed since the Spanish Armada. The officers appearéd to want more than the traditional military pursuits. Partly to cater for these new residents and for the new commercial classes within the county town of the Isle of Wight, Newport, the Isle of Wight Institute was opened in 1811. Situated in Newport, the object of the Isle of Wight Institute was:
"to provide a large and select library for the diffusion of taste and science among the middle and higher classes".
By 1812 William Cooke was writing:
"One of the brightest ornaments in this town (Newport) is a permanent public library called the Isle of Wight Institute ... (it) is supplied by voluntary subscriptions and donations ..."
Although Cooke called the library public, membership was not automatic to all who applied. There was an admission fee of one and a half guineas and an additional annual subscription of two guineas, which put membership beyond the means of many potential users.
The Isle of Wight Institute was not typical of the nineteenth century libraries on the Island. More typical were the circulating libraries that had their origins in the spa and holiday resorts which had come to prominence during the previous century.
By 1818 the first circulating library on the Isle of Wight, the Royal Marine, was established at the Assembly Room, Ryde. In 1832 Mr. P. T. Hellyer wrote of the Royal Marine Circulating Library:
"... a variety of London papers, pamphlets etc. are daily on the tables."
The circulating libraries tended to develop in the newly expanding tourist resorts of Ventnor, Freshwater, Sandown, Shanklin and Ryde. The Isle of Wight had attracted seasonal visitors since the 1st century, when Romans had moved to the Island to obtain some of the guaranteed sunshine. The number of visitors to the Island increased dramatically during the first half of the nineteenth century. The visitors varied; some were romantics wanting to sample the picturesque scenery, others wanted an artistic retreat. However, the majority were members of a new commercial middle class thrown up by the Industrial Revolution, which gave them money, leisure and vastly improved methods of transport. The attraction of the Isle of Wight was considerably increased in 1845 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made Osborne House at East Cowes one of their homes. This made the Island more desirable to the rich, establishing Cowes as the fashionable marine resort. The expansion of the Island railways between 1860 and the end of the century opened up most of the county to the holidaymaker. As the tourist industry grew more people were attracted to the Island to provide services for both residents and visitors.
As the population and educational facilities of the Island grew, this was reflected in library provision. Circulating libraries continued to grow in number but varied enormously in quality and quantity of books. The service they offered was basically geared to the holidaymaker and offered, in the main, recreational fiction. Their development on the Island continued as something separate from public libraries.
More important in the history of the Isle of Wight County Library was the emergence of Literary Institutes, which were founded in Ventnor in 1847, Shanklin in 1865 and Newport in 1876. Each was to play its part within the County Library Service. The self-education movement of the early nineteenth century was as important on the Isle of Wight as on the mainland. By 1825 a Mechanics Institute had been founded in Newport nearly two hundred members. The commentator added:'
"A respectable library has already been collected."
Book clubs limited to private membership were well established by the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1852 the Newport Book Society had one of the largest collections of books on the Island. Fines for overdue books were high: a penny a day on each book outstanding.
A competitor to the Newport County Library for many years because the books were available for open access borrowing.
Despite a lot of libraries and organisations offering books, many people wanted to establish a Free Public Library in the sense of the 1850 Public Library Act. Throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century attempts were made at Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor and West Cowes to adopt the Public Library Act. But all to no avail. At the end of 1887 the vote to adopt the Library Act was taken at West Cowes. On a demand for a poll, only 324 papers were returned from a total of 1,600. Out of the number returned the majority against was 84.
As Thomas Greenwood wrote in 1894:
"The Isle of Wight has not yet one single adoption of the Acts ... By and by, no doubt, the good people of the Island will come to see that Public Libraries are as useful as fashionable yacht clubs."
Greenwood was not alone in advancing the value of a Public Library Service. Edward Edwards who with William Ewart was the joint architect of the 1850 Public Library Act had visited the Isle of Wight many times before finally retiring to it in 1881. He moved to Niton, an attractive and isolated village to the south of the Island. His wish for a Free Library was evident from the inscription on the plates he pasted into his own books:
"Bequeathed to the Mayor and Corporation of ... Isle of Wight, as a very Humble but most Willingly offered Nucleus (in anticipation and hope) of their future Free Town Library ..."
Edwards' wish for a Free Town Library was not granted in his lifetime. By the time he retired to the Island he was already very deaf and had contracted some minor debts which multiplied until he could no longer afford his lodgings from which he was eventually evicted. He was then cared for by the local Baptist minister. During the November of 1885 he was out on the local Downs for three days and nights. Found sheltering among sheep for warmth, he was brought back to his lodgings but the exposure weakened him and he died on the 7th of February, 1886. A granite monument to Edwards was erected in Niton Churchyard in 1902, and this is now maintained by the Library Association.
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