Difference between revisions of "Andrew Cranston d.1708"
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====Biographical Note==== | ====Biographical Note==== | ||
| − | [[occupation::vicar|Vicar]] of [[location::Reigate, Surrey]]. | + | Born in [[place of birth::Scotland]]; BA [[education::University of Edinburgh]] 1673. [[occupation::vicar|Vicar]] of [[location::Greenock, Renfrewshire]] 1681; not long thereafter he moved to England, where he became [[occupation::vicar]] of [[location::Shepton Mallet, Somerset]] in 1693, and of [[location::Reigate, Surrey]] (where he had already been living) in 1697. |
====Books==== | ====Books==== | ||
| − | Cranston devised a scheme to establish a parish library for Reigate and its surrounding archdeaconry, by initially donating 70 of his own books and contacting a wide circle of potential donors to contribute also. The library formally opened in 1701, in a room above the vestry in the parish church. Cranston gave a further 108 books in 1703; by the time of his death, the library had grown to over 1500 volumes, with books given by 365 donors (listed in a benefactors' register), including [[crossreference::John Evelyn]], [[associates::White Kennett]] and [[associates::John Flamsteed]]. Shortly before his death, Cranston vested the library in a formally constituted body of trustees, including many Reigate townspeople, and it continued to grow; the trustees were reconstituted by the Charity Commission in 1950 and it continues to be housed in its original room today. There are a little over 2000 surviving books, with a strong emphasis on [[subject::theology]], but also including titles across the range of subjects that might be expected, including [[subject::history]], [[subject::geography]], [[subject::classics]], [[subject::law]], [[subject::medicine]], [[subject::astronomy]], [[subject::mathematics]] and [[subject::science]]. | + | A gift of 520 books to [[beneficiary::Edinburgh University Library]] in 1683 was revoked the following year, on Cranston's move south. He devised a scheme to establish a parish library for Reigate and its surrounding archdeaconry, by initially donating 70 of his own books and contacting a wide circle of potential donors to contribute also. The library formally opened in 1701, in a room above the vestry in the parish church. Cranston gave a further 108 books in 1703; by the time of his death, the library had grown to over 1500 volumes, with books given by 365 donors (listed in a benefactors' register), including [[crossreference::John_Evelyn_1620-1706|John Evelyn]], [[associates::White Kennett]] and [[associates::John Flamsteed]]. Shortly before his death, Cranston vested the library in a formally constituted body of trustees, including many Reigate townspeople, and it continued to grow; the trustees were reconstituted by the Charity Commission in 1950 and it continues to be housed in its original room today. There are a little over 2000 surviving books, with a strong emphasis on [[subject::theology]], but also including titles across the range of subjects that might be expected, including [[subject::history]], [[subject::geography]], [[subject::classics]], [[subject::law]], [[subject::medicine]], [[subject::astronomy]], [[subject::mathematics]] and [[subject::science]]. |
====Sources==== | ====Sources==== | ||
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Latest revision as of 06:52, 27 March 2022
Andrew CRANSTON d.1708
Biographical Note
Born in Scotland; BA University of Edinburgh 1673. Vicar of Greenock, Renfrewshire 1681; not long thereafter he moved to England, where he became vicar of Shepton Mallet, Somerset in 1693, and of Reigate, Surrey (where he had already been living) in 1697.
Books
A gift of 520 books to Edinburgh University Library in 1683 was revoked the following year, on Cranston's move south. He devised a scheme to establish a parish library for Reigate and its surrounding archdeaconry, by initially donating 70 of his own books and contacting a wide circle of potential donors to contribute also. The library formally opened in 1701, in a room above the vestry in the parish church. Cranston gave a further 108 books in 1703; by the time of his death, the library had grown to over 1500 volumes, with books given by 365 donors (listed in a benefactors' register), including John Evelyn, White Kennett and John Flamsteed. Shortly before his death, Cranston vested the library in a formally constituted body of trustees, including many Reigate townspeople, and it continued to grow; the trustees were reconstituted by the Charity Commission in 1950 and it continues to be housed in its original room today. There are a little over 2000 surviving books, with a strong emphasis on theology, but also including titles across the range of subjects that might be expected, including history, geography, classics, law, medicine, astronomy, mathematics and science.
Sources
- The Cranston Library, Reigate.
- Bibliotheca Reigatiana: catalogue of the public library at Reigate, Reigate, 1893.
- Perkin, M., A directory of the parochial libraries of the Church of England, London, 2004, p.326-9.
- Sherlock, Peter.'"Cranston, Andrew (d. 1708), creator of a public library."' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- Thomas, A. and Ely, H., The Cranston Library, Reigate: the first three hundred years, Library and Information History 27 (2011), 246-54.