Difference between revisions of "Andrew Cranston d.1708"

Latest revision as of 05:52, 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A gift of 520 books to Edinburgh University Library in 1683 was revoked the following year, on Cranston's move south.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.

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 ====Books====
-A gift of 520 books to [[beneficiary::Edinburgh University Library]] in 1683 was revoked the following year, on Cranston's move south.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]], [[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====