Richard Towneley 1629-1707

Richard TOWNELEY 1629-1707

Biographical Note

Of Towneley Hall, Burnley, a member of a long-established Roman Catholic gentry family there.

Books

The library at Towneley Hall began to be developed by Richard's great grandfather John Towneley (c.1528-1608); it was enlarged by Richard's grandfather, also called Richard, who used an armorial stamp, and by the elder Richard's sons, Charles and Christopher. Their collections were inherited by the next generation, Charles and his brother, the Richard Towneley of this entry, who used an armorial bookplate dated 1702. Manuscript catalogues of the collection made ca.1702-07 (one in Chetham’s Library, one in Manchester University Library) show that the library then contained over 2000 books. Books and manuscripts from the Towneley family were sold at Sotheby’s in 2 sales in June 1883.

Sources

• British Armorial Bindings.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903. 29653/*207.
• Kitto, T. The Towneley family library, The Book Collector 59 (2010) 399-416.
• Maggs Bros: 1272 (1999)/44.
• Willmoth, Frances. "Towneley, Christopher (1604–1674), antiquary." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• The Towneley family, Wikipedia.
• Transcripts of catalogues relating to the Townley family library.
• Information from King’s College London, Foyle Special Collections Library.