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The Rise and Decline of Village Reading Rooms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2009

CAROLE KING
CAROLE KING*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
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Abstract

This article describes the development of the reading room, from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Reading rooms were originally imposed upon the working classes by the upper classes, mainly the church and local landowners. Their establishment reflected contemporary attitudes to philanthropy, recreation and self-help and confirmed the great class divide. Little research has been carried out on this subject, and this article focuses particularly on rural Norfolk, explaining the distribution of the one hundred and sixty village reading rooms identified, their varying location and architectural styles, membership profile and differing methods of financing, including fund-raising social events. The article uses local and national archives and contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, as well as information from many local people. Reading rooms offered a much needed alternative to the public house for the working classes, although they tended to appeal more to the lower middle classes, and membership was mostly restricted to males. The difference between reading rooms in ‘open’ and ‘closed’ parishes is discussed. In the twentieth century, as other diversions appeared and the countryside became more democratised, reading rooms gradually declined. They were an important part of village life and have left interesting evidence of former lifestyles and attitudes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , October 2009 , pp. 163 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

Notes

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8. A Plea for Reading Rooms in Rural Parishes by a Country Curate (Derby, 1862), p. 3.

9. Ibid., p. 4.

10. Ibid., p. 5.

11. ‘Whatever is done for men and classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves’, Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859), p. 1, quoted in Briggs, Asa, Age of Improvement 1783–1867 (Harlow, 2000), p. 382Google Scholar.

12. NRO, PD 146/49 Swanton Abbott Reading Room.

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24. Kelly's Directory of Norfolk, 1912 (London, 1912), p. 436.

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36. NRO, PD 208/31 File of vouchers and accounts for erection of Haddiscoe Reading Room 1906–1907.

37. NRO, PD 208/160 Correspondence with Charity Commissioners.

38. Kelly's Directory of Norfolk 1904, p. 189.

39. NRO, PD146/49 Swanton Abbott Reading Room.

40. NRO, PD178/43 East Barsham Reading Room Minutes 1918–1931, 5th December 1921.

41. NRO, PD548/60 Letter from Mordaunt Edwards, Hardingham Hall, April 19th 1911.

42. NRO, SO156/1 Witton Reading Room Minute and Account Books 1909–1960.

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50. Francis White, Directory of Norfolk, p. 427; TNA, 1851 census: HO107/1810/646/33.

51. TNA, 1861 census: RG9/78/62/42. This is a particularly interesting name, as Isaac Jex left home, going to London to join the police force. Was he still at home when the building was constructed, or did he send money home to support an endeavour he thought was worthwhile?

52. TNA, 1851 census: HO107/1810/631/2.

53. TNA, 1861 census: RG9/1207/86/5.

54. TNA, 1851 census: HO107/1810/641/22.

55. TNA, 1861 census: RG9/1207/87/7.

56. Cf. ‘It was . . . customary for villagers and Sunday school children to lay a brick, sometimes initialled, together with a suitable donation [for the local non-conformist chapel]’, Ede, Virgoe and Williamson, Halls of Zion, p. 17.

57. Francis White, Directory of Norfolk, p. 733.

58. Ede, Virgoe and Williamson, Halls of Zion, p. 15.

59. NRO, HIL 1/145 Plan of glebe farm, Hilborough.

60. Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire, etc., 1892, p. 499.

61. www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=407187

62. www.buxton-norfolk.co.uk/h_public.htm

63. NRO, MC 389/40 Royal Norfolk Nurseries Estate inc. Reading Room (1884).

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66. NRO, BR 35/2/64/11 Keswick Reading Room.

67. Kelly's Directory of Norfolk 1904, p. 212.

68. Ede, Virgoe and Williamson, Halls of Zion, p. 37.

69. NRO, PD704/30 Dickleburgh insurance policies and papers.

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71. NRO, PD 146/50 Treasurer's book, Swanton Abbott Coffee Room.

72. NRO, PD 146/49. Swanton Abbott Coffee Room minutes.

73. NRO, PD 208/31 File of vouchers and accounts for erection of Haddiscoe Reading Room.

74. NRO, PD 209/456 North Elmham Reading Room Society Committee Minutes and Accounts.

75. NRO, PD 146/50 Treasurer's book, Swanton Abbott Coffee Room.

76. NRO, PD 479/11 Account book for Great Melton Reading Room, etc.

77. NRO, PD 459/152 Litcham Reading Room balance sheet.

78. NRO, PD 368/68 Balance sheet for Helhoughton Reading Room.

79. NRO, P/CH 2/177 Norman Reading Room.

80. NRO, PD 530/40 Belton parish account book.

81. NRO, P/CH 2/177; NRO, PD 373/183 Northwold Reading Room accounts.

82. NRO, PD 143/64 Necton Reading Room accounts.

83. NRO, PD 479/11 Great Melton Reading Room, etc.

84. NRO, PD 117/10 Overstrand Reading Room account 1940–41.

85. NRO, PD 479/11 Great Melton Reading Room, etc.; NRO, PD 117/10 Overstrand Reading Room.

86. NRO, BUL4/221, 614XI Bulwer, Address.

87. NRO, PD 368/68 Helhoughton Reading Room balance sheet 1901.

88. Brian Harrison, Drink and the Victorians: The Temperance Question in England 1815–1872 (London, 1971), p. 47.

89. NRO, MC 97/116, 541XI Cromer Working Men's Club and Reading Room – MS notes, reports, rules.

90. Mulbarton Men's Club Minutes Book, in the possession of Mrs. Jill Wright, Mulbarton.

91. Ibid.; Mulbarton Reading Room rules: ‘no person in a state of intoxication shall be permitted to enter or remain in the room’. Mulbarton Men's Club Minutes Book.

92. NRO, PD146/49 Swanton Abbott Reading Room; PD502/97 Warham Reading Room member's card, 1929.

93. NRO, PD146/49 Swanton Abbott Reading Room.

94. Ibid.

95. NRO, PD 373/178 Northwold committee minutes 1884; PD215/25 Letter about partition in Dunton Reading Room.

96. NRO, PD 146/49 Swanton Abbott Reading Room.

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98. Mulbarton Men's Club Minutes Book.

99. NRO, MC 97/116, 541XI Cromer Working Men's Club and Reading Room – MS notes, reports, rules (1880).

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101. TNA, 1881 census: RG11/1981/10/14.

102. White, Directory of Norfolk 1883, p. 400.

103. TNA, 1881 census: RG 11/1981/5.

104. TNA, 1871 census: RG10/1848/14/20.

105. NRO, PD 459/152 Litcham Reading Room balance sheet; TNA, 1881 census: RG11/1981/6/5; White, Directory of Norfolk 1883, p. 400.

106. NRO, PD 143/64 Necton reading room accounts; Post Office Directory of Cambridge, etc.,1869, p. 357; Harrod, Directory of Norfolk 1877, p. 339.

107. Harrod, Directory of Norfolk 1877, p. 161; TNA, 1881 census: RG11/1982/62.

108. NRO, PD373/178 Northwold Reading Room committee meeting minutes; White, Directory of Norfolk 1883, p. 432.

109. TNA, 1881 census: RG11/2011/69/1, RG11/2011/86/4, RG11/2011/73/9.

110. Horn, Pamela, Labouring Life in the Victorian Countryside (Stroud, 1987), p. 43Google Scholar.

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