by Ford Madox Brown, illustrating the history and progress
of the city. The royal exchange is a fine specimen of Italian
architecture and was erected in 1869; the great meeting-hall
is one of the largest rooms in England, the ceiling having a
clear area, without supports, of 120 ft. in width. The exchange
is seen at its best on market days (Tuesday and Friday). The
assize courts were built in 1864 from designs by Waterhouse.
The style is a mixture of Early English and Decorative, and
a large amount of decorative art has been expended on the
building. The branch Bank of England is a Doric building
designed by C. R. Cockerell. There are separate town-halls
for the townships of Ardwick, Chorlton, Hulme, Cheetham,
Broughton and Pendleton. The Free Trade hall is a fine
structure in the Lombardo-Venetian style, and its great hall
will accommodate about five thousand people. It is used
for public meetings, concerts, &c., and was built by Edward
Walters. The Athenaeum, designed by Barry, was founded
by Richard Cobden and others associated with him for “the
advancement and diffusion of knowledge.” The institution
has, perhaps, not developed exactly on the lines contemplated
by its promoters, but it has been very useful. The advantages
enjoyed by members of social clubs, with the addition of facilities
for educational classes and the use of an excellent news-room
and a well-selected library, are offered in return for a
payment which does not amount to a penny a day. The
mechanics’ institution has developed into the school of Technology,
which now forms a part of the university. The Portico
is a good specimen of the older proprietary libraries and newsrooms.
It dates from 1806, and has a library. The Memorial
Hall was built to commemorate the memory of the ejected
ministers of 1662; it is used for meetings, scientific, educational,
musical and religious. The Whitworth Institute is governed
by a corporate body originating from the liberal bequests
of Sir Joseph Whitworth. The Institute contains a valuable
collection of works of art and stands in the centre of a woodland
park. In the park, which has been transferred to the
corporation, is a sculpture group of “Christ and the Children,”
executed by George Tinworth from the designs of R. D. Darbishire,
by whom it was presented. The assize courts, built
from designs by Waterhouse (1864), the post office (1887),
and the police courts (1871) should also be named. Many
fine structures suffer from being hemmed in by streets which
prevent the proportions from being seen to advantage.
Monuments.—In Piccadilly are bronze statues of Wellington, Watt, Dalton, Peel and Queen Victoria. Another statue of the Queen, by the Princess Louise, is placed on the new porch of the cathedral. A bronze statue of Cobden occupies a prominent position in St Ann’s Square. There also is the South African War Memorial of the Manchester Regiment. The marble statue of the Prince Consort, covered by a Gothic canopy of stone, is in front of the town hall, which dwarfs what would otherwise be a striking monument. In Albert Square there are also statues of Bishop Fraser, John Bright, Oliver Heywood and W. E. Gladstone. A statue of J. P. Joule is in the town hall, which also contains memorials of other worthies. The Queen’s Park has a statue of Benjamin Brierley, a well-known writer in the Lancashire dialect. The most picturesque is Matthew Noble’s bronze statue of Cromwell, placed on a huge block of rough granite as pedestal. It stands at the junction of Deansgate and Victoria Street, near the cathedral, and was presented to the town by Mrs E. S. Heywood.
Education.—There are many educational facilities. The oldest institution is the grammar school, which was founded in 1519 by Hugh Oldham, bishop of Exeter, a native of the town. The master and usher appointed by the bishop were to teach freely every child and scholar coming to the school, “without any money or reward taken”; and the bishop forbade the appointment of any member of the religious orders as head master. Some corn mills were devised for the maintenance of the school, which was further endowed at both the universities by Sarah, duchess of Somerset, in 1692. The school has now two hundred and fifty free scholars, whilst other pupils are received on payment of fees. Among those educated at the grammar school were Thomas De Quincey, Harrison Ainsworth and Samuel Bamford the Radical. After the grammar school the oldest educational foundation is that of Humphrey Chetham, whose bluecoat school, founded in 1653, is housed in the building formerly occupied by the college of clergy. This also contains the public library founded by Chetham, and is the most interesting relic of antiquity in the city. The educational charity of William Hulme (1631–1691) is administered under a scheme drawn up in 1881. Its income is nearly £10,000 a year, and it supports a grammar school and aids education in other ways. There are three high schools for girls. The Nicholls hospital was founded in 1881 for the education of orphan boys. Manchester was one of the first places to adopt the powers given by Forster’s Act of 1870, and on the abolition of school boards the educational supervision was transferred to a committee of the corporation strengthened by co-opted members. In addition to the elementary schools, the municipality provides a large and well-equipped school of technology, and a school of art to which is attached an arts and crafts museum. There are a pupil teachers’ college, a school of domestic economy, special schools for feeble-minded children, and a Royal College of Music. The schools for the deaf and dumb are situated at Old Trafford, in a contiguous building of the same Gothic design as the blind asylum, to which Thomas Henshaw left a bequest of £20,000. There is also an adult deaf and dumb institution, containing a news-room, lecture hall, chapel, &c., for the use of deaf mutes.
The Victoria University of Manchester has developed from the college founded by John Owens, who in 1846 bequeathed nearly £100,000 to trustees for an institution in which should be taught “such branches of learning and science as were then or might be hereafter usually taught in English universities.” It was opened in 1851 in a house which had formerly been the residence of Cobden. In 1872 a new college building was erected on the south side of the town from designs by Waterhouse. In 1880 a university charter was granted, excluding the faculties of theology and medicine, and providing for the incorporation of University College, Liverpool, and the College of Science, Leeds. The federal institution thus created lasted until 1903, when the desire of Liverpool for a separate university of its own led to a reconstruction. Manchester University consists of one college—Owens College—in its greatly enlarged form. The buildings include the Whitworth Hall (the gift of the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth), the Manchester Museum and the Christie Library, which is a building for the university library given by R. C. Christie, who also bequeathed his own collection. Dr Lee, the first bishop of Manchester, left his library to Owens College, and the legatees of Sir Joseph Whitworth bought and presented E. A. Freeman’s books. The library has received other important special collections. The benefactions to the university of Thomas Ashton are estimated at £80,000. There are in Manchester a number of denominational colleges, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Unitarian, Baptist, &c., and many of the students preparing for the ministry receive their arts training at the university, the theological degrees of which are open to students irrespective of creed.
Libraries, Museums and Societies.—Manchester is well provided with libraries. The Chetham library, already named, contains some rare manuscripts, the gem of the collection being a copy of the historical compilation of Matthew Paris, with corrections in the author’s handwriting. There is a large collection of matter relating to the history and archaeology of Lancashire and Cheshire, including the transcripts of Lancashire MSS. bequeathed by Canon F. R. Raines. The collections of broadsides formed by Mr J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, and the library of John Byrom, rich in mystics and shorthand writers, should also be named. The Manchester Free Libraries were founded by Sir John Potter in 1852. There is now a reference library containing about 170,000 volumes, including an extensive series of English historical works, a remarkable collection of books of political economy and trade, and special collections relating to local history, Dr Thomas Fuller, shorthand and the gipsies. The
