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Full-length marble statue of John Rylands who is shown holding a quill pen in right hand. The statue surmounts a polished granite pedestal.

In planning the library Mrs Rylands intended to include an appropriate representation of John Rylands. Initially, she considered a bust which would be appropriately displayed in the apse of the library, but this idea was soon replaced by one of a full- length marble statue. It appears that the only sculptor she approached to provide a bust and then a statue was John Cassidy. Cassidy's charge for the statue was £1,325, the work to be completed in 15 months. The commission received Mrs Rylands' usual careful attention. Changes were made to the plaster model, and considerable time was taken up discussing the location of the statue in the library, a discussion that might have been postponed, at least, until the main reading room was roofed. The statue was finally installed in April 1899, some seven years after the initial discussions. Mrs Rylands' concern with the detail continued to the last, in this instance ensuring that Patteson's, one of Manchester's best known architectural sculptors and masons, supplied a granite pedestal of exactly the colour she wanted. Cassidy's statue of John Rylands was placed in front of the arch leading into the apse, a central position which also ensured that it was lit by some of the natural light entering the library.

John Rylands was born at Parr, near St Helens, in 1801. He began working as textile manufacturer and merchant in 1817 and went on to establish one of the largest cotton businesses based on supplying the Home Trade. His manufacturing works expanded to include mills at Gorton, Manchester and Swinton. A parallel growth was seen in his Manchester warehouse premises which he had first opened in 1823. The firm also had offices in London and Liverpool. By the 1860s Rylands was recognised as one the leading figures in the Lancashire cotton industry. A nonconformist in religion, his philanthropy was both local and international. He married three times: his first wife Dinah Raby, whom he married in 1825, died in 1843; his second marriage was in 1848 to Martha Carden, who died in 1875; his third marriage was to Enriqueta Tennant in 1875. John Rylands died at Longford Hall on 11 December 1888 and was buried in Southern Cemetery, Manchester. The 'old Field-Marshal of the Home Trade' left a personal estate of £2.575 million.

circa

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At risk

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Statue

Marble

183cm high approx

pedestal

granite

90 cm high

None