The Carnegie Free Library was opened by Lord Alverstone – then the Lord Chief Justice of England – on 29th July 1905.
Money for the library was donated by Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish businessman who had migrated to the US as a child with his parents. Having worked his way up from a factory floor worker to owner of the largest and most profitable industrial enterprise in the world (Carnegie Steel Company), he later devoted his life to philanthropy with a particular interest in local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research.
Sandown was the smallest place to which Mr Carnegie had given a library – the secret of his interest was said to have been the fact that he had spent his honeymoon in Bonchurch.
In 1903, the Sandown Urban Council approached Mr Carnegie for a loan to build a library. A loan of £2,000 was offered, and after much discussion over location and necessity, a public poll was organised which concluded an overwhelming majority of approval by the people of Sandown, although not as much support from the people of Lake.
The library was built on land donated by Mr Alexander Keller (builder of the Savoy Hotel). By 1906, there were 2,745 books available with an additional reference library, a ladies room had been opened, and fossils from around the Island (now housed at Dinosaur Isle) formed a geology collection.
At the library opening, Lord Alverstone said:
“The Isle of Wight must have played an important part in the life of the country – this outlying bulwark so often the object of envy and attraction to nations havibng a desire to attack Great Britain.”
Lord Alverstone added:
“A good library ought to decency and bring to nought and to discourage everything that was low, unseemly, and all that tended to degrade human life.”
“My sincerest wish is for the lasting success of this library, in the belief that it will be the centre of education, of refinement and of culture.”
Poor Alverstone. It’s lasted, just not sure of its success apropos of that last line.
I bet sandown was a lovely place then not the shithole it is now..
Ya think?
‘In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sandown, particularly Lower Sandown, experienced significant poverty, with soup kitchens and a high concentration of public houses in the area. Surveys around 1900 revealed that a substantial portion of the population lived at or below subsistence levels. Factors contributing to this included low wages and lack of regular work, even for those actively seeking employment’
It was thought that a library might raise the mindset of the people, however, without addressing the underlying poverty, little will ever change. People don’t want a hand-out, they want a hand-UP. The ruling classes, apart from the benevolent like Carnegie and Alverstone have made damned sure people get neither. Don’t ask yourself why it’s a shithole, ask yourself why it wouldn’t be.
Obviously built to last unlike the rest of Sandown. Glad it’s still in use.
It’s a lovely old library. Still has character. I wonder when it was built 120 years ago did anyone think it would still be a library today. Its also great that they have classes and get together there.