The Prince Consort's Library in Aldershot Military Town in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

was founded by Prince Albert to contribute to the education of soldiers in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. Today it is the military specialist library of the Army Library Service, specialising in the provision of information on current military topics, political subjects and international relations in support of operations, intelligence, training and education in the Armed Forces. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History

On 1 June 1859 Colonel Phipps wrote on behalf of Prince Albert to Major-General J. Peel, the Secretary of State for War, stating that the Prince Consort was 'desirous of presenting a collection of 1,000 books to the officers at the Camp at Aldershot', adding that the Prince would also provide the library to house the books. After further correspondence, work began on building the Library in September 1859, and it opened in September 1860 with 1,000 books which were donated from the collection of Prince Albert. The Prince also paid the cost of building the Library, its furnishings, maintenance, and for the planting of trees and shrubs. The total cost amounted to £4,183.3 s and 4 d. The day-to-day running costs of the Library were paid for by the Prince Consort until his death in 1861, when

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

made it known that she wished to continue the Royal interest in the Library and ordered that its maintenance was to be met from the

Privy Purse The Privy Purse is the British Sovereign's private income, mostly from the Duchy of Lancaster. This amounted to £20.1 million in net income for the year to 31 March 2018. Overview The Duchy is a landed estate of approximately 46,000 acres (200 ...

. She also paid the salary of the first official Librarian, Sergeant Charles Gilmore (1834–1914) of the

49th Regiment of Foot The 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1743. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess ...

, who held the post from 1861 to 1891, and his pension on his retirement. By 1887 the Library still only held 2,160 books, so the Aldershot Military Society was founded on 23 December 1887, under the patronage of Queen Victoria, to pay for further books through the subscription paid by members of the Society, while the Privy Purse continued to pay for the Library's maintenance. This arrangement continued until 1935, when the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

assumed responsibility for both providing books and maintaining the building. The Prince Consort's Library was designed by Captain

Francis Fowke Francis Fowke (7 July 1823 – 4 December 1865) was an Irish engineer and architect, and a captain in the Corps of Royal Engineers. Most of his architectural work was executed in the Renaissance style, although he made use of relatively new ...

Fowke on the Royal Engineers website
of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

, who also designed the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

. An additional wing was added in 1911 containing a Lecture Hall and Reading Room.

References

External links

For the Army Library and Information Service sitePrince Consort's Library and Cavalry Pediment Sculpture
at the Rushmoor Borough Council site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince Consort's Library Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire Grade II listed library buildings Architecture in England Libraries in Hampshire 1860 establishments in England Albert, Prince Consort Military in Aldershot Library buildings completed in 1911 Buildings and structures in Aldershot Research libraries in the United Kingdom

History

References

Further reading

External links