Just recently I was searching for a legal document in the old writing bureau, I thought I had put it in a certain place there, but after searching I discovered that I had placed it in another compartment. I decided then and there to tidy up all the necessary papers I had accumulated over the years, this being before the world of computers I may add. I came across an old black and white document to which I had not seen before, and I was curious to learn more about it, and so I asked my husband if he could 'shed' any light on it. "oh that, it used to belong to my great uncle". GULP - It was the drawings of Bingham Library and The Bingham Hall in Cirencester. Bingham was the maiden name of my husband's mother, her father had a brother named Daniel Bingham, and it was he that provided the handsome and adequate endowment for the maintenance of the Trust of the Library and Hall in Cirencester.
He was born in 1830, and attended the local grammar school, before joining the Great Western Railway Company in Cirencester. Some years later with Mr James Forbes, he undertook the reorganisation of the Dutch Rhenish Rilways, which had been allowed to deteriorate, the company had neither capital nor credit was regarded with general antipathy. Daniel Bingham devoted himself to the immense task with characteristic energy, and eventually succeeded in placing the concern on a sound and commercial footing, so that the shares, which were at one time worth 'less than nothing' increased so much in value that they once increased by 159%. Mr Bingham's connection with the Dutch-Rhenish Railways continued for over 35 years, until in 1890 the Government took them over in a prosperous conditon.
The Bingham Library and Art Gallery Foundation
Cirencester is fortunate in the foundation created by Daniel Bingham of Utrecht, a former townsman. He built and endowed the former Bingham Library and the Bingham Hall in King Street for the benefit of residents of the town and the surrounding district. Opened in 1905 and 1908 respectively they both are administered locally by Trusts under the supervision of the Charity Commission.
This was of course a wonderful gift that my husband's late great uncle had given to Cirencester, but at the time of finding out these facts, I must confess I felt a little like Jeremy Clarkson on the programme, "Who Do You Think You Are", on tracing one of his ancestors who had patented the Kilner Jar. It turned out that his ancestor had sold the patent, and so leaving a rather unfortunate Jeremy saying, - "That could have been mine some day".
I have gone to the Cirencester Official Guide on the website, and have been able to get copies of these wonderful historic buildings, which was once owned by my husband's ancestor, but I am a little disappointed to learn by reading the guide, that I have sadly missed the 100 Years On Celebration, of the opening of Bingham House as a public library on 21st September 1905, such a shame I missed it especially as my husband is a direct descendant of Mr Bingham.
Another poem for you.
SALVATION
I often sit at night
upon these desolate slopes;
draped in the dark and solid fall of lava
they seem rippling still; and above the joyless
waste, in purest blue
I watch the far-off flashing of the stars.
