Dr. Williams' Library, Non-Conformist Collection: Difference between revisions

'''Dr. Williams’ Library''', located in [[London]], [[England Genealogy|England]] at 14 Gordon Square, has the largest and best collection of [[England Nonconformist Church Records|English Nonconformist material]] in the world. The library owes its origins to the rambling 18-page will of Dr. Daniel Williams made in 1711 and proved in 1716. Dr. Williams’ estate was valued at 50,000 pounds (probably acquired at the death of his first wife). His books were left to his trustees in hopes that it would become “the compleatest library in London”. In 1699, Dr. Williams purchased the library of Dr. William Bates. Dr. Williams added to the collection and this became the core collection of the library. He did not leave an endowment for the library, however, and the trustees collected funds from wealthy Dissenters (there were quite a number at the time) and erected the building in Red Cross Street that housed the collection for a number of years. In 1729, the trustees appointed a librarian and caretaker to assist with the care of the books. In 1736, Dr. Williams’ building became the headquarters for the dissenting Londoners and remained so for 100 years. Some 50,000 Nonconformist births were recorded there prior to the compulsory law requiring registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1836. In 1805, an order was obtained from the Court of Chancery allowing 50 pounds to be spent annually on the library. Through the years, the Library has been threatened with closure but it has survived, and the book collection continues to grow. It is an important library for Nonconformist research.