The first President was the Rev. W. Wallis and the Committee Members, at least for some years, would appear to have been drawn from the ‘respectable’ strata of society – the Church, tradesmen, and professional or semi-professional citizens. The earlier meetings were mostly devoted to the approval of new books given or purchased for the Library and to the admission or rejection of new members.
At the second meeting on November 10 1834, an offer from a Mr. Siggins to let the Institute use part of his premises in North Street as a Library was discussed and agreed. Subsequently Mr. Siggins agreed to let the room and “discharge the office of Librarian” for the sum of £6.10.0d (£6.50) per annum and this seemed to include the furnishing of candles and fire as well as cleaning when necessary. However, the Institute was to be “at liberty to give up the room when they please”.
The stay with Mr. Siggins was brief for soon he requested the Club to seek other accommodation, which they found in Gaol Lane after a Mr. Brown had driven a hard bargain, refusing to accept less than £10 per annum for the use of his room. Agreement was finally reached when, for £15 per annum, Mr. Brown accepted an arrangement by which he also served as Librarian and became responsible for the collection of subscriptions. Of course, as usual, candles and fire were to be supplied and included in the charge.
There is no indication of the actual membership of the Institute at this stage but new members were being admitted at an average rate of four or five at each Committee Meeting. Neither is there any record of the initial subscription rates, though we do know that in 1837 the rate was increased to 8/- (40p) for full membership and 4/- (20p) for non-readers. Just what the distinction was between members and non-readers and what their respective privileges were becomes clearer later.
The first anniversary on November 3 1835 was held at the Swan Hotel. The Rules were revised but, as there was no recorded note of what they may have been, we are none the wiser. It appears that the revised rules were printed and distributed but no copies exist unhappily.
It was on April 7 1836 that a major decision was taken that was to have a considerable bearing on the future activities of the Institute. It was agreed that the Rev. Wallis should be asked to give a public lecture at the new Town Hall, although of what the subject was to be there is no indication. The lecture was given on April 22 to an audience of 300. This was the first of many that became a very important feature of the Institute’s activities over many years to come.
Another important step was taken on November 15 1836, when it was agreed that the following proposition be laid before the General Meeting, to be called for the purpose, on November 22. The proposition was that “it appears highly expedient to extend the benefits of the Mechanics Institute to persons whose means are limited and that the following Rule be adopted as Rule 23 – ‘That journeymen, mechanics, weavers, apprentices, labourers and servants shall be admitted as Readers and have the privilege of reading the books subject to the Rules and Regulations of the Institute and proposing books for the Library and attending all lectures upon payment of 1/- (5p) per quarter in advance.” This was confirmed and so the original object of the Mechanics Institute, as we suppose it to have been, was on the way to fulfilment.
Meanwhile books were being added to the Library at an increasing rate and it could be said that the Institute was beginning to make its mark on Sudbury and was increasingly to become accepted as a centre of culture as new and successful activities became part of its character and made a definite contribution to the life of the town.
Amusing in the light of later years but significant and perhaps typical of society at that stage is the following extract from the Minutes of an AGM held on November 3 1837 when it was resolved “that any subscriber may propose a work for purchase provided such book be not a novel or on controversial divinity or of an immoral or irreligious tendency”. This is especially amusing as in fact Robinson Crusoe had just been added to the Library a few weeks previously and, if not a work of fiction, how else was it to be classified? Or was there some strange distinction between a novel and a work of fiction?
Around this time reference bean to be made to the receiving of gifts or objects, mostly unspecified, of a scientific, archaeological, antique and natural history nature and a Museum came into being that was to be highly regarded in the years to come.
The Infant School now demanded that a charge of 1/- (Sp) per week should be made for heating. The suggestion was somewhat churlishly refused as exorbitant and notice was given of the termination of the Institute’s use of the premises. The ‘exorbitant’ demands of the Infant School, however, gave rise to a very important event in the Institute’s history.
In 1840 a building in Friars Street was offered for sale for £150 but the offer, for reasons unexplained and unrecorded, was swiftly withdrawn. However, in February 1841 the AGM approved the purchase of a Mr. Ely’s premises in Friars Street for the sum of £299 and for the building on the site of “commodious apartments for the Institute, due provision being made for its probable extension”. Authority was given for the raising of a sum of £500, an appeal being made to members to loan money to help finance the proposition. At the same time, the Committee was authorised to go ahead with plans for the erection of a new building on the site at a cost not to exceed £350. A mortgage was to be negotiated – and was subsequently granted – and the interest was not to exceed 41/2%, with the building to be completed within one month, which apparently it was.
By now the Library possessed over 1000 books and during the year there had been 3,350 exchanges or books borrowed. Subjects ranged over a wide spectrum; for example, poetry, biography, history, belles-letters, travel, military exploits, natural history, mechanics and scientific subjects of a wide nature, exploration and many others. A Mr. May, who rented part of the building for £17.17.0d (£17.85p) per annum, with rates assessed as £10 per annum, had his Librarian’s salary increased to no less than £8.8.0d (£8.40p) per annum in view of the increase in work undertaken, and his daughter was put in charge of the Reading Room at a fee of 21/- (£1.05p) for three months.
In 1841 it was found necessary to secure a further loan of £150 and this was raised at “something less than 5%”. The building was insured for £500 and the books, Museum specimens and furniture for £250. Incidentally, there is evidence that Museum specimens were being added at an increasing rate and included birds, about which more later.
Subscriptions were now 10/- (50p) per annum – and not without some opposition!
The papers supplied to the Reading Room were to increase rapidly but at this period only a few are mentioned. They were The Times, local papers and The Sun. No wrong or hasty conclusions are to be drawn from the inclusion of the last named. It did not boast a special feature on page 3 and was in fact a chronicle of Parliamentary affairs that appeared only while Parliament was in session.
Membership was now about 175 and it is interesting to read that classes were started in writing that were, in succeeding years, to expand into such subjects as History, Art, Drawing and Shorthand. It had clearly secured for itself a prominent place educationally as well as culturally in the town and its surrounding areas.
Recreation had begun to play a part too and chess and draughts were allowed in the Reading Room, although the decision was fairly speedily rescinded owing to the opposition it created from several members but, needless to say, it eventually became accepted before many years had passed.
As we have already seen, the steam train came to Sudbury in 1849 and the first excursions have been earlier noted. What has not been said was that the excursion in 1850 to Ipswich and Harwich cost 1/6d (7'/2p) per head – 1/- (5p) for the rail fare and 6d (2'/2p) for the boat trip from Ipswich to Harwich.
To the chagrin of many recent generations of very worthy and honorary Secretaries, the Secretary in 1852 was paid the princely sum of £4.4.0d (£4.20p) and it should be said the handwriting of those days in itself justified the fee. The composition of the Officers and Committee