Richard Copley Christie (22 July 1830 – 9 January 1901) was an

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 ide ...

lawyer, university teacher, philanthropist and

bibliophile Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

. He was born at Lenton in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, the son of a mill owner. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford where he was tutored by Mark Pattison, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1857. He also held numerous academic appointments, notably the professorships of history (from 1854 to 1856) and of

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

(from 1855 to 1866) at

Owens College Owens may refer to: Places in the United States * Owens Station, Delaware * Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota * Owens, Missouri * Owens, Ohio * Owens, Virginia People * Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name * Ow ...

. He always took an active interest in this college, of which he was one of the governors. In 1898 he gave the Christie Library building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse: the plan connected this on the east with the Whitworth Hall.

Philanthropy

Christie was a friend of the industrialist Sir

Joseph Whitworth Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet (21 December 1803 – 22 January 1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for scre ...

. By Whitworth's will, Christie was appointed one of three legatees, each of whom was left more than half a million pounds for their own use, ‘they being each of them aware of the objects’ to which these funds would have been put by Whitworth. They chose to spend more than a fifth of the money on support for

, together with the purchase of land now occupied by the

Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...

. In 1897, Christie personally assigned more than £50,000 for the erection of the

Whitworth Hall The Whitworth Building is a grade II* listed building on Oxford Road and Burlington Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. It has been listed since 18 December 1963 and is part of the University of Manchester. It lies at the south- ...

, to complete the front quadrangle of Owens College. He was president of the Whitworth Institute from 1890 to 1895 and was much interested in the medical and other charities of Manchester, especially the Cancer Pavilion and Home, of whose committee he was chairman from 1890 to 1893, and which later became the Christie Hospital. In October 1893 the freedom of the city of Manchester was conferred upon him and on his surviving fellow legatee, R. D. Darbishire.

Chancellor of the diocese

From 1872 to 1894, Christie was Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester. In that capacity, he advised

Bishop of Manchester The Bishop of Manchester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is David Walker w ...

James Fraser on the matters that led to the imprisonment of the Rev.

Sidney Faithorn Green Sidney Faithorn Green (1841–1916) was an English clergyman who, during the Ritualism, Ritualist controversies in the Church of England, was imprisoned for 20 months for liturgy, liturgical practice contrary to the Public Worship Regulation Act 1 ...

under the

Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict c 85) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, to limit what he perceived as the growing rit ...

Bibliophily

Christie was an enthusiastic book collector, and bequeathed to

his library of about 15,000 volumes, rich in a very complete set of the books printed by

Étienne Dolet Étienne Dolet (; 3 August 15093 August 1546) was a French scholar, translator and printer. Dolet was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime. His early attacks upon the Inquisition, the city council and other authorities in Toulouse, tog ...

, a series of

Aldine Press The Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics (Latin and Greek masterpieces, plus a few more modern works). The first book that was da ...

publications, and of volumes printed by

Sebastian Gryphius Sebastian Gryphius (french: Sébastien Gryphe; c. 1492, in Reutlingen – 1556, in Lyon) was a German bookseller- printer and humanist. Biography He was the son of Michael Greyff (Greif, Gryff, Gryph), and learned from him the new craft of pr ...

and other European humanists. His ''Étienne Dolet, the Martyr of the Renaissance'' (1880) is the most exhaustive work on the subject. He died at Ribsden in Surrey after a long period of illness: the book collection has always been separate from the general stock of the library of

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and was transferred to the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

building in Deansgate in 1972. A printed catalogue was issued in 1915 by the librarian, Charles Leigh. A stained glass window commemorates him on the staircase of the Christie Library.

Scholarship

He was the author of a number of essays and contributions to periodicals, some of which were published after his death. He was a Member of the

Chetham Society The Chetham Society "for the publication of remains historic and literary connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester" is a text publication society and registered charity (No. 700047) established on 23 March 1843. History The ...

, serving as a Member of Council from 1868, as vice-president in 1882–3, and as president from 1884 until 1901.

References

Sources

Manchester book collectors, by Brenda J. Scragg
* Rigg, J. Anthony (1968) "A comparative history of the libraries of Manchester and Liverpool Universities up to 1903", in: Saunders, W. L., ed. ''University and Research Library Studies: some contributions from the University of Sheffield Post-graduate School of Librarianship and Information Science''. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1968 * Charles Leigh, "Catalogue of the Christie Collection : Comprising the Printed Books and Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Library of the University of Manchester by the Late Richard Copley Christie, LL. D.", Manchester: University Press, 1915, available a
Archive.org
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Richard Copley 1830 births 1901 deaths People associated with the Victoria University of Manchester Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn People from Lenton, Nottingham English philanthropists English book and manuscript collectors 19th-century British philanthropists Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Chetham Society