Amidst the biggest election period since the 2019 General Election, I thought it would be good to look at a historical vote, but one of a completely different nature.
In 1903, renowned philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered the burgesses of Harwich £3,000 for a public library, under the conditions of the Public Libraries Act, and they & the ratepayers of the Borough voted on a resolution.
Of the 1443 eligible voters, only 235 voted in favour of accepting the offer, with 536 voting against it, and of the others, 461 did not even bother to cast a vote. A local paper suggested “either that the good folks of Harwich do not appreciate the offer or that they object to burdening their town to support a library“, while a piece that did the rounds nationally said of the “inexplicable conduct of some unenlightened people who will not take good things when offered“.
Carnegie came back eight years later with a dimished offer (£2,500), which this time was accepted by Harwich Town Council, but nothing appears to have come of it. Indeed, the Harwich area would have to live without a dedicated public library until after the Second World War.
Harwicensis 