Speech of Enriqueta Rylands on being admitted to the Freedom of the City Speech by Enriqueta Rylands on being admitted to the Freedom of the City of Manchester on 6 October 1899.
Mr Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is not my intention to make a speech, but as it would be repugnant to my feelings to remain silent, you will I am sure pardon me if I speak briefly. I wish simply in as few words as possible to thank you, and I do it most heartily, for the great honour you have conferred upon me in presenting me with the freedom of your great city.
It was certainly a surprise to me when I became aware that you had it in contemplation to pay me this honour. I had never thought of public recognition of myself for this private work, which is designed as a memorial to my husband. It has been the delightful interest of the past ten years to watch its growth and today that my object is fulfilled, and I see the Library opened, I have only to add my earnest hopes that every expectation for good that it has ever raised may be fulfilled. - [applause]
In my affection the City of Manchester must always hold a unique place, inasmuch as it is the City with which my Husband's life was most intimately associated, and it is for this reason, as you all know, that I have chosen to place here, in Manchester, this library bearing his name; [applause] And when I use the word City, I use it in the widest sense, that is to say, as applying to the City in all its manifold activities and life.
These activities, and this many sided life - literary, and educational, mercantile, professional and industrial, and lastly what I regard as first in importance, religious, - I have endeavoured to associate in the government of this library. [applause] Nor have I forgotten the part which Manchester has played in the past and will, I hope, play in the future, in the life of the country at large, and more especially in that of the North of England. For this reason I have also associated in the government of this Library certain bodies which are not local, (such as the National Council of the Free Churches) and certain others which though not exclusively local, have here the centre of their life, (such as the Victoria University). Once again, my Lord Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen, I express to you my hearty thanks for all the kind things you have expressed, and I repeat my deep acknowledgment of the honour you have done me, and which I shall always hold as a treasured remembrance.
[The punctuation and capitalisation here follows that in the manuscript: Enriqueta Augustina Rylands, ‘Freedom Speech’ (Manchester, October 1899), UML, English MS 1139. The episodes of applause are identified from the published transcript ‘The John Rylands Library’, The Manchester Guardian, 7 October 1899. Identical wording is used in both sources.]
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![She congratulates Annie Horniman after her long struggle to obtain fair treatment [referring to the long dispute over the Gaiety drinks licence, which was finally resolved in Horniman's favour at this time]; hopes Horniman's theatre will continue to have artistic success and obtain financial success; praises her work in dramatic art, commenting, "[i]t is an added pleasure to me that you are a woman".](https://www.digitalexhibitions.manchester.ac.uk/files/medium-large/9318e57d1c21ec0ad8365da20981f1c714ac2648.jpg)
