The PM who left his library to the people

sir – Iain Dale, (“Shouldn’t prime ministers get their own library?” Comment, November 16) may be interested to learn that there is a residential library in Flintshire, which was donated by a British prime minister to the people he served.

William Ewart Gladstone, four times prime minister, founded this library near his home in Haywarden in 1889 and stocked the initial building with more than 30,000 books from his own library. Then in his mid-eighties, he transferred many of them himself in a wheelbarrow. Gladstone told his daughter, Mary, that he wanted books with no readers and readers who had no books to be able to meet.

A second, much larger building was designed by architect John Douglas as a memorial to Gladstone. It was opened in 1902 and the residential wing was opened four years later.

Today, this thriving library has 26 bedrooms for residents, a fine restaurant and even a chapel. One of the great joys is finding books on its shelves that were once owned by Gladstone, with his pencilled comments in the margins.

What a memorial it would be – both to themselves and to the office they held – if modern prime ministers emulated Gladstone’s great generosity to the nation he served.

Ian R Lowry

Reading, Berkshire

sir – There is a prime ministerial library of sorts in Sir Edward Heath’s home, Arundells, in Salisbury, which he left to the nation. It contains his books, pictures and artefacts, and records of 20th-century events that influenced his wish for Britain and the rest of Europe to be united, including his attendance at some of the Nuremberg Trials.

It is an imposing house, set in a beautiful garden with views of the cathedral, the river and the park. I hope Iain Dale will visit it.

Fiona Wild

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire