ford, where he lived. He also built an institute for the benefit of the villagers of Haven Street in the Isle of Wight, where Rylands passed some of his later years. His benefactions to the poor of Rome were so liberal as to induce the king to decorate him in 1880 with the order of the ‘crown of Italy.’ For many years he employed the Rev. F. Bugby, John Gaskin, and other competent scholars to prepare special editions of the bible and religious works which he printed for free distribution. These included: 1. ‘The Holy Bible,’ arranged in numbered paragraphs, 1863, 4to, 1272 pages, with an excellent index in a separate volume of 277 pages. Two subsequent editions were printed in 1878 and 1886. 2. ‘Diodati's Italian Testament,’ similarly arranged and indexed, printed for distribution in Italy. 3. ‘Ostervald's French Testament,’ arranged on a similar plan. 4. ‘Hymns of the Church Universal, with Prefaces, Annotations, and Indexes,’ Manchester, 1885, pp. 604, royal 8vo; a selection from a collection made by Rylands of sixty thousand hymns.
He died at his residence, Longford Hall, Stretford, Manchester, on 11 Dec. 1888, being buried at the Manchester Southern cemetery.
He married three times: first, in 1825, Dinah, daughter of W. Raby of Ardwick, Manchester (by her he had six children, none of whom survived him); secondly, in 1848, Martha, widow of Richard Carden; and thirdly, in 1875, Enriqueta Augustina (d. 4 Feb. 1908), eldest surviving daughter of Stephen Catley Tennant.
Mrs. Rylands's is erecting in Manchester a permanent memorial of her husband in the beautiful and costly building to be known as the John Rylands Library, of which the famous Althorp Library, purchased by her from Earl Spencer in 1892, will form part of the contents.
[In Memoriam, John Rylands, 1889 (by Dr. S. G. Green), with portrait; Sunday at Home, 23 March 1889, with another portrait; Manchester City News, 15 Dec. 1888; Fox Bourne's Romance of Trade; Quaritch's English Book Collectors; Papers of the Manchester Literary Club (article by W. R. Credland), 1893, p. 134; private information.]
RYLANDS, PETER (1820–1887), politician, born in Bewsey House, Warrington, on 18 Jan. 1820, was the youngest son of John Rylands, a manufacturer, by his wife, a daughter of the Rev. James Glazebrook, vicar of Belton, Leicestershire. He was educated at the Boteler grammar school in his native town. As a boy he had a passion for politics, and in 1835 presided at a whig banquet of two hundred sons of Warrington electors, who had taken part in a mock election. Up to the age of twenty-one his time was chiefly passed in studying and writing papers on natural history and phrenology. He then found, however, that his father's means had shrunk, owing to the diversion of the manufacture of sail-cloth from Warrington, and that the manufacture of steel and iron wire, another business conducted by his father, had ceased to pay. In concert with his brothers, Peter reconstituted the latter business, which in the course of a few years increased so largely as to contribute to the prosperity of Warrington.
Rylands interested himself in religious topics. Originally a nonconformist, he joined the church of England. In 1845 he published a little pamphlet on ‘The Mission of the Church.’ A larger work, on ‘The Pulpit and the People,’ appeared in 1847. He also took an active part in politics, and became a working member of the Anti-Cornlaw League. He was elected mayor of Warrington in 1852, and in 1859 he was invited to become a liberal candidate in opposition to Mr. Greenall; but he declined on the ground of business engagements. In concert with Mr. McMinnies and the Rev. R. A. Mould, he contributed a series of letters to the ‘Warrington Guardian,’ signed Oliver West. They attracted wide attention, and stirred to energy the liberal sentiment of the district. The authorship was not disclosed until after Rylands's death (Life, p. 26). Rylands entered parliament as member for Warrington in 1868. He was a candidate in 1874, first for Warrington, and next for south-east Lancashire, but failed in each case. In 1876 he returned to the House of Commons as member for Burnley, and represented it till his death.
In parliament, Rylands proved himself an earnest and hard-working, but independent radical. He frequently criticised the foreign policy of both parties, and in 1886 joined the party of liberal unionists which was formed when Mr. Gladstone adopted the policy of home rule for Ireland. He died on 8 Feb. 1887 at his house, Massey Hall, Thelwall, Cheshire. He married twice and left issue.
[Correspondence and Speeches of Mr. Peter Rylands, by L. Gordon Rylands, 2 vols.]
RYLEY. [See also Riley.]
RYLEY or RILEY, CHARLES REUBEN (1752?–1798), painter, son of a trooper in the horse-guards, was born in
