amplified by succeeding sovereigns. The governing charter until 1835 was that of Charles I. (1639) incorporating the town under the title of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses. Reading returned two members to parliament from 1295 to 1885, when it was deprived of one; until 1832 the Scot-and-Lot franchise was used. The town surrendered to the parliamentary troops, after a siege, in 1643; it was occupied subsequently by the forces of both parties: in 1688 a skirmish took place in the town between some Irish soldiers of James II. and the troops of William of Orange. The market, chiefly held on Saturday, can be traced to the reign of Henry III.; four fairs granted by the charter of 1562 are still held, that on the 25th of July dating originally from a grant of Henry II. to Reading abbey.
See C. Coates, History of Reading (1806); Victoria County History, Berks.
READING, a city and the county-seat of Berks county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in the S.E. part of the state, on the E. bank of the Schuylkill river, and about 58 m. N.W. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1880) 43,278; (1890) 58,661; (1900) 78,961, of whom 5940 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 96,071.
Reading is served by the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia
& Reading railways, by the Schuylkill Canal, which carries
freight to Philadelphia, and by electric railways to several
villages in Berks county. The city occupies an irregular
tract of land gradually descending from the base of Mt. Penn
westward to the Schuylkill river, and therefore possesses
excellent drainage facilities. The river, which is unnavigable
and winding at this point, forms the western boundary of the
city for more than 4 m., and is spanned by three public bridges
and a number of railway bridges. Neversink Mountain (878 ft.
high), lying to the S. of the city, and Mt. Penn (800 ft.), are
pleasure resorts in the neighbourhood. On the neighbouring
mountains are several summer hotels and sanatoria. Within
the city is Penn Common, containing 50 acres, reserved by the
Penns for the use of the town when it was first laid out, and
since 1878 used as a public park. Mineral Spring Park, containing
63 acres, lies on the outskirts of the city. Other parks
are maintained by the street railway companies. In Penn
Common are a monument erected to the “ First Defenders,”
to commemorate the fact that the “ Ringgold Light Infantry,”
the first volunteer company to report at Washington for
service in the Civil War, came from this city; a monument
to President McKinley, and one to the volunteer fire
companies of the city. Among interesting landmarks are
the Federal Inn (1763), in which President Washington was
entertained in 1794, and which has been used as a banking
house since 1814; the old county gaol (1770), used as such
until 1848; and the site of the “ Hessian Camp,” where some
of the prisoners captured during the War of Independence
were confined. Charitable institutions are numerous; among
them are the Reading Hospital (1867), St Joseph's Hospital
(1873), Homoeopathic Hospital (1891), the Home for Widows
and Single Women (1875), the Hope Rescue Mission (1897) for
homeless men, the Home for Friendless Children (1888), St
Catharine's Female Orphan Asylum (1872), St Paul's Orphan
Asylum for Boys, and the House of the Good Shepherd (1889).
Other institutions are the public library, which from 1808 to
1898 was a subscription library; the Berks County Law
Library; the Berks County Historical Society; and
Harmonie Maennerchor, organized in 1847 and one of
oldest singing societies in the United States.
Lying within the rich agricultural region of the Lebanon Schuylkill valleys and near vast fields of anthracite coal iron ore, Reading possesses unusual business and industrial advantages. The chief industry is the manufacture of iron and steel. There are large shops of the Philadelphia & Reading railway here. The total value of factory products in 1905 was $30,848,175 (in 1900 it had been $32,682,061), and the most important of these were the products of steel-works and rolling-mills; the products of railway repair shops; foundry and machine-shop products; hardware, hosiery and knitted goods; cigars and cigarettes, and felt hats. Other important manufactures are bicycles, brick and other clay products, brooms, brushes, and cotton and woollen goods.
Reading was surveyed and laid out as a town in 1748, in accordance with the plans of Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and was named Reading after the county town of Berkshire, England. The first settlers were mostly Germans, but the direction of municipal affairs until the outbreak of the War of Independence was in the hands of the English-speaking inhabitants. As the latter were largely of Loyalist sympathies during the war, the control of the local government then fell into the hands of the German inhabitants. German was long used in Reading; Pennsylvania German (or “ Dutch ”) is still spoken in the surrounding country; and several German periodicals are published in the city, including among them the weekly Adler since 1796. During the War of Independence Reading was an inland depot for supplies for the American army, and prisoners of war were sent here in large numbers. The development of the town dates from the opening in 1824 of the Schuylkill Canal, from Reading to Philadelphia. This was followed in 1828 by the Union Canal, running westward to Lebanon and Middletown, and in 1838 by the entrance into Reading of the Philadelphia & Reading railway. The establishment of these means of communication hastened the development of the natural resources of the region, and Reading early became an industrial centre. A system of water-works, established in 1821, was acquired by the municipality in 1865. Reading was incorporated as a borough in 1783, and was chartered as a city in 1847.
See M. L. Montgomery, History of Reading, Pennsylvania, and the Anniversary Proceedings of the Sesqui-Centennial (Reading, 1898).
READING BEDS, in geology, a series of marine and estuarine beds consisting of variegated plastic clays and bright-coloured
sands, which form, with the Woolwich beds, a subdivision of
the Lower Eocene (see Woolwich and Reading Beds).
READYMONEY, SIR COWASJI JEHANGIR (1812–1879),
“the Peabody of Bombay.” Early in the 18th century three
Parsee brothers moved from Nowsari, near Surat, in Gujarat,
to Bombay, and became the pioneers of a lucrative trade with
China. They gained the sobriquet of “ Readymoney,” which
they adopted as a surname. Only Hirji Jewanji Readymoney
left issue, two daughters, the elder of whom married a Banaji,
and the younger a Dady Sett. The son of the former, Jehangir
Hirji, married Mirbae, the daughter of the latter, and was
made the heir not only of his grandfather, but of his two grand-uncles.
The younger of their two sons was Cowasji Jehangir.
His only English education was at the then well-known school
kept by Serjeant Sykes in the fort of Bombay. At the age of
15 he entered the firm of Duncan, Gibb & Co. as “ godown
keeer,” or warehouse clerk. In 1837 he was promoted to
the responsible and lucrative appointment of " guarantee
broker " to two of the leading European firms of Bombay. In
1846 he was able to begin trading on his own account. He was
made a J.P. for the town and island of Bombay, and a member
of the board of conservancy; and in 1866 was appointed a
commissioner of income tax, his tactful management being
largely responsible for the fact this tax, then new to Bombay
and unpopular, was levied with unexpected financial success.
He was made C.S.I. in 1871; and in 1872 he was created a
Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom, and his statue, by
T. Woolner, R. A., was erected in the town hall. His donations
to the institutions of Bombay amounted to close on £200,00.
His health broke down in 1871, and he died in 1878, being
succeeded by his son, Sir J. Coswasji Jehangir [Readymoney],
who was created a Knight Bachelor in 1895, and a Baronet in
1908.
See J. Cowasji Jehangir, Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney' (1890). (M. M. Bh.)
REAGAN, JOHN HENNINGER (1818-1905), American
politician, was born in Sevier county, Tennessee, on the 8th of October 1818. He removed to Texas in 1839, was deputy surveyor of public lands in 1839-1843, was admitted to the bar in 1846, was a member of the state House of Representatives
