Armitt Library Armitt Library Armitt Museum is an independent museum and library, founded in Ambleside in Cumbria by Mary Louisa Armitt in 1909. It is a registered charity under English law. The library was founded by a bequest of Mary Louisa Armitt in order that the intellectual activity of Ambleside could be celebrated. The roots of the organisation go back to the Ambleside Book Society which was founded in 1828 and which formed part of the library. On 8 November 1912 the library opened and Hardwicke Rawnsley who was to co-found the National Trust wrote a poem in celebration. The poem starts:
Hardwicke Rawnsley Willingham Franklin Rawnsley, became an author and schoolmaster. He was educated at Uppingham School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was prominent in university athletics and rowing. He gained a third class degree in natural science in 1874 and was awarded his Master of Arts degree in 1875. In the same year he was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England and became the first chaplain of Clifton College mission, ministering to one of Bristol's poorest areas. In 1877 Rawnsley was ordained as a priest, and in 1878 he took up the post of Vicar of Wray, Windermere,