John Rylands the John Rylands Library, of which the famous Althorp Library, purchased by her from Earl Spencer in 1892, and Lord Crawford's manuscripts, purchased by her in 1901, form part of the contents. The library was inaugurated on 6 October 1899, when Mrs Rylands received the Freedom of the City of Manchester. The first day of opening was 1 January 1900. A posthumous grant of arms to John Rylands was obtained in 1893 in which the arms of Tennant are impaled with those of Rylands. Rylands died at his home, Longford Hall, on 11 December 1888, at the age of 87.
John Rylands He employed 15,000 people in his 17 mills and factories, which produced 35 long tons (39 short tons) of cloth a day. From 1857, John Rylands lived at Longford Hall, in Stretford, an Italianate mansion he built on the site of an earlier house. In 2009 the local council placed a "blue plaque" at the site of Longford Hall to commemorate John and Enriqueta Rylands. He was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Curriers. Rylands was retired and reserved except in the company of his friends, and always shrank from public office of any kind, although he was not