John Rylands Library never operated as such. A caretaker's house was incorporated in the building until it was demolished for the extension of 1969. Electric lighting was chosen as the cleanest and safest alternative to gas but, as the use of electricity was in its early stages, the supply (110 volts DC) was generated on-site. This took some years to achieve due to the inexperience of contractors, but the library became one of the first public buildings in Manchester to be lit by electricity and continued to generate its own supply until 1950. Champneys suggested that, in order to protect the books and
Dadie Rylands involved in the theatre. He directed and acted in many productions for The Marlowe Society, and was chairman of the Cambridge Arts Theatre from 1946 to 1982. Rylands' 1939 Shakespeare anthology "Ages of Man" was the basis of John Gielgud's one-man show of the same title. Though Rylands specialised in directing university productions at Cambridge, he also directed Gielgud in professional productions of "The Duchess of Malfi" and "Hamlet" in London in 1945. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1961 and a Companion of Honour (CH) in 1987. Dadie Rylands George Humphrey