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Library, and they pointed out that the Legislature had made
provisions to meet the difficulty in certain cases, such as
the conveyance of sites for places of public worship and
Schools, but it did not appear that the Public Library Act,
1855, empowers Trustees of Charity property to make a gift
for the purposes of the Act.
"Encouraged by their remarks and to remove the
difficulty the Commissioners put themselves in communication
with Mr. Ritchie, the President of the Local Government
Board, and also with Sir John Lubbock, who had
introduced a Bill into the House of Commons for the Amendment
of the Public Libraries Act. Both Mr. Ritchie and
Sir John Lubbock sympathised with the Commissioners in
their desire to extend the Act to Dulwich and the neighbourhood,
and offered to insert a clause in the Amendment
Bill (although it was in Committee stage) to empower
Trustees and Governors of Charity Estates to grant land
not exceeding one acre for Library purposes. The 8th
Section of the Public Libraries Acts Amendment Act, 1890,
was accordingly inserted and passed into Law, thus enabling
the Charity Commissioners to give the required consent.
"The Commissioners have only a limited fund at their
disposal for the erection of one Library for Dulwich and
East Dulwich Districts, and will be compelled to seek contributions
from the wealthy, and have asked the Governors
of Dulwich College for the land. The Commissioners after
much consideration selected the spot at the corner of
Woodwarde Road and Lordship Lane. At the end of this
lane is the site granted by the Governors for the erection of
the future Parish Church of Dulwich, and it will form a
nucleus or centre of the building operations on the vacant