THE BINGHAM
LIBRARY TRUST
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DANIEL GEORGE BINGHAM
Daniel George Bingham, the generous founder and donor of the Bingham Library and Bingham Hall, was a member of an old and respected Cirencester family. When quite a young man, he was one of the clerical staff of the Great Western Railway Company, but some years later he (in conjunction with the late Mr James Staat Forbes) undertook the reorganisation of the Dutch-Rhenish Railways which had been allowed to deteriorate; the company had neither capital nor credit, it provided practically no accommodation and was regarded with general antipathy. Mr Bingham devoted himself to this immense task with characteristic energy and eventually succeeded in placing the concern on a sound and commercial footing, so that the shares which were at one time worth "less than nothing" increased so much in value that they once increased by 159%. Mr Bingham's connection with the Dutch-Rhenish Railways continued for over 35 years, until in 1890 the Government took them over in a prosperous condition.
Although Mr Bingham resided in Utrecht, he spent a part of each year in England and his native town was ever held as a warm place in his affections and probably no town of the size of Cirencester has ever received such generous gifts. He not only purchased the site of the Library and defrayed the whole cost of the building and equipment, but also provided a handsome and adequate endowment fund for the maintenance of the Trust.
