In July 1934 Miss Mantle, the librarian at Rushden Library resigned owing to ill-health. Mrs. F. Stringer was appointed temporary librarian from 1 August, and the Library Committee recommended that the position be advertised at a salary of £120 per annum. As the library was much busier on Friday and Saturday evenings the committee asked the Rushden Urban District Council to sanction additional help on those evenings at a cost of £15 per annum.
At the council meeting Mr. Coles made it very clear that he thought a married woman whose husband was in employment should not be appointed to a public post. Mr. Roe was critical of the higher salary now proposed and he thought they could get a well-qualified lady for much less. There were some doubts as to whether Rushden needed a fully qualified librarian. Mr. Cox thought that £120 for a good young man was not too much.
These remarks were a hint as to what was to come.
Mr. J. Roe
At the council meeting in August it was decided that the salary should be increased to £135 per annum and that the proposed extra help on Friday and Saturdays should be dispensed with. It was understood that the position would be open to persons of either sex, and the report was adopted without comment.
However, at the meeting in October the council decided to reject the Library Committee’s report in which the appointment of a lady librarian was recommended. Out of 95 applicants the committee had chosen the daughter of a council member, Mr. L. Perkins M.B.E., and some of those who joined in the debate felt that although the choice was a good one, the unemployment in the town demanded that the position should go to a man.
The report of a special meeting of the Library Committee on 7 September stated that 95 applications had been received and ultimately reduced to four. The four candidates were interviewed again on the 14 September and Miss M. Perkins of 77 Newton Road, Rushden, was chosen, the duties to commence on 1 November at a salary of £135 per annum. Mr. Spencer pointed out that the applicants were reduced from 95 to 12, then to 8 and then to 4, and he moved that the report be accepted.
Mr. John Spencer
At the meeting in October the council still did not want to accept the Library Committee’s decision. Mr. Wilmott thought it was developing into a scandal and it was a pity the committee could not see their way to selecting a male instead of a female. Females could always get work but males could not.
There was much discussion as to whether the council should support the Library Committee’s decision or not. Mr. Coles pointed out that when the Finance Committee decided the position should be advertised they were expecting a man to be appointed and had increased the salary accordingly. He said the report should be referred back with a view to a male being appointed. The amendment was then carried by six votes to four.
Rushden Library c1917
The Library Committee stuck to their guns and returned their original selection. At the November council meeting there were some unpleasant remarks and a lot of hostility but in the end the council members had to accept the committee’s report by eight votes to seven.
Most of the hostility arose because the position was given to a female when there were a lot of unemployed men in the town. Added to that was the fact that she was the daughter of a councillor. Mr. Coles gave notice that at the next meeting it was his intention to move that in the future no son or daughter of a councillor might be eligible for a place of profit under the council.
Of course, in 1934 ‘discrimination’ had not been invented.
Mr. Leonard Perkins M.B.E., father of Miss M. Perkins
Miss Perkins must have been doing a reasonable job because she was still Librarian in November 1941 when she reported that 25,734 books were issued in the September quarter – an increase of 4,271 compared with the third quarter of 1940.
Membership was 4,850 (an increase of 225 since June). New books numbered 647 and cost £130, in addition to which 44 had been presented, 29 of these being from the library of the late Miss Mary L. Pendered.