How a magnate's fortune still funds Burnley's arts

The legacy of a brewing magnate whose fortune has helped fund education and the arts across Burnley is continuing with the opening of a new music library.

The Stocks Massey Music Library has been unveiled at Burnley's Central Library and is named after Edward Stocks Massey, who died, childless, in 1909.

He left £135,000 in his will - the equivalent of more than £14m today - and a bequest in his name was established the following year, to support science, learning and the arts in the Lancashire borough.

Massey had a keen interest in music and was a choirmaster at St Luke's Church in Brierfield. The new library includes a collection of sheet music and a performance space for concerts and events.

That space, which will be able to accommodate audiences of about 60 people, will also support young people and emerging artists.

The former children's library had not been accessible to the public due to its poor condition.

It has been transformed over the past three years, however, to create the new fully accessible space.

The children's library is now on the building's ground floor.

Marian Taylor, operational libraries manager for Burnley and Pendle, said she was "so proud that this historic collection of sheet music is now on display and available for the public to see and borrow, as it was previously tucked away in the basement".

The Massey family dabbled in the cotton trade, but were better known for being the owners of the Bridge End Brewery, which was founded in about 1750.

Edward Stocks Massey was born in Brierfield in 1850.

In 1883, Edward and his brother Charles joined their father Alderman John Massey in Massey's Brewery, where they would go on to make their fortune.

The company once owned more than 150 pubs and off-licences in the town and Edward Stocks Massey was generous with his wealth.

He sent a letter to the Mayor of Burnley in 1904 in which he outlaid his plans to leave his fortune to the town.

There was a catch, however.

Massey stipulated that if the police or magistrates should close any of his pubs in the borough, then the full value of the property would be deducted from the town's inheritance.

The letter made pointed reference to the recent refusal of a licence for the Wheat Sheaf Inn.

"This loss might have been avoided if the frequenters of the house, who were inhabitants of Burnley, had been more careful as to their conduct," it read.

The Edward Stocks Massey Bequest Fund was established in 1910 to fund the provision of education "whether mental, physical, technical or artistic", and the "advancements of science, learning, music or other arts for the inhabitants of Burnley".

The money was invested by the town's then corporation, now Burnley Borough Council, and has been maintained by trustees over the years to allow an annual sum to be granted to Burnley residents so as to advance the arts in the borough.

The annual income was originally divided between the Municipal Orchestra, Towneley Hall, and education grants to local individuals.

Burnley also has the Edward Stocks Massey Gallery at Towneley Hall - home to more than 300 oil paintings - which was also funded by the grant.

Other smaller beneficiaries have included Heasandford Primary School and voluntary group Burnley Film Makers.

Students have also received scholarships, including Eshan Bilal, who went on to study medicine at the University of St Andrews after spending two months in hospital after he contracted pneumonia and sepsis in 2022.

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