Episode 3196
John Rylands
Mon, 2026-Feb-02 00:34 UTC
Length - 1:40
Direct Link
Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.
The random article for Monday, 2 February 2026, is John Rylands.
John Rylands (7 February 1801 – 11 December 1888) was an English entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the owner of the largest textile manufacturing concern in the United Kingdom, and Manchester's first multi-millionaire. He is well known for the library founded in his memory by his widow.
After having learned to weave, Rylands became a small-scale manufacturer of hand-looms, while also working in the draper's shop which his father had opened in St Helens. He displayed a "precocious shrewdness" for retailing, and in partnership with his two elder brothers expanded into the wholesale trade. So successful were they that, in 1819, Rylands' father merged his retail business with theirs, creating the firm of Rylands & Sons. At its peak, the company employed a workforce of 15,000 in 17 mills and factories, producing 35 long tons of cloth a day.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:34 UTC on Monday, 2 February 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see John Rylands on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm generative Ruth.
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