Manchester is not only one of the great cities of the North but also of the nation. It of course rose to great prominence with the Industrial Revolution of the 19th.Century. It is renowned for the part it played in that unprecedented development in innovation, industry and world-wide trade. It is this Victorian Manchester that most likely is in the mind’s eye of many people.

As in so many other such cities of those times, wealthy industrialists shared their wealth from industrial and trade profits with their communities, not least in the free access thereby given to all citizens to the Arts.