The people of Arundel were presented with an amazing resource over a century ago when in 1897, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, The Victoria Institute was founded and presented with the use of a very long lease on the land and building(s) at the address now known as 10, Tarrant Street.
Interestingly enough, and despite common belief that the site was given to the townspeople by the Duke of Norfolk at the time, a 1000-year lease was first established in 1847 between a local merchant, Charles New, and the Trustees of the "Provident or Savings Bank" [including Henry Granville Howard (known then as the Earl of Arundel & Surrey)], which moved to the site in 1852 having formerly operated from the National School. The Bank closed in 1896.
The remainder of the lease was purchased in 1897 from the Bank's Trustees for £550 by Edward Thomas Norris of Gratwicke, Billingshurst, who then sold it to the Institution's founding committee for the same amount so that the land and buildings were "assured to and vested in the Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Arundel as Trustees thereof for the purposes of the said Institution".
The original remit of The Victoria Institute was for "the promotion of the moral and intellectual improvement and the rational social recreation of the inhabitants of and visitors to Arundel and their friends by means of (inter alia) libraries for circulation and reference newspapers and periodical publications lectures and discussions classes for instruction and improvement in literature and the arts and sciences".
In 1900, the Duke of Norfolk was President and the Mayor Vice-President. There was a reading room and a library also used for classes & meetings, and a ladies' room; billiards, bagatelle, and other games were played. By 1907 there were around 160 members.
