Transcribed from the 1872 George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode edition
by David Price.
SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT
OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION.
* * * * *
* * * * *
BETHNAL GREEN BRANCH OF THE
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
* * * * *
A BRIEF GUIDE
TO
THE FOOD COLLECTION.
(_FIRST ISSUE_.)
[Picture: Decorative graphic]
LONDON:
PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE.
1872.
* * * * *
_Price One Penny_.
29951.
THE BETHNAL GREEN BRANCH OF THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON
EDUCATION.
Lord President, THE MARQUESS OF RIPON, K.G.
Vice-President, THE RIGHT HON. W. E. FORSTER, M.P.
* * * * *
I. In tracing the origin of the Branch Museum of Science and Art at
Bethnal Green it will be necessary to refer, though briefly, to the early
days of the parent institution, at South Kensington, from whence a
considerable portion of the new edifice and of its contents have been
derived.
II. The South Kensington Museum stands on 12 acres of land, acquired by
the Government at a cost of 60,000_l._, being a portion of the estate
purchased by Her Majesty’s Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, out
of the surplus proceeds of that undertaking.
III. Here, in 1855, a spacious building was constructed, chiefly of iron
and wood, under the superintendence of the late Sir William Cubitt, C.E.,
at a cost of 15,000_l._, intended to receive several miscellaneous
collections of a scientific character mainly acquired from the Exhibition
of 1851, and which had been temporarily housed in various places.
IV. In addition to the collections already alluded to, the whole of the
Fine Art collections which had been exhibited at Marlborough House since
1852 were also removed thither, and these were supplemented by numerous
and valuable loans by Her Majesty the Queen and others.
V. This building was opened on June 22nd, 1857, as THE SOUTH KENSINGTON
MUSEUM. Although in many respects well suited to its purpose, this iron
building was avowedly of a temporary character, and from the first it was
intended to replace it by buildings of a more architectural character and
of more substantial materials. The erection of these permanent buildings
was commenced at once, and at the beginning of the year 1865 sufficient
progress had been made to render the removal of the iron building
necessary.
VI. It appeared to the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education
that “this iron building might usefully be divided into three portions,
and that one of these portions might be offered to the proper authorities
in the north, east, and south of London respectively, at a nominal sum,
in order to assist in the formation of district museums, security being
required for the completion of each portion in a suitable manner, and for
its permanent appropriation to public uses.” After some correspondence
with other Departments of the Government, it was decided that measures
should be taken for carrying out this proposal.
VII. On May 6, 1865, a meeting of noblemen and gentlemen interested in
the establishment of Suburban or Metropolitan District Museums was held
at the South Kensington Museum, the Lord President of the Council, Earl
Granville, being in the chair, at which the proposal was fully discussed,
and a strong desire was expressed by the representatives of the various
suburban districts of the north, east, and south of London to secure a
share of this building, the great difficulty felt in each case being the
providing of a suitable site. It was decided that after a period of six
months each district should be at liberty to put in its claim to a
portion of the iron building, and send its application to the Science and
Art Department.
VIII. On March 7th in the following year (1866) Mr. now Sir Antonio
Brady addressed the following letter to the Lord President of the
Council:
Stratford, E., 7 March 1866.
May it please your Lordship,
WHEN I and others acting with me had the honour of attending the
meeting held under your Lordship’s presidency, in the Lecture Room of
South Kensington Museum, on the 6th May last, on the subject of Local
Metropolitan Museums, I put in a plea on behalf of the million
artisans inhabiting the densely populated manufacturing and labouring
districts in the East of London; and I pointed to a site most
admirably placed in the very centre of the East-end, which I then
hoped might be made available for the proposed museum.
The land in question, containing about 4½ acres, is close to Mile-end
Station, one mile from Shoreditch on the Great Eastern Railway; it is
near the junction of the Hackney and Cambridge Heath Roads, and is
the centre of a network of railways, and omnibuses run in all
directions, at twopenny and threepenny fares to and from all parts of
London.
The site is about one mile and three quarters from the Bank of
England, and two miles from the General Post Office, and taking the
proposed site as a centre, within a radius of two miles are comprised
a large portion of the following extensive districts, viz.: City of
London, Shoreditch, Finsbury, St. Luke’s, Old Street, Hoxton,
Islington, De Beauvoir Town, Canonbury, Ball’s Pond, Kingsland,
Dalston, Clapton, Homerton, Hackney, Victoria Park, Old Ford, Bow,
Stepney, Limehouse, Poplar (including West India Docks), parts of
Rotherhithe and Bermondsey (including Surrey and Commercial Docks),
Shadwell, Wapping, St. George’s-in-the-East (including London and St.
Katharine’s Docks), Tower, Whitechapel, and Mile-end.
This circle of two miles radius embraces the N.E. and E. postal
districts, part of the N. district, and parts of the E.C. and S.E.
districts.
The land in question was bought as a gift to the poor in King James’s
reign, when this part of London was open fields, and the trustees,
with the consent of the Charity Commissioners, have unanimously
agreed to sell the land for the purposes of the proposed museum, and
to invest the purchase-money, which has been conditionally offered
and accepted.
I have now the pleasure of informing your Lordship that, if this site
is acceptable to the Government, I am authorised, on the part of the
committee acting with me, to guarantee to raise the purchase-money
necessary to acquire the fee simple, and to offer this magnificent
site to the Government for the purpose of erecting thereon a museum
for the East-end of London.
The site is marked red in the accompanying maps, and is more
particularly described in the plan hereunto annexed; it will be seen
that it occupies a most commanding position. There is no other
suitable spot unbuilt on, but if we had the choice of any ground in
the East-end we should recommend the position of this site in
preference to any other.
It is not my purpose to enter on the advantages of local museums.
After what passed at the meeting at South Kensington, the value of
institutions such as we wish to see established in the East-end is
admitted on all hands; but what I desire respectfully to submit to
your Lordship is the kind of museum which those acting with me would
wish to see erected.
During the past year the subject of local museums has been much
ventilated, and as the time has now arrived when it seems a necessity
to provide more room for the great national collections, we
respectfully submit that it is a good and fitting opportunity to make
the national collections more useful and more accessible than they
now are, and I trust this splendid site may induce the Government to
entertain the propositions I have the honour to submit for their
consideration.
1st. From inquiries made since the meeting last May, it is found
that it will be utterly and entirely impracticable for a permanent
building to be erected by local efforts, or to maintain the necessary
staff if a building were otherwise provided; and we feel that this
could only efficiently be done by the Government as a part of one
comprehensive scheme. We find it will require all our efforts to
raise the funds to pay for the site, and under these circumstances we
humbly submit to your Lordship that the Government should, in
exchange for the site, take the whole matter into their own hands as
a national affair.
2ndly. The scheme that commends itself most to our minds is, not to
distribute the superfluities of the British Museum _piecemeal_
amongst several local museums, but that typical collections
illustrating one branch of science should be arranged in one of
several museums in different quarters of the metropolis. The British
Museum would thus be relieved of its plethora without impairing the
value of any one collection; for instance, the natural history
collections may be kept together in one place, the ethnological in
another, so that anyone requiring to study any particular branch
would know to what museum to resort.
In any plan of a museum that may be adopted for the improvement of
the working classes, we submit that if they are to benefit by it to
the fullest extent, it must be placed in a neighbourhood accessible
to them, and must be open of an evening. We submit that it be made
_educational in the widest sense of the word_, and that convenient
and comfortable refreshment-rooms be added to the other attractions
of the place.
I am to request that your Lordship will be pleased to communicate
your wishes in this matter, that we, on our part, may at once take
the necessary means to give legal effect to this arrangement, if
concurred in by your Lordship.
The land being unoccupied would be available immediately the
preliminary agreements were finally settled.