The history of the British Museum

The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Sloane wanted his collection of more than 71,000 objects, library and herbarium to be preserved intact after his death. He bequeathed it to King George II for the nation in return for payment of £20,000 to his heirs. If refused, the collection was to be offered to centres of learning abroad. A large and influential group of Trustees was charged with overseeing the disposition of his estate.

The King had little interest but Parliament, led by the Speaker, Arthur Onslow, was persuaded to accept the gift.  An Act of Parliament establishing the British Museum received the royal assent on 7 June 1753. This stated that the funds for the purchase and storage of the collections should be raised by public lottery. 

The Cotton collection of manuscripts, given to the nation in 1700, was attached to the new museum and £10,000 was expended on the purchase of the Harleian collection of manuscripts. A new Board of Trustees was established.

The foundation collections largely consisted of books, manuscripts and natural history with some antiquities (including coins and medals, prints and drawings) and ethnography (the study of cultures). In 1757 King George II donated the 'Old Royal Library' of the sovereigns of England and with it the privilege of copyright receipt.

The Museum was first housed in a seventeenth-century mansion, Montagu House, in Bloomsbury on the site of today's building. On 15 January 1759 the British Museum opened to the public. With the exception of two World Wars, when parts of the collection were evacuated, it has remained open ever since, gradually increasing its opening hours and moving from an attendance of 5,000 per year to today's 5 million.

From its beginnings the British Museum was a new type of institution. Governed by a body of Trustees responsible to Parliament, its collections belonged to the nation, with free admission for all. Entry was given to 'all studious and curious Persons’, linking public enjoyment with  education.

Access to the library and information on the collections has always been available through the Reading Room. The first students' room, Prints & Drawings, opened in 1808.

The first famous antiquities, Sir William Hamilton's collection of Greek vases and other classical objects, were purchased in 1772. These were followed by such high profile acquisitions as the Rosetta Stone and other antiquities from Egypt (1802), the Townley collection of classical sculpture (1805), and the sculptures of the Parthenon, known as the Elgin Marbles (1816).

As the natural history collections and the library expanded, Montagu House was rapidly outgrown. In 1823 the gift to the nation by George IV of his father's library (the King's Library) lead to the construction of today's quadrangular building designed by Sir Robert Smirke (1780-1867). The first phase was completed in 1852. Construction of the round Reading Room followed, designed by Robert's brother Sydney (1798-1877, and positioned in the central courtyard in 1854-7.

Visitor numbers increased greatly during the 19th century. The Museum attracted great crowds of all ages and social classes, particularly on public holidays. As academic work continued with the publication of the Museum's series of detailed catalogues, many curators took an interest in broadening the Museum's appeal through lectures and improving the displays. The first popular Synopsis (or guide) to the collections was published in 1808 and ran to over sixty editions before splitting into more detailed illustrated guide books by the end of the century.

The Museum was much involved in excavation abroad. Its Assyrian collections formed the basis for the understanding of cuneiform (an ancient Middle Eastern script).  In the same way the Rosetta Stone had resulted in the unlocking of Egyptian hieroglyphic script (a symbol-based script). The appointment in 1851 of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-97) led to the growth of such fields as British and European prehistory and other material, ethnography, oriental art and archaeology.

In the 1880s the natural history collections were moved to a new building in South Kensington, which became the Natural History Museum. This departure and the construction of the White Wing (fronting Montague Street) made room for the increasing collections. King Edward VII's Galleries, formally opened in 1914, the Duveen Gallery (1939/62) and the New Wing (1978) provided additional public facilities, offices, display areas and library storage. However, solutions to the lack of space in the Museum still had to be found.  

In 1973 the library became part of a new organisation, the British Library. The books left Bloomsbury for a new building at St Pancras in 1997.

The twentieth century, particularly the second half, saw a great expansion in public services. The first summary guide was published in 1903 and a sales counter was introduced in 1912. The first guide lecturer was appointed in 1911. A full time exhibition designer was appointed in 1964 who initiated an active programme of gallery refurbishment. An education service was set up in 1970 and a publishing company in 1973.

This public expansion was reflected in the opening in 2000 of The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, which was created in part of the space vacated by the library. At the centre is the restored Reading Room, while around and beneath it new galleries, including the Sainsbury Africa galleries and the Wellcome Gallery, and the Clore Education Centre were built.

The Museum celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2003 with the resoration of the King's Library, the Museum's oldest room, and the launch of a new permanent exhibition inside it called Enlightenment: Discovering the world in the eighteenth century.

Image: Montagu House, south-east corner and gateway, with a section of the east wing, viewed from Great Russell Street.  Percy Carpenter, 1841, oil painting.