The Genesis of Museums
09/01/10 14:24
The Genesis of Museum’s
A physician by trade, Sir Hans Sloane was also a collector of objects from around the world. By his death in 1753 he had collected over 71,000 objects. Sloane bequeathed his collection to the nation in his will and it became the founding collection of the British Museum.
Sloane the physician
Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) was born in Killyleagh, Ireland in relatively modest circumstances. Inspired by a childhood interest in natural history, he studied medicine in London and France.
In 1689, Sloane set up a successful medical practice at his home in No. 3 Bloomsbury Place – coincidentally just along the street from the present Museum building. He had a number of wealthy and aristocratic patients, among them Queen Anne and Kings George I and II.
An innovative doctor, Sloane promoted inoculation against smallpox, the use of quinine (a treatment for malaria) and the health-giving properties of drinking chocolate mixed with milk.
He became President of the College of Physicians in 1719 and in 1727 succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as President of the Royal Society.
Cadbury's used his formula, but for a milk chocolate drink. The first milk chocolate bar is generally considered (even by Cadbury's) to have been made by a Swiss called Daniel Peter in 1875.
The sugar connection may well be Henry Tate, a wealthy sugar refiner who offered his art collection to the nation on condition that a museum was built to house it - the Tate Gallery.
Robin Cole-Hamilton Robin
Project leader and Museums and Institutions Consultant
Location - London, United Kingdom
Industry - Museums and Institutions
A physician by trade, Sir Hans Sloane was also a collector of objects from around the world. By his death in 1753 he had collected over 71,000 objects. Sloane bequeathed his collection to the nation in his will and it became the founding collection of the British Museum.
Sloane the physician
Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) was born in Killyleagh, Ireland in relatively modest circumstances. Inspired by a childhood interest in natural history, he studied medicine in London and France.
In 1689, Sloane set up a successful medical practice at his home in No. 3 Bloomsbury Place – coincidentally just along the street from the present Museum building. He had a number of wealthy and aristocratic patients, among them Queen Anne and Kings George I and II.
An innovative doctor, Sloane promoted inoculation against smallpox, the use of quinine (a treatment for malaria) and the health-giving properties of drinking chocolate mixed with milk.
He became President of the College of Physicians in 1719 and in 1727 succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as President of the Royal Society.
Cadbury's used his formula, but for a milk chocolate drink. The first milk chocolate bar is generally considered (even by Cadbury's) to have been made by a Swiss called Daniel Peter in 1875.
The sugar connection may well be Henry Tate, a wealthy sugar refiner who offered his art collection to the nation on condition that a museum was built to house it - the Tate Gallery.
Robin Cole-Hamilton Robin
Project leader and Museums and Institutions Consultant
Location - London, United Kingdom
Industry - Museums and Institutions