Augustus Wollaston Franks
Encyclopedia
Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks KCB
(20 March 1826 – 21 May 1897) was an English antiquary and museum administrator. Franks was described by Marjorie Caygill, historian of the British Museum
, as "arguably the most important collector in the history of the British Museum, and one of the greatest collectors of his age".
, he was elder son of Captain Frederick Franks, R.N., and of Frederica Anne, daughter of Sir John Saunders Sebright
. His godfather was William Hyde Wollaston
, a friend of his mother. His early years were spent mainly in Rome and Geneva. In September 1839 he went to Eton College
, where he remained until 1843.
Franks then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge
. As undergraduate he began his collection of brass rubbing
s, ultimately given to the Society of Antiquaries
; was one of the founders of the Cambridge Architectural Society and an early member of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society
; and was also one of the four student members of the Ray Club. On leaving Cambridge in 1849 Franks devoted his energies to the Royal Archæological Institute, then newly established, and laid the foundations of his knowledge of ancient and mediæval art, in arranging its collections for annual congresses. In 1850 he was secretary of the first exhibition of mediæval art held in the rooms of the Society of Arts.
. The post was newly founded, and the brief was to develop a collection of "British antiquities". Franks in a 45-year career at the Museum went on to launch five distinct departments. David M. Wilson in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography writes that "In many respects Franks was the second founder of the British Museum".
, an appointment he received in 1858, he made himself the leading authority in England on medieval antiquities of all descriptions, upon porcelain, glass, artefacts of anthropological interest, and works of art later than the Classical period
.
In 1866, the British and medieval antiquities, with the ethnographic collections
, were formed into a separate department under his superintendence, as Keeper of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography; the Christy collection
of ethnography
in Victoria Street, London, was also under his care before its amalgamation with the British Museum collections. He became vice-president and ultimately president of the Society of Antiquaries; and in 1878 he declined the principal librarianship (then the title of the executive head of the British Museum).
Franks retired on his seventieth birthday in 1896.
, the Liberal politician
and collector, including the outstanding Lothair Crystal
. In 1892 he succeeded in raising the £8,000 needed to buy the Royal Gold Cup
; "to Franks this was his greatest acquisition, and the one of which he was most proud". He had temporarily had to fund the purchase with £5,000 of his own money.
Towards the end of his career, he wrote: "I think I may fairly say that I have created the department of which I am now Keeper, and at a very moderate cost to the country. When I was appointed to the Museum in 1851 the scanty collections out of which the department has grown occupied a length of 154 feet of wall cases, and 3 or 4 table cases. The collections now occupy 2250 feet in length of wall cases, 90 table cases and 31 upright cases, to say nothing of the numerous objects placed over the cases or on walls."
Franks used personal influence on behalf of the Museum to help in the acquisition of collections. This he applied in the cases of Felix Slade
, John Henderson
, Lady Fellows for the collection of Sir Charles Fellows, William Burges
, and Octavius Morgan.
, and Franks built up that side of his collection through dealers in India and by purchase from Alexander Cunningham
.
Franks was also an authority on classical art, especially Roman remains in Britain. He set up an exhibition of his oriental ceramics, mainly porcelain, at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1876. He collected netsuke
and tsuba from Japan, finger rings and drinking vessels. He was interested too in bookplate
s and playing-cards, of both of which he formed important collections; the friendship of John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley
led him to bookplates, and he completed the reference work of Charlotte Elizabeth Schreiber on playing cards.
Franks' great grandmother, Sarah Knight, was a cousin of Richard Payne Knight
, another wealthy bachelor benefactor of the British Museum. Augustus blamed his obsessive collecting on his genes. In a manuscript account of his life, which was discovered in 1983, Franks began, "Collecting is a hereditary disease, and I fear incurable."
Franks died 21 May 1897, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
, London. Most of the items in his collections became the property of the nation, by bequest at his death, where they had not been donations in his lifetime. Franks purchased over 20,000 important objects for the British Museum's collections.
One of his best known donations was the ninth-century ivory Franks Casket
from Northumbria
, with its runic inscriptions. It had been dismissed as 'some Ancient carvings in ivory', and turned down by the Museum's Trustees in 1858 when offered to them for 100 guineas. In 1867, Franks gave the casket to the British Museum as a gift.
In the case of the collection of Samuel Rush Meyrick
, of arms and armour, Franks failed to persuade George Ward Hunt
to purchase it complete for the nation when Augustus W. H. Meyrick put it up for sale around 1871. The Meyrick Collection went to auction, and was broken up, but Franks did buy and then donate items such as the Meyrick Helmet
.
When the British Museum was considering buying the ceramics collection of Sir Andrew Fountaine and his heirs, which came onto the market in 1884, Franks eased the deal by matching the money required with purchases of his own.
He also edited John Mitchell Kemble
's Horæ Ferales (1863); and Edward Hawkins
's Medallic Illustrations of British History, 1885. In writing about British Celtic art
he introduced the term "Late Celtic period", but its application proved contentious, and was considered somewhat misleading in the European picture of Celtic art.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(20 March 1826 – 21 May 1897) was an English antiquary and museum administrator. Franks was described by Marjorie Caygill, historian of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, as "arguably the most important collector in the history of the British Museum, and one of the greatest collectors of his age".
Early life
Born at GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, he was elder son of Captain Frederick Franks, R.N., and of Frederica Anne, daughter of Sir John Saunders Sebright
Sir John Sebright, 7th Baronet
Sir John Saunders Sebright, 7th Baronet DL , of Besford, Worcestershire, and Beechwood Park, Hertfordshire, was an English politician and agricultural innovator.-Life:...
. His godfather was William Hyde Wollaston
William Hyde Wollaston
William Hyde Wollaston FRS was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore.-Biography:...
, a friend of his mother. His early years were spent mainly in Rome and Geneva. In September 1839 he went to Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, where he remained until 1843.
Franks then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. As undergraduate he began his collection of brass rubbing
Brass rubbing
Brass rubbing was originally a largely British enthusiasm for reproducing onto paper monumental brasses – commemorative brass plaques found in churches, usually originally on the floor, from between the 13th and 16th centuries. The concept of recording textures of things is more generally called...
s, ultimately given to the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries can refer to:*Society of Antiquaries of London*Society of Antiquaries of Scotland*Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne*Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland...
; was one of the founders of the Cambridge Architectural Society and an early member of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society
Cambridge Antiquarian Society
The Cambridge Antiquarian Society is a society dedicated to study and preservation of the archaeology, history, and architecture of Cambridgeshire, England....
; and was also one of the four student members of the Ray Club. On leaving Cambridge in 1849 Franks devoted his energies to the Royal Archæological Institute, then newly established, and laid the foundations of his knowledge of ancient and mediæval art, in arranging its collections for annual congresses. In 1850 he was secretary of the first exhibition of mediæval art held in the rooms of the Society of Arts.
At the British Museum
In 1851 Franks was appointed assistant in the Antiquities Department of the British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. The post was newly founded, and the brief was to develop a collection of "British antiquities". Franks in a 45-year career at the Museum went on to launch five distinct departments. David M. Wilson in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography writes that "In many respects Franks was the second founder of the British Museum".
Administrator
At the British Museum, and as director of the Society of Antiquaries of LondonSociety of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, an appointment he received in 1858, he made himself the leading authority in England on medieval antiquities of all descriptions, upon porcelain, glass, artefacts of anthropological interest, and works of art later than the Classical period
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
.
In 1866, the British and medieval antiquities, with the ethnographic collections
Ethnography at the British Museum
Ethnography at the British Museum describes how ethnography has developed at the British Museum.-Within the Department of Natural History and Curiosities:The ethnographical collection was originally linked to the Department of Natural History and Curiosities...
, were formed into a separate department under his superintendence, as Keeper of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography; the Christy collection
Henry Christy
Henry Christy was an English banker and collector who left his substantial collections to the British Museum.-Early life:...
of ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
in Victoria Street, London, was also under his care before its amalgamation with the British Museum collections. He became vice-president and ultimately president of the Society of Antiquaries; and in 1878 he declined the principal librarianship (then the title of the executive head of the British Museum).
Franks retired on his seventieth birthday in 1896.
Acquisitions
In 1855 Franks was responsible for acquiring for the museum the finest items from the collection of Ralph BernalRalph Bernal
Ralph Bernal was a British Whig politician and art collector. His family were Sephardi Jews of Spanish origin, but he was baptised at St Olave Hart Street in London....
, the Liberal politician
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and collector, including the outstanding Lothair Crystal
Lothair Crystal
The Lothair Crystal is an engraved gem from Lotharingia in North-West Europe, showing scenes of the biblical story of Susanna, dating from 855-869...
. In 1892 he succeeded in raising the £8,000 needed to buy the Royal Gold Cup
Royal Gold Cup
The Royal Gold Cup or Saint Agnes Cup is a solid gold covered cup lavishly decorated with enamel and pearls. It was made for the French royal family at the end of the 14th century, and later belonged to several English monarchs before spending nearly 300 years in Spain...
; "to Franks this was his greatest acquisition, and the one of which he was most proud". He had temporarily had to fund the purchase with £5,000 of his own money.
Towards the end of his career, he wrote: "I think I may fairly say that I have created the department of which I am now Keeper, and at a very moderate cost to the country. When I was appointed to the Museum in 1851 the scanty collections out of which the department has grown occupied a length of 154 feet of wall cases, and 3 or 4 table cases. The collections now occupy 2250 feet in length of wall cases, 90 table cases and 31 upright cases, to say nothing of the numerous objects placed over the cases or on walls."
Franks used personal influence on behalf of the Museum to help in the acquisition of collections. This he applied in the cases of Felix Slade
Felix Slade
Felix Joseph Slade FRA , was an English lawyer and collector of glass, books and engravings.A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a philanthropist who endowed three Slade Professorships of Fine Art at Oxford University and Cambridge University, and at University College London, where he also...
, John Henderson
John Henderson (collector)
-Life:Born in Adelphi Terrace, London, he was son of John Henderson and Georgiana Jane, only child of George Keate, F.R.S. His father, an amateur artist, was an early patron of Thomas Girtin and J. M. W. Turner, who frequently worked together in his house...
, Lady Fellows for the collection of Sir Charles Fellows, William Burges
William Burges (architect)
William Burges was an English architect and designer. Amongst the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, Burges sought in his work an escape from 19th century industrialisation and a return to the values, architectural and social, of an imagined mediaeval England...
, and Octavius Morgan.
Personal collecting
Franks had a substantial personal fortune, which he used to build up some remarkable personal collections in parallel with his museum work on acquistions. Though this activity was as an independent collector, it was of benefit also to the holdings of the British Museum, either in the short or longer term. It was largely devoted to the collection of ceramics and precious objects of medieval art; it also included many items from the Oxus TreasureOxus Treasure
The Oxus treasure is a collection of 170 gold and silver items from the Achaemenid Persian period which were found by the Oxus river. Pieces from it are located in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the British Museum , with many items bequeathed to the nation by Augustus Wollaston...
, and Franks built up that side of his collection through dealers in India and by purchase from Alexander Cunningham
Alexander Cunningham
Sir Alexander Cunningham KCIE CSI was a British archaeologist and army engineer, known as the father of the Archaeological Survey of India...
.
Franks was also an authority on classical art, especially Roman remains in Britain. He set up an exhibition of his oriental ceramics, mainly porcelain, at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1876. He collected netsuke
Netsuke
Netsuke are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function...
and tsuba from Japan, finger rings and drinking vessels. He was interested too in bookplate
Bookplate
A bookplate, also known as ex-librīs [Latin, "from the books of..."], is usually a small print or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner...
s and playing-cards, of both of which he formed important collections; the friendship of John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley
John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley
John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron De Tabley was an English poet, numismatist, botanist and an authority on bookplates.-Biography:...
led him to bookplates, and he completed the reference work of Charlotte Elizabeth Schreiber on playing cards.
Franks' great grandmother, Sarah Knight, was a cousin of Richard Payne Knight
Richard Payne Knight
Richard Payne Knight was a classical scholar and connoisseur best known for his theories of picturesque beauty and for his interest in ancient phallic imagery.-Biography:...
, another wealthy bachelor benefactor of the British Museum. Augustus blamed his obsessive collecting on his genes. In a manuscript account of his life, which was discovered in 1983, Franks began, "Collecting is a hereditary disease, and I fear incurable."
Death and legacy
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
, London. Most of the items in his collections became the property of the nation, by bequest at his death, where they had not been donations in his lifetime. Franks purchased over 20,000 important objects for the British Museum's collections.
One of his best known donations was the ninth-century ivory Franks Casket
Franks Casket
The Franks Casket is a small Anglo-Saxon whalebone chest from the seventh century, now in the British Museum. The casket is densely decorated with knife-cut narrative scenes in flat two-dimensional low-relief and with inscriptions mostly in Anglo-Saxon runes...
from Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, with its runic inscriptions. It had been dismissed as 'some Ancient carvings in ivory', and turned down by the Museum's Trustees in 1858 when offered to them for 100 guineas. In 1867, Franks gave the casket to the British Museum as a gift.
In the case of the collection of Samuel Rush Meyrick
Samuel Rush Meyrick
Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick was an English collector. He lived at Goodrich Court, Goodrich, Herefordshire, England, and introduced the systematic study of arms and armour.-Life:...
, of arms and armour, Franks failed to persuade George Ward Hunt
George Ward Hunt
George Ward Hunt was a British Conservative Party politician and statesman, Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Admiralty in 1st and 2nd ministries of Benjamin Disraeli.-Background:...
to purchase it complete for the nation when Augustus W. H. Meyrick put it up for sale around 1871. The Meyrick Collection went to auction, and was broken up, but Franks did buy and then donate items such as the Meyrick Helmet
Meyrick Helmet
The Meyrick Helmet is an Iron Age bronze peaked helmet, with La Tène style decoration, that is held at the British Museum in London. It is one of only two Iron Age helmets to have been discovered in Britain, the other one being the more famous Waterloo Helmet...
.
When the British Museum was considering buying the ceramics collection of Sir Andrew Fountaine and his heirs, which came onto the market in 1884, Franks eased the deal by matching the money required with purchases of his own.
Works
He wrote numerous memoirs on archaeological subjects. His major publications were:- ‘Book of Ornamental Glazing Quarries,’ London, 1849.
- ‘Examples of Ornamental Art in Glass and Enamel,’ 1858.
- ‘Himyaritic Inscriptions from Southern Arabia,’ 1863.
- ‘Catalogue of Oriental Porcelain and Pottery,’ 1876 and 1878.
- ‘Japanese Pottery,’ 1880.
- ‘Catalogue of a Collection of Continental Porcelain,’ 1896.
He also edited John Mitchell Kemble
John Mitchell Kemble
John Mitchell Kemble , English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor and Maria Theresa Kemble....
's Horæ Ferales (1863); and Edward Hawkins
Edward Hawkins (numismatist)
Edward Hawkins was an English numismatist and antiquary. He is known as a keeper at the British Museum.-Life:Born at Macclesfield on 5 May 1780, he was the eldest son of Edward Hawkins of Macclesfield, banker, by his wife Ellen, daughter of Brian Hodgson of Ashbourne, Derbyshire...
's Medallic Illustrations of British History, 1885. In writing about British Celtic art
Celtic art
Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
he introduced the term "Late Celtic period", but its application proved contentious, and was considered somewhat misleading in the European picture of Celtic art.