The Collector
The Victorians were great collectors, in particular of objects from the past, objects from different cultures and souvenirs. Collecting was encouraged at school, from shells on the beach, to fossils and wild flowers.
The contents of a collector’s own private museum were as familiar as the collections of any public museum. ‘The great end…should be the development of a love of objects…and a desire to know more about them...’, wrote J.E. Taylor in 1876. The Victorians loved to classify, name and list. They collected objects for their beauty and as a reminder of the past.
William John Bankes (1786-1855) was a traveller and archaeologist. He sent consignments home to Kingston Lacy, including many Egyptian objects, with detailed instructions for their display. He travelled because of his endless curiosity.
Tourism began with the Grand Tour of Europe, with 17th and 18th century upper class men looking for cultural and worldly experience. They could return with crates of art, books, pictures, sculpture and cultural objects, to be displayed in cabinets and drawing rooms.