
Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith (11 September 1859 – 27 March 1944) was a British archaeologist and museum director. He was Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
from 1904 to 1909, and Director of the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
from 1909 to 1924.
Early years
Born on 11 September 1859 in
Staines,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
, he was the second son of William Smith, solicitor, and his wife, Harriet, daughter of Frederic Harcourt, of
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
. He attended
Winchester College
Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
(1873–78) as a scholar. In 1879 he joined the department of Roman and Greek antiquities in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. He soon became known as a rising archaeologist, and in 1887 was a founder editor and contributor to the ''Classical Review''.
In 1887 he was attached to the diplomatic mission in
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. In 1892 he married Alice Edith, daughter of H. W. Watson of
Burnopfield
Burnopfield is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated north of Stanley, County Durham, Stanley and Annfield Plain, close to the River Derwent, North East England, River Derwent and is above sea level. There are around 4,553 inhab ...
,
Co. Durham. They had two sons, Simon and Gilbert.
From 1895 to 1897 he was granted special leave to take up the directorship of the
British School in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. The school had just received an annual grant from the Treasury and was able to extend its activities. Harcourt-Smith enhanced the prestige of the school and instituted its "Annual". He also began the school's excavations in the island of Melos, which contributed much to the knowledge of Aegean civilisations. While in Athens, Harcourt-Smith was promoted to assistant keeper of his department at the British Museum. From 1904 to 1908, he was Keeper of Greece and Rome Antiquities.
Director and Secretary of the Victoria and Albert Museum
In 1908 Harcourt-Smith became chairman of a commission of the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, set up to look into the collections of applied art at
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...
that had been purchased by the government after the
Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...
of 1851. His report was so highly approved of that he was offered the post of director and secretary under the new organization, and in 1909 he accepted the appointment. The newly completed building gave scope for a more orderly display of the collections; the administration of the museum and its staff was set upon more modern lines, and the objects were grouped according to their material rather than, as in many great museums, by nationality or period. This method of grouping objects lasted until the evacuation of 1939 when they were grouped chronologically by Sir Leigh Ashton.
Harcourt-Smith remained at the Victoria and Albert Museum until his retirement in 1924. During this time he introduced many improvements. He raised the status of the technical staff and negotiated for them the same rank and pay as the officials of the British Museum. He added students' rooms to all departments, and a steady stream of catalogues and guides was begun. Official guide lecturers were instituted and sponsored special exhibitions such as the Franco-British Exhibition of 1921 were introduced. It was under his directorship that the museum acquired the
Salting collection, the
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...
sculptures (now transferred to the
Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...
), the
Talbot Hughes collection of costumes, the
Alma Tadema library, the Le Blon Korean pottery and the
Pierpont Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...
stained glass.
Other offices
A year after his retirement Harcourt-Smith was appointed advisor for the Royal Art Collections and from 1928 until 1936 he was also
Surveyor of the Royal Works of Art. He played a leading part in the foundation of the Central Committee for the Care of Churches, he was chairman of the committee of the Incorporated Church Building Society, and vice-chairman of the British Institute of Industrial Art and the
British Society of Master Glass Painters
The British Society of Master Glass Painters (BSMGP) is a British trade association for the art and craft of stained glass. Founded in 1921, it is a membership organisation which exists to represent the trade of glass painting and staining in Brit ...
. He was also vice-president of the
Hellenic Society, president of the
Society of Civil Servants and British representative on the International Office of Museums. He was an honorary member of the British Drama League and an honorary associate of the
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
.
As well as contributing to many of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
departmental catalogues, he wrote for the art journals and also published a number of monographs: ''The Collection of
J. Pierpont Morgan'' (1913), ''The Art Treasures of the Nation'' (1929), and ''The
Society of the Dilettanti: its Regalia and Pictures'' (1932).
Hracourt-Smith was knighted in 1909, appointed CVO in 1917, and advanced to KCVO in 1934. He died on 27 March 1944 at age 84.
References
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''.*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091029164523/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/periods_styles/features/history/directors/index.html V&A Directors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt-Smith, Cecil
British archaeologists
Directors of the Victoria and Albert Museum
Employees of the British Museum
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
People educated at Winchester College
Surveyors of the Queen's Works of Art
1859 births
1944 deaths
Directors of the British School at Athens