Tenby Museum And Art Gallery
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, located in
Tenby Tenby () is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies within Carmarthen Bay. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, the 13th-century Tenby Town Walls, me ...
,
Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...
,
South West Wales South West Wales is one of the regions of Wales comprising the unitary authorities of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. Definition This definition is used by a number of government agencies and private organisations i ...
, is the oldest independent museum in Wales. Established in 1878, the museum has a collection of local
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
,
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
,
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and maritime artifacts. Accompanying the regular exhibitions since 1976 is a collection of images and crafts by local and national artists such as
Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
and
Gwen John Gwendolen ''Gwen'' Mary John (22 June 1876 – 18 September 1939) was a Welsh people, Welsh artist who worked in France for most of her career. Her paintings, mainly portraits of anonymous female sitters, are rendered in a range of closely relat ...
. The Tenby Museum building is a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


Origins

At the beginning of January 1878, a meeting of a like-minded group of would-be trustees of a proposed museum was held at 10 The Norton,
Tenby Tenby () is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies within Carmarthen Bay. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, the 13th-century Tenby Town Walls, me ...
, the home of one of their members, Charles Allen. The group also included Edward Laws (Hons. Secretary), Dr Frederick Dyser, Rev.
George Huntington George Huntington (April 9, 1850 – March 3, 1916) was an American physician who contributed a classic clinical description of the disease that bears his name—Huntington's disease. Huntington described this condition in the first of only two ...
, James T. Hawkesley, E. Rawdon Power, Dr. John G. Lock and Frederick Walker. It was the wish of the group to house and display the collection of valuable geological specimens formerly belonging to the late Rev. Gilbert N. Smith, an amateur archaeologist and geologist, who had been the Rector of nearby Gumfreston. The collection had been purchased by the town of Tenby for £100 and was to form the basis of a museum collection together with other promised items of natural history and of scientific books. The trustees wished for these collections to be permanently housed in the town for the benefit of the community. From the beginning, they decided upon a purely local museum with no ‘cosmopolitan’ collections being accepted. This rule has been adhered to ever since and material unconnected with the area is not collected. The National school building on Castle Hill had recently been vacated-a new school having been built in the centre of the town. In February 1878, the Tenby Town Council, presided over by Alderman Charles Allen, passed a resolution to grant the trustees permission to rent the school building at the cost of one shilling per annum for the purpose of forming a permanent museum. The council had no wish to become involved in any other expenditure and therefore the costs of refurbishing the building and administering a museum were to be met by the trustees. The trustees immediately set about obtaining an estimate for the necessary rebuilding work. Lewis John, a local builder, estimated a total cost of £44 12s 11d for initial repair work to the building. His estimate being accepted, John set about repairing the roof, guttering, windows, doorways, and staircases, together with plastering and some redecoration. His work was regarded as highly satisfactory and he was later employed in further work to the building. Some display cases were also purchased at the time. It was obvious that, to provide a community museum, financial help was going to be necessary from within the community itself. Early in February, Edward Laws prepared two hundred letters which were circulated to selected residents of the town, setting out the aims of the proposed museum and outlining the finances required to achieve those aims. Soon, a number of donations were received. E. J. Reed, the Member of Parliament for the Pembroke Boroughs gave £100 and wrote to Laws: ‘I need hardly say that the establishment at Tenby of such a museum as that contemplated would be to me, as to many others, a source of great satisfaction.’ There were other similar favourable responses from the community and elsewhere to the idea of forming a museum collection. Yet, a letter to the '' Tenby Observer'' of 3 January 1878 written by one ‘SGP’ of Bristol (subsequently identified as one Samuel Purchase) indicates a note of caution was being urged with regard to the administration of the proposed museum and the safeguarding of its collection.


History

17 June 1976 saw the official opening of the Wilfred Harrison Art Gallery. In 1995, the New Art Gallery was opened at Tenby Museum. In the 20th century, the museum was affiliated to the National Museum and Galleries of Wales and received increasing recognition and support from a number of professional museum organisations. In the 1990s, the museum was the recipient of national awards: the Prince of Wales Award 1993 and the Shoestring Award (Museum of the Year Award 1996) for the UK museum which achieved the most with the least available financial resources. In 2000, national and regional awards were presented for high standards of professional training. On 31 July 2003,
Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
visited Tenby and the Tenby Museum and Art Gallery to mark the 125th anniversary of the museum's opening.


Notable people associated with the museum

* William Lyons (1776–1849) — lived in Tenby in early 19th century and was a collector and researcher of specimens of natural history. The Lyons shell collection was donated to the Tenby Local Museum by his daughters in 1878. * Dr. Frederick Daniel Dyster (1810–1893) — a founder member of the museum, he had for many years been interested in marine biology and was the friend and correspondent of
T. H. Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...
. Dyster contributed to the early collections of the museum by donating a number of scientific books to the museum's library. * Charles Allen (1807–1884) — it was at his home at 10 The Norton, Tenby, that the first meeting was held to discuss the formation of a Local Museum for Tenby. Allen came from a well known Pembrokeshire family. After retirement, he was a member of the Town Council and Mayor in 1865 and 1871. * Edward Laws (1837–1913) — the prime mover in the establishment of a local museum for Tenby and became the first Hon. Secretary of the museum's trustees. Laws was an amateur historian and archaeologist, who was the author of several works including ‘The History of Little England beyond Wales’, ‘The church Book of St Mary the Virgin’ and ‘The Civil War in Pembrokeshire’. In 1877 he had also excavated in the Tenby area with Professor
George Rolleston George Rolleston (30 July 1829 – 16 June 1881) was an English physician and zoologist. He was the first Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology to be appointed at the University of Oxford, a post he held from 1860 until his death in 1881. ...
. * Professor
George Rolleston George Rolleston (30 July 1829 – 16 June 1881) was an English physician and zoologist. He was the first Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology to be appointed at the University of Oxford, a post he held from 1860 until his death in 1881. ...
(1829–1881) — Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
in 1860, he pioneered the teaching of Zoology. He undertook anthropological excavations with Edward Laws in the Tenby area in 1877, and in the following year was invited to perform the opening ceremony of the Tenby Local Museum, which took place on 26 July. * Edward Rawdon Bingham Power (1811–1896) — a native of
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, Power had retired with his family to Tenby after a long career in the civil service in
Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. He was a J.P. and served as Mayor of Tenby in 1872. For the remainder of his life, he was one of the most regularly attending members at museum committee meetings and actively supported the museum's interests. He undertook considerable work on behalf of charitable organisations in the town. These included the Tenby Cottage Hospital, of which he was the Hon. Secretary and TreasurerMedical Bibliography for 1877


Exhibits

The museum features exhibits about local history,
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
,
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
, area maritime history and
piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
. The New Gallery features changing exhibits of contemporary art and crafts in various media, and the permanent art collection includes works by such Welsh artists as Gwen and
Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...
,
Kyffin Williams Sir John Kyffin Williams, (9 May 1918 – 1 September 2006) was a Welsh landscape painter who lived at Pwllfanogl, Llanfairpwll, on the Island of Anglesey. Williams is widely regarded as the defining artist of Wales during the 20th century. Pe ...
, John Piper,
Nina Hamnett Nina Hamnett (14 February 1890 – 16 December 1956) was a Welsh artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' Sea shanty, shanties, who became known as the Queen of Bohemia. Early life Hamnett was born in the small coastal town of Tenb ...
, Claudia Williams, John Uzzell Edwards and John Knapp Fisher.


References

{{Coord, 51.6723, -4.6949, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Tenby Museums established in 1878 1878 establishments in Wales Museums in Pembrokeshire Art museums and galleries in Wales History museums in Wales Grade II listed buildings in Pembrokeshire Local museums in Wales