Frederick John Horniman
| Frederick John Horniman MP, FLS, FRGS, FZS, FSA Scot | |||||||||||
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| Born | 1835 | ||||||||||
| Died | 1906 | ||||||||||
| Residence |
Surrey House, Forest Hill Surrey Mount, Forest Hill [1881] 20 Hyde Park Terrace, W. [1900] | ||||||||||
| Occupation |
merchant museum work | ||||||||||
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Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
proposed 1876.06.15
same address [Surrey House, Forest Hill] as David Greig Rutherford
death noted in report of the council for 1906: Mr. F. J. Horniman was known to anthropologists chiefly as the founder of the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill. A member also of the Zoological and Geographical Societies, he took a keen interest in science and the Institute hears of his death with sincere regret.
Notes From Elsewhere
Frederick John Horniman, Victorian tea trader and philanthropist, began collecting objects, specimens and artefacts 'illustrating natural history and the arts and handicrafts of various peoples of the world' from around 1860. His overarching mission was to 'bring the world to Forest Hill' and educate and enrich the lives of the local community.
His travels took him to far flung destinations such as Egypt, Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Japan, Canada and the United States collecting objects which 'either appealed to his own fancy or that seemed to him likely to interest and inform those who had not had the opportunity to visit distant lands'. Mr Horniman’s interest as a collector was well known and many travellers approached him with specimens and curiosities.
By the late nineteenth century, these 'natural, industrial and artistic spoils had accumulated to such an extent that he gave up the whole house to the collections'.
His wife is reported to have said 'either the collection goes or we do'. With that, the family moved to Surrey Mount the grounds of which adjoined those of the former residence.
tea merchant and collector (1835 - 1906)
Frederick John Horniman was born in 1835 in Bridgewater, Somerset, and came from a Quaker family. His father, John (1803-1893), was the co-founder and owner of the tea company ‘Horniman and Co.’
Frederick Horniman was educated at Friends College in Croydon, a Quaker school, and then entered the family business at the age of 14 in 1849. He married Rebekah Emslie in 1859, and they had two children: a daughter, Annie (1860-1937), and son, Emslie (born 1863).
Frederick moved into Surrey House on London Road, Forest Hill, in 1868, and began collecting ethnographic objects, natural history specimens, and musical instruments. He initially began buying objects from merchants, dealers, auction houses, and exhibitions, and expanded his collections in the late 1890s through visits to India, Sri Lanka, Japan, China, Burma, USA, and Egypt.
As his collections expanded, he moved his family to a new house, Surrey Mount, and opened Surrey House as a museum.
In 1896 Horniman’s wife Rebekah died after a short illness. In the same year Frederick was elected as Liberal MP for Falmouth and Penryn, an office that he held until 1904. In 1897 Horniman re-married, to Minifred Louisa Bennet.
By 1898, Surrey House was too small to house Horniman’s growing collections. He hired the architect, Charles Harrison Townsend, to design the new purpose built museum on the site where Surrey House stood. This was finished in 1901, and was opened by the Duke of Fife on 10th June. In July 1901 Frederick Horniman gave the museum and gardens, and six houses, to London County Council as a gift to the people of London. He continued to contribute objects to the museum’s collections until his death on 5th March 1906, after which he was buried next to his first wife Rebekah in a cemetery in Forest Hill.
Born Bridgewater, Somerset; died London. W.H. & F.J. Horniman was, in 1891, the biggest tea firm in the world. The Horniman Museum grew out of his private collections which he opened to the public in 1890. He gave the building and the collections to the LCC in 1901. Born into a Quaker family, he then became a Congregationalist, and later joined the Church of England. His collections were partly the result of his own travels and partly obtained from missionaries and travellers he employed as agents. Liberal MP for Penryn, Falmouth & Flushing 1895
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