| Description | Minutes, correspondence and papers. The papers in this series comprise two out of three volumes of minutes of the various Huxley committees kept by G B Howes, into which are pasted printed papers, newscuttings, notes and letters. There is also a volume containing a complete set of the printed notice produced by the committees at different times. The whereabouts of the third minute book is unknown. A chronology of events 1895-1971 regarding the statue, and possibly created by the Library, was added at a later date. |
| AdminHistory | Thomas Henry Huxley died in Eastbourne on 29 June 1895 at the age of 70. In July that year William Henry Flower, Director BM (NH), put out an appeal in The Times stating there would be some kind of memorial for which funds would be required. A Memorial Committee was set up in August the same year with the object of collecting money to provide a fitting tribute to this great scientist. The Prince of Wales became honorary president of the Memorial Committee.
The first Provisional Committee was replaced by a large and distinguished General Committee, which met in November under the chairmanship of the Duke of Devonshire, and decided to seek funds for a statue, a medal and a studentship, partly due to the success of donations. An Executive Committee of twenty was set up at this meeting, and a number of local committees took charge of fund-raising in their areas. Statue and medal sub-committees were constituted soon afterwards.
Of the £3378 which was collected over the next four years, £1813 was spent on a marble statue by Edward Onslow Ford. Ford, a well-known English sculptor (1852-1901), had been first approached to give prices for a bronze or marble statue in 1896. He completed the statue, made from Carrara marble and larger than life size, in January 1900. It stood on a pedestal of Verona marble which was inscribed. For the likeness, Ford worked from a death mask and photographs.
The statue was unveiled in the Central Hall of the Natural History Museum on Saturday 28 April 1900, at 1.15pm.The ceremony presented the statue from the subscribers to the Trustees of the Museum. The 800 guests consisted of only subsribers and invited guests. Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker presented the statue on behalf of the Trustees. Speeches were made by Ray Lankester (then Director), Hooker, Sir Michael Foster, Duke of Devonshire and the Prince of Wales. Lankester stated 'on the completion of the stutue, the Trustees of the British Museum agreed to receive it and place it in the great hall where we are now assemebled' (HMC/3 page 56). The statue was placed on the right hand side of the Central Hall in an alcove, which later became the cloakrooms. In the late 1920s Darwin's statue was brought down the from the main stairs and placed in the opposite alcove on the west side of Central Hall.
Dies for a portrait medal were commissioned from the sculptor Frank Bowcher, and the remaining money was passed to the Royal College of Science as an endowment. A student in zoology, botany or palaeontology would be awarded the Huxley Gold Medal, with the option of receiving a silver medal and a sum of money instead. The committees were wound up in 1900 once the unveiling had taken place. |